Liberty Science Center Skyscraper! Exhibition: Summative Evaluation Report

Liberty Science Center (LSC) received National Science Foundation (NSF) funding to develop, install and evaluate a 12,800-square foot, two-story permanent exhibition about skyscrapers. Skyscraper! is meant to showcase the architectural design and engineering, physics, and urban-related environmental science of skyscrapers. The Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), a Maryland-based research and evaluation organization that focuses on lifelong learning in informal or free-choice settings, was contracted to conduct the summative exhibition evaluation. The purpose of the summative evaluation was to assess the impact of skyscraper on visitor learning and visitor experiences; specifically, the summative evaluation aims to provide LSC with information on visitors' experiences within the exhibition, and the degree to which learning outcomes relating to its two major goals and learning outcomes have been achieved. ILI used a mixed-methods approach to provide a rich, detailed picture of the visitor's experience within the Skyscraper! exhibition. Exit interviews for the entire exhibition that explored visitor perception, satisfaction, learning and suggestions for improvements were complemented by structured observations (timing and tracking) of visitor behavior within Skyscraper! Data from the entire exhibition experience were supplemented with focused observations and exit interviews of four key components of the exhibition: Energy Comparison, Shake Table, Schedule and World Trade Center Steel. The appendix of this report includes the tracking tool and interview protocol used in the study.