Create.Connect: Summative Evaluation Report

In 2012, the Conner Prairie Interactive History Park began work on the National Science Foundation-funded Prairie Science project. Its goal: to produce a framework for integrating informal science experiences into exhibitions, interpretation, and programs at historic sites and museums. From the outset, the core project team acknowledged that the task of integrating STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) and history learning would challenge the norms of both disciplines and institutions. Conner Prairie is a history museum in Fishers, Indiana, with a long tradition of exploring novel exhibition and interpretation strategies to engage visitors with history. In this project, Conner Prairie collaborated with the Science Museum of Minnesota to find ways of integrating STEM learning into existing offerings at history institutions, to create experiences that are meaningful to audiences, culturally respectful of their subjects, historically authentic, and scientifically accurate. The project, which became known as Create.Connect, resulted in three major products: (1) the Create.Connect exhibition at Conner Prairie, (2) four smaller exhibitions at partner institutions, and (3) a framework for sharing the process of creating experiences at history institutions that blend STEM and history learning for families. In this report we describe the impact of the project on the two main audiences: family visitors to Create.Connect and the professionals at four partner history institutions. The report was collaboratively written by evaluators at the Science Museum of Minnesota and Conner Prairie.