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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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I think it is even more difficult that David suggests.  It may be hard
to get usable results that Lisa is looking for, but it is not only
because "humans are difficult to study" as David suggests.

  I would hazard a guess that research questions that go like this:

1)Does exposure to hands-on, inquiry based exhibit x help students do
better on standardized test question y?
2) Is it more effective than textbook cramming or an in-class
experience, or an instructional video, in improving students accuracy
in answering this same question?

Will not give results that would support the kind of learning that
happens at our institutions.  In other words, the answers would be
"maybe" to question 1 and "no" to question 2.

I also think that letting our missions be defined in these terms is a
recipe for misunderstanding and failure.  Science centers are not the
most efficient way to prepare kids for standardized tests.

Eric Siegel
Director, Planning & Program Development
Connections Project Director
New York Hall of Science
47-01 111th Street
Queens, NY 11369
[log in to unmask]
www.nyscience.org

On Apr 27, 2004, at 9:14 PM, David Taylor wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology
> Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
> ***********************************************************************
> ******
>
> Lisa,
>         You've come across one of the really difficult parts
> of museum and classroom research... how to tell the
> long term effects of a single exposure to an experience
> or concept.
>         How do you differentiate the student who would have
> gotten that answer right without the exposure to the experience
> without a doing a pre-test to see if they already knew it... and if
> you give the pre-test are you 'priming' the student to pay attention
> to this factor that they might not have remembered otherwise.
>         I (and I'm sure many others) have been struggling with
> knowing how to really measure the kind of long term effects
> (particularly cognitive gain) from their museum experiences.
> And how do you know that the hands-on experience of making
> the gumdrop and toothpick pyramid was any more effective
> than if they had heard someone tell them it in a demonstration,
> or in an IMAX movie?  Are they just reciting back a fact or do
> they have real understanding of the concept.
>
>         Sorry for the long response... but it is something that
> really frustrates me compared to being able to replicate a
> physics experiment and isolate the factors... we humans
> are difficult to study...
>
> David
>
> David Taylor
> AHHA Museum Services
>   "Now I Understand"
>     (206) 363-8126
>    e-mail:   [log in to unmask]
> http://www.AHHA-MuseumServices.com
> --------------------------------------------------------
>
>> From: Lisa Jo Rudy <[log in to unmask]>
>> Reply-To: Informal Science Education Network
>> Subject: educational research query
>
>> Can anyone steer me in the right direction re research findings?
>> Here's my
>> question:
>>
>> I know that there's plenty of research that says that kids learn from
>> hands-on science experiences.  Is there any research that show that
>> kids can
>> translate what they learn in a hands-on setting into correct answers
>> on a
>> standard
>> worksheet or test?
>>
>> For example -- a child learns from experience (by building with
>> gumdrops and
>> toothpicks) that a pyramid is stronger than a cube.  Two weeks later,
>> he/she
>> is presented with a formal in-school test in which a pyramid, cube and
>> cylinder
>> are pictured in two dimensions.  The question asks: which is
>> strongest?  Can
>> the child go back in his mind to the hands-on experience and
>> translate the
>> hands-on experience into an abstract test response?  And... is there
>> any
>> technique by which this kind of retention and translation can be
>> facilitated?
>>
>> Thanks a million!!
>> Lisa Jo Rudy, Writer/Consultant
>
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