Traveling Exhibits At Museums of Science (TEAMS): A Summative Evaluation Report

Authors

Becky Carroll, Dawn Huntwork and Mark St. John, Inverness Research Inc.

Purpose

The TEAMS Collaborative consists of a group of seven museums that received National Science Foundation funding to build four traveling exhibitions which would rotate amongst the group, then be made available through the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to small science museums across the country. This group of seven museums included four which had been funded, as a group, by a previous NSF award

In this report, Inverness Research examines the lessons learned from this second award of NSF funding for the TEAMS Collaborative. How successful were these seven museums in building good exhibits as well as enhancing the capacity at their institutions through the collaborative work? To answer this and other questions, we have divided our findings into two broad domains: 1) findings about the design and quality of exhibitions and the overall visitor experience, and 2) findings about the Collaborative and partnerships. In our Summary and Final Thoughts section we revisit briefly the project’s theory of action.

Intended Audience

Science Center Exhibit Designers, Educators and Administrators; Science Education Reform Leaders and Funders, and general public.

Disclaimer

Any and all errors are claimed by the authors of this document, Inverness Research Associates

Date published

April 2005

Distribution Policy

Inverness Research Inc. grants permission to print and distribute copies.

View & Print Report

These links will launch an Acrobat Reader document. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, click the button shown above.

DOWNLOAD REPORT (pp. 48)