September 1st, 2008 - August 31st, 2013 | PROJECT
The Children's Museum of San Jose, in collaboration with developmental psychology researchers at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC) and science and education staff of the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology (UCMP), is conducting a 48-month long project that focuses on children's use of evidence to construct scientific explanations. Key deliverables are: a 2,300 square-foot paleontology exhibit with an Evidence Central area three "evidence hubs" at the Children's Museum of San Jose, an educational Web site developed by UCMP, research on children's use of evidence conducted by Maureen Callanan's research group at UCSC, a "state of the children's museum field" study on varieties of perspectives on "science" and "evidence," and professional development experiences for staff at children's museums. Additional partners include the children's museums in Austin, TX, Madison, WI, and Providence, RI and local Vietnamese and Latino organizations in the museum's neighborhood. Randi Korn & Associates will conduct the program summative evaluation process and the "state of the field" study. The project identifies and will work to address two specific needs in the field: (a) a clearer sense of the developmental progression of children's understanding of evidence, and (b) a rigorous and systematic investigation of children's open-ended reasoning about evidence in a rich content domain (paleontology). The strategic impact goal is to build capacity in children's museums, enabling them to offer more evidence-based science learning experiences for their visitors.
Project Website(s)
(no project website provided)
Project Products
Community of Learners Impact Study: Mammoth Discovery!
Summative Evaluation: Mammoth Discovery!
Spotlight: Lupe's Story
Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose
Team Members
Jennifer Martin, Principal Investigator, Children's Discovery Museum of San JoseMaureen Callanan, Co-Principal Investigator, University of California Santa Cruz
Judith Scotchmoor, Co-Principal Investigator, University of California-Berkeley
Funders
Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 0741583
Funding Amount: 1388589
Tags
Access and Inclusion: Asian Communities | Ethnic | Racial | Hispanic | Latinx Communities
Audience: Evaluators | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Education and learning science | Geoscience and geography | Life science | Nature of science
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Exhibitions | Media and Technology | Museum and Science Center Exhibits | Professional Development | Conferences | Networks | Professional Development and Workshops | Websites | Mobile Apps | Online Media