Farming for Fuels – Summative Evaluation

The summative evaluation of the Farming for Fuels classroom program and family event was conducted over two years. Two interim reports were delivered with preliminary results about specific areas of focus. This final report described the overall evaluation study methods and results, and made recommendations for potential revisions and improvements to the program. The evaluator worked with the program team at the Creative Discovery Museum to generate a list of questions to guide the evaluation study. The questions covered each of the major audiences for the program: museum educators, teachers, caregivers and students. Thus respondents for this study were museum staff that delivered the program at the various sites, the teachers and students at the schools who participated in the classroom program, and the parents and students who participated in the family events. The study utilized mixed methods including observations of Family Events (7) and classroom programs in schools (7), in-person and telephone interviews with museum staff at national (5) and regional sites (3), teacher surveys (45), and a review of program documents. There were two primary ways the evaluator used to strengthen the validity of this study: data triangulation, the use of a variety of data sources and investigator triangulation, the use of multiple researchers (Denzin, 1978). In the analysis phase of the study the evaluator specifically looked at the data from each site as a case study. This type of approach revealed a lot about the processes and outcomes at each of the museum sites, and the ways in which these interrelate.