STEM Education and Training

Climate Ed Eval Week: Dan Zalles on Maintaining Flexibility in Evaluating Outcomes Across Varying Implementations

I’m Dan Zalles, Senior Educational Researcher at SRI International. Have you ever tried evaluating whether an innovative classroom intervention is leading to greater student learning outcomes, and found either that many teachers dropped out of the project or learning gains failed to materialize? It’s easy to conceptualize a centrally developed classroom innovation for students as …

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Climate Ed Eval Week: Susan Lynds on Considering Scientific Jargon to Avoid Communication Barriers

My name is Susan Lynds and I am a program evaluator at the Cooperative Institute for Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder.  I have been part of evaluation efforts for several tri-agency climate education programs funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …

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Climate Ed Eval Week: Nicole Holthuis on Lessons Learned from Measuring Intermediary Outcomes

Hi all.  My name is Nicole Holthuis.  I’m an independent research/evaluator specializing in science and environmental education. Much has been said about the desired outcomes of climate change education.  Evaluators have created and shared various instruments to measure changes in participants’ attitudes, interest, knowledge, behaviors, and skills.   But how do we make sense of these …

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Climate Ed Eval Week: Ann Martin on Building a Community of Climate Education Evaluators

Hi there! I’m Ann Martin, a postdoctoral fellow and internal evaluator with NASA Innovations in Climate Education, which funds climate education projects as part of NASA’s Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP). I’m also part of a cross-agency collaboration involving sister programs at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric …

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GSNE Week: Kathayoon Khalil on Evaluating Informal Learning Environments

My name is Kathayoon Khalil and I’m a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education studying evaluation practices in informal learning environments. I also conduct exhibit and program evaluations for informal learning institutions including zoos, aquariums, and museums. This post gives a couple tips on staying up-to-date on evaluations happening throughout the country, …

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LAWG Week: Patricia Moore Shaffer on STEM Evaluation in Informal Settings

My name is Patricia Moore Shaffer. I am the Evaluation Manager for the NASA Office of Education in Washington, DC, and enjoy networking with colleagues through the Washington Evaluators and the Federal Evaluator groups. Informal learning experiences, such as summer and after-school programs or museum exhibitions, present a prime venue for fostering youth interest in …

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Video in #Eval Week: Kas Aruskevich on Telling the Story Through Video

Greetings from Alaska. I’m kas aruskevich, principal of Evaluation Research Associates (ERA), I work in rural Alaska with a great team of evaluators, associates, and local intermediaries. In the unique Alaskan context in which we work, telling the story through video helps us to show the context of people, place, and situations. Video clips, compiled …

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Caryn Mohr on Connecting Primary Research to Community Indicators

Hello! I am Caryn Mohr, a Research Scientist at Wilder Research in St. Paul. I’m one of more than 40 researchers in the office who conduct primary research. My own work focuses on education programs addressing opportunity and achievement gaps. Our office also manages Minnesota Compass, a nationally recognized community indicators project. Opportunities to collaborate …

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ECLIPS and Systems TIG Week: Tarek Azzam and Matt Keene Recap Systems-Oriented Evaluation

Hello! We are Tarek Azzam (Claremont Graduate University) and Matt Keene (Environmental Protection Agency). We are members of the External Review Panel for ECLIPS. Whoa! Even though it’s oh-so-tempting to try, you don’t need the perfect string of words to define “systems-oriented evaluation.” Lesson Learned: It’s in the roots of evaluation  At its core a …

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ECLIPS and Systems TIG Week: Karen Peterman and Marah Moore on How a Systems Orientation Influences an Evaluator’s Role

Hello! We are Karen Peterman (Karen Peterman Consulting, Co.) and Marah Moore (Director of i2i institute and ECLIPS coPI). We are going to talk about some of the implications of a systems approach for the role of the evaluator. In a recent Thought Leaders Forum, Michael Patton reminded us that evaluation is a transdisciplinary field. …

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