Team-Based InquiryASTC Preconference Workshop, October

18

www.nisenet.org

Workshop Goals

Encourage and empower museum professionals to use team-based inquiry to improve informal education experiences

1. Understand what TBI is and how it can be used to more effectively develop educational experiences and improve professional practice

2. Value TBI as a tool

3. Develop skills to use TBI

4. Use professional resources to try implementing TBI in your own work

Speed Dating

• What are three surprising things that most people might not know about you?

• How do you currently get information to help improve your work or the educational experiences you create and deliver?

• How did you become involved in ISE or museum work?

• What experience have you had with evaluation?

• What is your best (or worst) science-related childhood memory?

• What is a current challenge in your work or at your institution that you would like to address within the next year?

Team-Based Inquiry

Team-Based Inquiry

An approach to empowering professionals to get the data they need, when they need it, in order to improve their products and practices and create successful educational experiences

Question

Investigate

Reflect

Improve

• Systematic • Led by non-evaluation

professionals• Collaborative and

team based• Small scale and

focused• Embedded in work

“Horton Senses Something Small”

Data collection• Observations of participants• Surveys with caregivers and parents

Example improvements• Shortened story• Prompted participation

Does the program engage young children? How could it be improved?

Are educational posters worth including in the NanoDays 2012 kit?

NanoDays 2012 Posters

Data collection• Interviews with 30 visitors at

three museums• Informal observations• Debrief with educators

Example lessons learned• Visitors liked the graphics and

suggested improvements• Educators felt graphics attracted

attention and defined space

Are we achieving our meeting goals? How can we better support participants?

NISE Regional Meetings

Data collectionButcher paper and sticky notes:

(1) What do you value most about this meeting?

(2) What’s one thing you’re taking from this meeting to bring back to your institution?

(3) In what ways can the Network further support you nano education work?

Example lessons learned• More opportunities for partners to share

Team-Based Inquiry

?

TBI In Action

Question

Investigate

Reflect

Improve

How could this activity be improved?

Collect feedback by interviewing visitors after activity.

Review interview responses to identify common patterns.

Brainstorm, prioritize, and implement solutions.

TBI In Action

Phase 1: Question

Question

Investigate

Reflect

Improve

How can this activity be improved to be more engaging for visitors and better communicate the main message about nanoscience?

Collect feedback by interviewing visitors after activity.

Review interview responses to identify common patterns.

Brainstorm, prioritize, and implement solutions.

Phase 1: Question

Question Worksheet

Project Title:

Educational Goal(s) List the goals of your educational experience. Prioritizing Inquiry Questions Fill in the table below for each of the broad inquiry questions that you and your team have brainstormed. Based on how useful, actionable, and feasible each question is, determine whether it is a high, medium, or low priority for your team-based inquiry study.

Inquiry question

Why is this question important to your team?

What types of information would you need to answer this question (e.g., visitor comments, program observations)?

What resources would you need to answer this question (e.g., staff, time, expertise, data collection forms)?

What changes might you be able to make if you answered this question?

Based on all of this, how high of a priority is this question? H=High, M=Medium, L=Low

H M L

H M L

H M L

H M L

Adapted from: Frechtling, J., & Sharp, L. (Eds.). (1997). User-friendly handbook for mixed method evaluations. Retrieved from http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/1997/nsf97153/start.htm

Ferrofluid Activity

How can this activity be improved to be more engaging for visitors and better communicate the main message about nanoscience?

Phase 2: Investigate

Question

Investigate

Reflect

Improve

Collect feedback by interviewing visitors after activity.

Review interview responses to identify common patterns.

Brainstorm, prioritize, and implement solutions.

How could this activity be improved?

Phase 2: Investigate

Connect Collect Close

Phase 3: Reflect

Question

Investigate

Reflect

Improve

Collect feedback by interviewing visitors after activity.

Review interview responses to identify common patterns.

Brainstorm, prioritize, and implement solutions.

How could this activity be improved?

Step 3: Reflect

Phase 4: Improve

Question

Investigate

Reflect

Improve

Collect feedback by interviewing visitors after activity.

Brainstorm, prioritize, and implement solutions.

Review interview responses to identify common patterns.

How could this activity be improved?

Phase 4: Improve

Summary Title

Team-Based Inquiry Summary Form Key contact, e-mail Summary date This report is a brief summary of a team-based inquiry study (TBI) and is designed to document and share lessons learned.

1. Question

What we hoped to learn and why it was important Include the following information in this section: • Educational experience goals, audience, topic, and description (if applicable) • Question(s) our group wanted to answer • Why it was important to answer those questions

2. Investigate How we answered our questions Include the following information in this section: • Start and end dates of the study • Who we collected data from • How we collected data • Types of data we collected • How we analyzed the data Attach any data collection tools or relevant documents.

3. Reflect What we found out Include the following information in this section: • Summary of the data (possibly including tables or graphs) • The most important patterns and findings that emerged

4. Improve How we changed our practice Include the following information in this section: • How our group responded or plans to respond to the findings • Recommendations for others • Ideas for future TBI studies

Wrap-Up

1. At the end of this workshop, are there new TBI questions that you might want to investigate related to your own work or projects at your institution?

2. What are the three most important things you will take away from this workshop?

3. What are three things you would like to do at your institution or as part of your work based on what you've learned or practiced today?

Wrap-Up

• How can we make staff meetings more useful and efficient?

• What exhibit topics are visitors interested in?

• What communication strategies are working well and not so well on this project?

• What would my staff like the department to focus on over the next year?

• How do local community organizations currently perceive the accessibility of our institution?

TBI Guide

www.nisenet.org/catalog/tools_guides/team-based_inquiry_guide

Questions and Comments

This presentation is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0940143.Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this presentation are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.