NASA Informal Education: Final Report
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA Informal Education: Final Report A Descriptive Analysis of NASA’s Informal Education Portfolio: Preliminary Case Studies Contract # NNH09CF33D Draft v.2 December 28, 2010 Prepared for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Office of Education Prepared by Alyssa Rulf Fountain (Abt Associates Inc.) Abigail Jurist Levy (Education Development Center, Inc.) With Support from Abt Associates Hilary Rhodes Caroline Shlager Education Development Center Erica Fields This report was authored by employees of Abt Associates Inc. and Education Development Center, Inc. under Award No. NNH08CD70Z-NNH09CF52D with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The United States Government has a nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide license to use, reproduce, distribute, and prepare derivative works of this report, and allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. All other rights are retained by the copyright owner. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA logo courtesy of NASA. Abt Associates Inc. Acknowledgements The NASA Informal Education Evaluation team would like to thank NASA project managers and staff, partners, and grantees for their assistance with and participation in the project profiles, interviews, focus groups, and surveys for this study. We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation we received from NASA Informal Education and Outreach staff, and the individuals affiliated with the projects. Their thoughtful and detailed responses allowed us to gather the necessary information to analyze and describe the activities associated with the Informal Education Program portfolio. Our work was much facilitated by the support and guidance of the staff at NASA. We are particularly grateful for the assistance of staff from the NASA Office of Education, including Brian Yoder, Manager for Program Evaluation and Mary Sladek, Manager for Informal Education, as well as Joyce Winterton and James Stofan. Lastly, we would also like to thank the reviewer of this report, Alina Martinez from Abt Associates, for the helpful feedback provided. Abt Associates Inc. Acknowledgements Contents Executive Summary ..............................................................................................................................i Chapter 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................1 Roadmap to this Report ...............................................................................................................2 Background and Context of Informal Science Education............................................................2 Methods Used to Evaluate Informal Science Education ...................................................4 Evaluation of NASA’s Informal Education Program ..................................................................6 Chapter 2. Evaluation Study Design...................................................................................................8 Evaluation Questions ...................................................................................................................8 Describing NASA’s Investment in Informal Education ..............................................................9 Phase 1: Profiles of NASA Outcomes 2 and 3 Projects ....................................................9 Phase 2: Preliminary Case Studies of Five Informal Education Projects ........................10 The Informal Education Program’s Role in NASA Office of Education Program .........11 Understanding NASA’s Informal Education and Outreach Efforts...........................................13 Limitations .................................................................................................................................14 Chapter 3. NASA’s Investment in Informal Education.................................................................15 Project Profiles...........................................................................................................................15 Preliminary Case Studies ...........................................................................................................16 Astro Camp......................................................................................................................17 Competitive Program for Science Museums and Planetariums (CP4SMP) ....................21 How Things Fly (HTF)....................................................................................................25 Partnerships .....................................................................................................................26 Science on a Sphere (SOS)..............................................................................................31 NASA’s Activities with Scouts .......................................................................................34 Girl Scouts Core Trainer Workshops and Girls in Space Project....................................35 National Scout Jamboree.................................................................................................38 Summary....................................................................................................................................41 Chapter 4. NASA’s Distinction between Informal Education and Outreach ..............................43 Findings......................................................................................................................................43 Description of the Sample ...............................................................................................43 Distinctions Between Informal Education and Outreach Activities at NASA ................45 Attributes Specific to Informal Education.......................................................................47 Summary....................................................................................................................................48 Chapter 5. Conclusions and Recommendations .............................................................................49 Conclusions................................................................................................................................49 Recommendations and Future Directions ..................................................................................50 Works Cited ........................................................................................................................................52 Abt Associates Inc. Contents Appendix A: Project Profiles Appendix B: Data Collection Protocols Appendix C: Survey: Distinguishing NASA’s Informal Education and Outreach Activities Appendix D: CP4SMP Grantees Appendix E: Map of Individual Girl Scout Councils Reached by NASA Appendix F: Summary of NASA Activities with Girl Scouts USA and Boy Scouts of America Appendix G: Frequencies and Means for Survey Items Abt Associates Inc. Contents Executive Summary The National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Informal Education Program provides support to individual learning and informal education communities by facilitating access to NASA staff, research, technology, information, and/or facilities. These communities include but are not limited to amateur astronomy groups, after-school programs, libraries, museums, science centers, planetaria, zoos, aquaria, and community groups. NASA’s Informal Education Program also provides professional development opportunities for informal science educators and works to facilitate collaborative partnerships between the informal and formal education communities, both inside and outside the agency. The Informal Education Program goals are to (NASA Informal Education website, 2010): Increase interest in and understanding of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by inspiring and engaging individuals of all ages; Establish linkages between informal and formal education; and Stimulate parents and others to support children’s STEM learning endeavors by becoming informed proponents for high-quality, universally available STEM education. In addition to its education activities, NASA engages in outreach efforts that fall outside the Office of Education (OE). These efforts provide opportunities for the general public to learn about and participate in activities related to STEM and NASA’s mission. As part of its continuing effort to maximize efficiency by assessing the effectiveness of its efforts, NASA’s Office of Education contracted with Abt Associates in July 2009 to evaluate the Informal Education Program. The goals of the evaluation are twofold: (1) to gain insight into its investment in informal education; and (2) to clarify existing distinctions between its informal education and outreach efforts. The evaluation findings provide descriptive information about all the projects in the NASA’s education portfolio affiliated with Outcome 3 (Informal Education) and selected Outcome 2 (Elementary and Secondary Education) that serve the informal education community. Additionally, the evaluation findings provide detailed information about five specific NASA-selected informal education projects, partnerships, or activities, and pay particular attention to their progress toward stated goals, use of NASA resources and