The Handheld Signing Math & Science Dictionaries for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Museum Visitors Research Project Field Test Evaluation Report: School Visitors

With this 3-year project, TERC and the Museum of Science (MoS) Boston are studying how family and school visitors integrate iPod Touch versions of the Signing Science Pictionary (SSP), Signing Science Dictionary (SSD), and Signing Math Dictionary (SMD) into their museum experience and the impact of dictionary use. This report focuses on school visitors. Each dictionary includes more than 700 standards-based science or mathematics terms. The SSP (funded in part by grants from the Shapiro Family Foundation and the U. S. Department of Education, Grant #H327A080040) is intended for children ages 5-8 and grades K-4. The SSD (funded in part by grants from NEC Foundation of America, the National Science Foundation Grant [NSF] #HRD-0533057, and the U.S. Department of Education Grant #H327A060026), and the SMD (funded in part by NSF, #HRD-0833969) are for ages 9-12 and grades 5-8. The dictionaries follow the concept of Universal Design for Learning1 (UDL) developed by David Rose et al., which means that content is presented in multiple ways in order to allow the learner to select the method of presentation that best matches the ways in which (s)he learns. UDL also means that learners can choose from multiple ways to show what they have learned. Science in the Park and Take a Closer Look were selected as the two exhibits at the outset of the project as the setting for our study. They were selected because: 1) They offer opportunities to accommodate the age-range of participants. 2) Many of the terms used to introduce activities and to help visitors understand their meaning are included in one or more of the dictionaries. 3) They offer opportunities to find out about use of the dictionaries with visitors of varying levels of hearing loss, reading ability, and STEM knowledge. 4) They focus on visual learning, incorporate text that is clear and concise, and include activities of varying difficulty. The objectives of the project as they relate to school visitors are twofold: 1) to study how school visitors integrate iPod Touch versions of the Signing Science Pictionary (SSP), Signing Science Dictionary (SSD), and Signing Math Dictionary (SMD) into their museum experience; and 2) to study what kinds of learning are made possible with use of the dictionaries and their impact on the museum experience. The goals of the evaluation as they relate to school visitors are to collect data to answer two primary research questions: 1) How do visitors, in grades K-8+ who are deaf or hard of hearing, integrate handheld dictionaries into their museum learning experience during school visits? 2) What kinds of learning are made possible with use of the dictionaries and how do they affect the engagement, involvement and interest of visitors, in grades K-8+ who are deaf or hard of hearing, during school visits? The attached report provides detailed information about the methodology, data collection protocols, visitor demographics, results and findings for school visitors.