Framework for Evaluating Impacts of Informal Science Education Projects

The March 12-13, 2007 workshop at NSF on informal science education evaluation brought together a distinguished group of experts to discuss how impact categories might be best applied to various types of informal learning projects. This publication is an outcome of that meeting. The authors have strived to make the sections as helpful as possible given the primary focus of this workshop on project impacts. It should be viewed as part of an ongoing process to improve the ways in which evaluation can most benefit ISE projects, NSF, and the field. The publication is intended to help those developing projects to think about and better articulate the intended public or professional audience impacts. Since the design of deliverables and strategies should be based on achieving these desired outcomes, this publication should also encourage project leaders to work more closely with evaluators at very early stages in the conceptual development of their projects. More broadly, this effort should advance understanding of summative evaluation by the field.