TexNET: Texas Network for Exhibit-based Learning and Teaching

August 15th, 2004 - January 31st, 2010 | PROJECT

The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History will partner with The Exploratorium and with three smaller science museums that have strong connections to rural and Spanish-speaking populations in Texas: Discovery Science Place, Loredo Children's Museum, and Science Spectrum to develop TexNET, a four-year project modeled on the Exploratorium Network for Exhibit-based Teaching (ExNET). TexNET builds on lessons learned from past exhibit outreach models and addresses the needs of small, rural partners for exhibits and capacity-building workshops. Each small museum partner will host a set of ten exhibits for one year. Exhibit topics are 1) motion, 2) weather and 3) sound. Workshops focus on inquiry learning techniques, science content, programming and workshop design, as well as the institutional needs of each partner. Based on feedback from formative evaluation, the project added three additional partners in its final year, the Children's Museum of Houston, the Austin Children's Museum, and the Don Herrington Discovery Center, and focused its remaining year on building institutional capacity around tinkering. Inverness Research Associates will conduct the project evaluation. They will examine the success of this project by looking at the effectiveness of the TexNET model, the success of the individual exhibit elements to engage rural communities, the effectiveness with which this project has enhanced the abilities of local rural communities to sustain their own educational improvements and the effectiveness of the training components in increasing the capabilities of the local museums to serve their rural audiences.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Team Members

Charlie Walter, Principal Investigator, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Samuel Dean, Co-Principal Investigator, Exploratorium
Joe Hastings, Co-Principal Investigator, Don Harrington Discovery Center
Robert Lindsey, Co-Principal Investigator, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 0337354
Funding Amount: 1310602

Tags

Access and Inclusion: English Language Learners | Ethnic | Racial | Hispanic | Latinx Communities | Rural
Audience: Evaluators | General Public | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Education and learning science | Geoscience and geography | Physics
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits | Professional Development | Conferences | Networks | Resource Centers and Networks