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The present study was conducted to evaluate the dedicated natural science exhibit space at Creative Discovery Museum. The previous exhibit, known as Excavation Station, closed in February 2023, and the renovated UnEarthed (UE) space opened in June 2023. This study aims to clarify the effect of renovations on visitor experience. Specific evaluation questions included: 1. What kind of attention are...

This is the evaluation report for the third year of the NSF-funded WaterMarks project. It reflects a current summary of available evidence about the intended outcomes of program activities to date, as well as commentary on overall project progress and planning for the future. This report contains descriptions of embedded measures (i.e. anonymized drawings and reflections captured on a thematic...

This summary brief captures highlights from the third year of the NSF-funded WaterMarks project (September 2023 - August 2024). The technical evaluation report for this same project period can be found on the main project page. The purpose of this document is to communicate key updates (as observed by the evaluation team in early fall 2024) in a less technical...

An external evaluation examines the reach and impact of promoting STEM learning about solar eclipses through livestreams, on-demand videos, and social media platforms. The April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse broadcast from Texas and Mexico had over 49 million online views, supported by a mobile-friendly approach and culturally engaging live segments. Navigating the Path of Totality, is a NASA-Exploratorium project....

DataWorks is a unique data services provider that recruits people from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods and underrepresented groups in computing to train and employ them as Data Wranglers and for task such as data annotation. Using DataWorks as a research platform, we seek to understand how individuals from minoritized communities learn data skills, tools and processes in context to gain...

Partnering with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Swampworks (KSC), City of Orlando’s Grand Avenue neighborhood community center (City of Orlando), Florida Recreation & Park Association (FRPA), and the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA), Orlando Science Center (OSC) has created a broad partnership with national reach that generates, implements, and evaluates (1) a series of weekly authentic STEM engagement opportunities focused...

Background Capturing measures of students’ attitudes toward science has long been a focus within the field of science education. The resulting interest has led to the development of many instruments over the years. There is considerable disagreement about how attitudes should be measured, and especially whether students’ attitudes toward science can or should be measured unidimensionally, or whether separate attitude dimensions...

STEM education programs are often formulated with a "hands-on activities" focus across a wide array of topics from robotics to rockets to ecology. Traditionally, the impact of these programs is based on surveys of youth on program-specific experiences or the youths’ interest and impressions of science in general. In this manuscript, we offer a new approach to analyzing science programming...

Abstract The increasing use of machine learning and Large Language Models (LLMs) opens up opportunities to use these artificially intelligent algorithms in novel ways. This article proposes a methodology using LLMs to support traditional deductive coding in qualitative research. We began our analysis with three different sample texts taken from existing interviews. Next, we created a codebook and inputted the sample...

This meta-analysis explores the impact of informal science education experiences (such as after-school programs, enrichment activities, etc.) on students’ attitudes towards, and interest in, STEM disciplines (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics). The research addresses two primary questions: (1) What is the overall effect size of informal science learning experiences on students’ attitudes towards and interest in STEM? (2) How do...

This study examined the dimensionality and effectiveness of the five categories Likert Scale of the framework for observing and categorizing instructional strategies (FOCIS), a survey that measures students' preference for learning activities in science instructions, developed by Tai et al. in 2012. The data included 6546 students from 3rd to 12th grade including 4 school districts. The results show that...

A key goal of the Polar Literacy project was to develop educational materials – including learning kits and videos – that address Polar Literacy Principles1 and that engage youth in participatory learning opportunities in informal education settings. The expectation is that educational materials will continue to be disseminated and used after the four-year grant period in both online and in...

In 2018, the Museum of Science, Boston (MOS) kicked off an initiative called CC-PES: Building Capacity for Co-Created Public Engagement with Science. Funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Informal STEM Learning award (AISL), this project set out to test a model for bringing museums and other informal science education institutions (ISEs) together with community and civic partners to create programs...

This evaluation investigates how different types of media resources (informational vs. modeling of a parent-child play interaction) affect the types and frequency of questions parents and children ask during a play-based informal learning engineering activity. This evaluation project is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Children’s Museum Houston and the Children’s Learning Institute at UTHealth. Participants included families...

This report offers a detailed synthesis of data collected during the first year of the GP-IN: Connecting Opportunities for Research Experiences (CORE) (“Geopaths”) project. It aims to distill the initial impacts of the project on 1) high school youths’ skill, knowledge, and career awareness in the geosciences, and 2) geoscience professionals' professional development and potential for application of equity and...

This document is the online supplement to Expectancy-value theory & preschool parental involvement in informal STEM learning (Zucker et al., 2021). It contains descriptives for the survey items that were used to measure parents' STEM expectancies for their preschool child, their self-efficacy for facilitating informal STEM for their child, and their perceived value and costs regarding STEM. It also includes...

The Modeling Zoos and Aquariums as Inclusive Communities of Science for Autistic Individuals (MoZAICS) online toolkit is intended to help zoos and aquariums understand inclusive practices and gain tools for supporting autistic and neurodivergent individuals who are visitors, volunteers, or employees across the full aquarium and zoo experience including the general visit, programs, exhibits, internships, volunteering, and employment opportunities. The...

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,...

The Informal STEM Learning (ISL) project research team from the STEM Research Center at Oregon State University, in collaboration with project partners, conducted a baseline survey with members of the informal STEM learning community. The main goals of the ISL Baseline Survey were to 1. Understand the current lived experiences of ISL professionals and determine factors around professional learning that...

The Building Capacity of Co‐Created public Engagement with Science (CCPES) project was led by the Museum of Science, Boston with partners from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and Museum of Life and Science. The project was designed to have a strategic impact on how ISE institutions create products through co-creation and choose topics of STEM engagement by gathering...

The Building Capacity of Co‐Created public Engagement with Science (CCPES) project was led by the Museum of Science, Boston with partners from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and Museum of Life and Science. The project was designed to have a strategic impact on how ISE institutions choose topics of STEM engagement by gathering information from local publics about...

STEAM has gained traction across informal and formal educational settings, but the connections between STEAM disciplines are not always obvious to youth. We argue that an explicit focus on how art and STEM overlap in the world, and how these overlaps connect personally to learner’s interests and concerns, is a way to support the development of STEAM-related identities. We developed...

The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), with funding support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), sponsored a study to ascertain the current status of mathematics in science centers and museums. The charge was to document examples of mathematics exhibits, programs, publications, and workshops in five case-study sites. In part the goal was the determine the feasibility of a mathematics initiative...

Informal learning environments like planetariums play a critical role in educating the public on climate change. Local stories motivate more than abstract global threats when it comes to understanding the science of climate change and how communities can enact resilience efforts. Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized and under-resourced communities, as they are most at risk from disruptions in water and...

Under-resourced communities along the United States coasts experience year-round flooding hazards including stormwater, ponding, coastal flooding, flash-flooding, and riverine flooding. To accommodate and recover from the effects of these occurrences, community resilience or the capacity to persist, adapt, and transform when met with such challenges is critical. Community Science, which involves collaboration between the public and scientists, is a mechanism,...