Internet Resources

I think one of the most important websites to me that is very useful for inspiration as well as teaching in all types of subject matter is your official TEDtalks website. I started watching the TEDtalks because they were available on Netflix and I became hooked on them and join the conversation becoming a member.

http://www.ted.com/conversations/topics/TEDWalks

Another website that I found was very useful is the center for advancement of informal science education website or CAISE this website has quite a few resources that are available in PDF form as well as other formats.

http://caise.insci.org/

The National Afterschool Association website provides resources as well as information about healthy afterschool activities, crime prevention and child development. It also includes quite a few very useful links.

http://www.naaweb.org/

The Exploring Trees and Ponds Informal Life Science Activities for Youth website provides wonderful ideas to work with students 10 through 14 in the natural world. Information is given freely although you just need to create a user account.

http://treesandponds.edc.org/

Exploratorium afterschool activities website supplies a bunch of activities that you can do with kids that are downloadable. Some of these include creating a speaker using Styrofoam cup or a membranophone out of a water bottle.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/afterschool/activities/index.php

The parent website to the previous website also has a great deal of information on it.

http://www.exploratorium.edu/

There is The Informal Science Education Association of Texas website. This website also includes quite a few variable resources as well as many links to other websites. This one gives you the opportunity to see what’s going on around the state as well as to find other museums, state parks, aquariums, nature centers, and other science-rich institutions around the state of Texas.

http://texasinformalscience.org/

The next one is another national resource that allows you to see what’s going on in the rest of the country as well as also supplies online resources and allows you to connect with other online communities.

http://informalscience.org/

The local informal science organization is called the Chihuahuan Desert Educational Coalition. I found this one to be very informative with a great deal of information of area events as a matter fact it was two that went on this weekend. The Poppy Festival which included a nature walks music and food. This was a free educational event for the whole family. As well as the presentation that was given by the New Mexico State University Chile Institute that was given also at no charge at the Carlos M Ramirez TecH₂O learning center.

http://www.chihuahuandesert.org/

Another local website that can help keep you up-to-date on what’s going on in the El Paso area is the elpasonaturally blog page. You can find many events that are being held El Paso area which is on the environment.

http://www.elpasonaturally.blogspot.com/

Another one of my favorite websites to check out for science is the McDonald Observatory website. This one lets you know what’s going on at the Observatory as well as what’s going on in the sky. The McDonald Observatory is located in Fort Davis which is approximately two-hour drive from El Paso and although it is not a free event it is well worth checking out. The website on the other hand is free and also it’s worth checking.

http://mcdonaldobservatory.org/

Course assignment – Reflection 6

This week’s reading starts with chapter 8; Evaluating Learning Technologies, Barbara N Flagg begins with the statement that was ever so true, about the abundance of technology in the last 30 years. I’ve been in technology geek and an adult for those 30 years. I remember my first computer and IBM AT, it didn’t even have a hard drive and used the old five and had inch floppy disks. Those were the ones that really were floppy. Later I got my first hard drive it was huge and had a capacity of 20 MB. I have been building and upgrading computers ever since that time and owned the ferry first MP3 player made by Creative Labs I can give you a wonderful history on technology but also save that for another time. The point of this chapter is to understand evaluating learning technology or this new technology that has become prevalent in today’s society. One of the statements at the beginning of the chapter that really got my attention that I feel holds true in any project is, “By defining what it is you want your users to feel, know, think, believe, and/or do after exposure to your project, you have a better chance for success” (Flagg, 2008, p.78). I thought this was eloquent and that educating is more than just adding knowledge but also should be able to change attitude. There was an example of teams using PDAs as virtual tour guides that would give them customized tours depending on their interests. This whole concept just blows me away. This is an example of how technology is such a powerful tool that can be used in informal science education but also can create a little bit of complication in figuring out how to evaluate the impact of this new technology. The next chapter, chapter 9; Evaluating Collaborations kind of caught me off guard a little bit as I was considering collaboration has nearly working with others. But as I see collaboration is also focused on funding. It’s kind of interesting that I recently became secretary and treasurer of a nonprofit and have been actively engaging in monetary collaboration in order to fund a particular event which we hope will produce enough income to support several youth organizations. So I guess I’ve been involved in organizational collaboration without even knowing I was. But there again, that’s a story for another time. I definitely intend to use this chapter to assist me in my endeavors. Chapter 10; Evaluating Projects That Combined Different Types of Deliverables, and we discuss projects that are made up of a combination of different components such as combining an exhibition with interactive online resources. Oh yeah speaking of online stuff, www.chihuahuandesert.org this is a local Informal Science Education organization. They’re having a meeting Wednesday, March 13 6 PM at Avila’s restaurant on North Mesa and Diana Perez of the Carlos M. Ramirez TecH₂O Water Resources Learning Center told me that everyone is welcome.

References:

Friedman, A. (Ed.). (2008) Framework for evaluating impacts of informal science education

projects [On-line]. (Available at: http://insci.org/resources/Eval_Framework.pdf)

Course assignment – Reflection 5

While approaching these chapters are the main things I’m taking into consideration is the fact that the demographics and psychographics of my participants will be quite varied. I’m not dealing with a homogenous group of students but quite a varied group. I anticipate my participants to range in age from about 8 to 80. Therefore their motivations, interests, existing knowledge, expectations, and perceptions all are quite different. The beginning of the fourth chapter discusses experimental design choices and introduces randomized controlled trial (RCT) Sue Allen the author of the first section states that this is a powerful design although admits that it can be potentially taxing for audience members. So I’m reading on. The next section of this chapter, authored by Pat Campbell, titled An Array of Evaluation Design Choices includes table 4-1: Sample Evaluation Design is a very useful tool in comparing study types. Gary Silverstein gives us Using Logic Models to Identify Desired Impacts and Audience Objectives which builds on the previous logic model and creates a flowchart in figure 4-1 titled Logic Model for the ISE program, which is another very useful tool in considering the range of outcomes and evidence that can be demonstrated from the activity. But for my project table 4-2 appears to be the most useful. This table, Impact Worksheet: Example for Museum Exhibit on How Science and Engineering Drive Hybrid Vehicles I feel can be modified and used in my project. The last part of this chapter again authored by Sue Allen is also very useful for me because it deals with specific issues and evaluation which happens to be its title. I definitely have a diverse audience with a diverse amount of previous knowledge coming in therefore I must create an assessment that will be used suable for children, youth as well as adults. Now chapter 5 is totally aligns with my project, titled Evaluating Exhibitions. It begins with the Broad Impact As Applied to Exhibitions discussing, knowledge, engagement, attitude, behavior, and skills, that was discussed in previous chapters but now in detail as it applies to an exhibit. The author gives for examples; one on plants; one on robotics; one on wastewater; one on articulating evidence in everyday life; these are done with a great amount of detail that I feel may allow me to duplicate the framework in order to create a viable assessment especially the one on wastewater which is so close to my project. The end of the section has several points to take into consideration from realistic expectations, using nontraditional assessments to match visitors’ intentions and actions as well as several other things to take into consideration when dealing with exhibitions. Chapter 6 deals with how to evaluate mass media such as television movies radio or any other media. Although this section does not apply to current my project but I am a tremendous advocate of using media in informal science education.

References:

Friedman, A. (Ed.). (2008) Framework for evaluating impacts of informal science education

projects [On-line]. (Available at: http://insci.org/resources/Eval_Framework.pdf)