Findings Report: Science Festivals and Museums/Centers Combined Needs Assessment – The Circuit

May 25th, 2022 | EVALUATION

For this needs assessment, the primary focus was on gaps between the current state (what is) and the desired state (where they want to be) tied to opportunities that might be afforded in the design of ScienceNearMe, the website developed under the NSF project The Circuit. The gap measures focused on three areas: role in the ecosystem, areas of work, and data. The purpose of this report is not to interpret the findings, but to present the findings so that The Circuit Team can make meaning of the findings to serve the purpose of the project. The findings, however, may have very different implications for the science festivals and SFA, and the science museums/centers and ASTC.

CRE worked with the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC), The Science Festival Alliance (SFA), and Oregon State University’s STEM Research Center to determine what might be of value to science museums/centers and science festivals that could be either built into or used by the developers of the app to enhance the desirability of institutions and festivals to promote and use ScienceNearMe as a tool for building new or broader audiences. One particular focus of the study was what types of programs and act
ivities are offered by these institutions and organizations so that it would be possible to compare how these providers identify and name the programs/activities and how potential audiences understand each through a needs assessment that was concurrently conducted by the OSU partner team.
These ideas were then formulated into questions that were descriptive, explanatory, or designed to measure a gap—in this case gaps that The Circuit could possibly help bridge as part of the ScienceNearMe app. The instrument had six components starting with a description of the type of museum or center and the role of the individual responding. This was followed by the gap study with five comparison scales:
1. capacity to do current work relevant to what ScienceNearMe might be able to provide,
2. information about and tracking visitors across program and experience in and beyond the science museum/center,
3. role of the museum/center in the local and regional science education ecosystems,
4. types of programs and experiences offered by the museum/center, and
5. capacity of the museum/center in several key job function areas.

Document

Science-Festivals-Museums-Centers-Combined-Needs-Assessment-2022.pdf

Team Members

Joe E. Heimlich, Ph.D., Author, COSI - Center for Research and Evaluation
Laura Weiss, Author, COSI - Center for Research and Evaluation

Citation

Publication: Heimlich, J.E., & Weiss, L. (2022). Science Festivals and Museums/Centers Combined Needs Assessment. The Circuit/Science Near Me. Columbus, OH: COSI Center for Research and Evaluation.

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: DRL: Advancing Informal STEM Learning
Award Number: #DRL - 1906998).

Related URLs

The Circuit: A Platform for Increasing Access to, Deepening and Researching patterns of Family and Adult Participation in Informal Science

Tags

Audience: Administration | Leadership | Policymakers | Educators | Teachers | Evaluators | Learning Researchers | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Education and learning science
Resource Type: Evaluation | Evaluation Reports | Formative
Environment Type: Museum and Science Center Programs | Public Events and Festivals | Public Programs