| NSF Org: |
DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | May 23, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 23, 2017 |
| Award Number: | 1713425 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Ellen McCallie
emccalli@nsf.gov (703)292-5115 DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) EDU Directorate for STEM Education |
| Start Date: | July 15, 2017 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2021 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $299,899.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $299,899.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
1300 S LAKE SHORE DR CHICAGO IL US 60605-2403 (312)322-0325 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1300 South Lake Shore Drive Chicago IL US 60605-5919 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | AISL |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.076 |
ABSTRACT
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative research, approaches, and resources for use in a variety of settings. The proposed project broadens the utility of Public Participation in Scientific Research (PPSR) approaches, which include citizen science, to support new angles in informal learning. It also extends previous work on interactive data visualizations in museums to encompass an element of active contribution to scientific data. To achieve these goals, this project will develop and research U!Scientist (pronounced `You, Scientist!')--a novel approach to using citizen science and learning research-based technology to engage museum visitors in learning about the process of science, shaping attitudes towards science, and science identity development. Through the U!Scientist multi-touch tabletop exhibit, visitors will: (1) interact with scientific data, (2) provide interpretations of data for direct use by scientists, (3) make statements based on evidence, and (4) visualize how their data classifications contribute to globe-spanning research projects. Visitors will also get to experience the process of science, gaining efficacy and confidence through these carefully designed interactions. This project brings together Zooniverse, experts in interactive design and learning based on large data visualizations in museums, and leaders in visitor experience and learning in science museums. Over fifty thousand museum visitors are expected to interact annually with U!Scientist through this effort. This impact will be multiplied by packaging the open-source platform so that others can easily instantiate U!Scientist at their institution.
The U!Scientist exhibit development process will follow rapid iterations of design, implementation, and revision driven by evaluation of experiences with museum visitors. It will involve close collaboration between specialists in computer science, human-computer interaction and educational design, informal science learning experts, and museum practitioners. The summative evaluation will be based on shadowing observations, U!Scientist and Zooniverse.org logfiles (i.e., automated collection of user behavior metrics), and surveys. Three key questions will be addressed through this effort: Q1) Will visitors participate in PPSR activities (via the U!Scientist touch table exhibit) on the museum floor, despite all the distractions and other learning opportunities competing for their attention? If so, who engages, for how long, and in what group configurations? Q2) If visitors do participate, will they re-engage with the content after the museum visit (i.e., continue on to Zooniverse.org)? Q3) Does engaging in PPSR via the touch table exhibit--with or without continued engagement in Zooniverse.org after the museum visit--lead to learning gains, improved understanding of the nature of science, improved attitudes towards science, and/or science identity development?
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
U!Scientist (pronounced `You, Scientist!') is the first social, collaborative, Zooniverse-based digital interactive experience for museums. U!Scientist uses citizen science and learning research-based technology to enable museum guests to contribute meaningfully to real research, directly experience the process of science, and engage with each other in evidence-based reasoning. Zooniverse.org is the largest platform for online citizen science, with 2 million participants worldwide participating in dozens of projects across the disciplines. U!Scientist is rooted in Galaxy Zoo, a Zooniverse project helping astronomers classify galaxies.
In the center of the U!Scientist touch table is an interactive view of our Universe. There are six stations around the table; guests drag galaxies into their workstation to classify. Table-based prompts encourage guest interaction; comparing classifications, asking for help, celebrating `leveling-up', etc. There are also prompts to continue the experience online through Zooniverse.org.
Intellectual Merit: Our publication, Obiarah et al. 2021, won an ACM CHI '21 Best Paper Award. The article provides our assessment results, as well as best practices and design guidelines for incorporating online citizen science into museum spaces. Our formative assessment, centered around a Rapid Iterative Testing and Evaluation (RITE) process with direct feedback from museum guests every 4-6 weeks, provided a powerful approach to prioritizing the audience's perspective and needs. For example, we quickly saw that the online Galaxy Zoo workflow was too long to be effective in a museum setting. Dwell times in exhibits tend to be a few minutes or less. We shortened the online Galaxy Zoo workflow to a single question ("Is the galaxy smooth, with features, or a star/artifact?") so that it was still directly useful to the research but could be completed within seconds and quickly provide the guests a sense of accomplishment and ability.
Our messaging study explored the language and framing that would resonate most. A combination of 'We need your help' and 'Learn about galaxies' emerged as the most impactful (in terms of motivating the broadest cross-section of guests to engage with the table, but not feel intimidated). The experiments also demonstrated that guests are not familiar with or misunderstand the term 'citizen science'. As a result, we used more descriptive phrasing, rather than relying on the term.
Our formative assessment included video recordings, naturalistic observations, and surveys. Average dwell times were 6.2 minutes in the video study, 2.3 minutes in the naturalistic observations for those who classified at least one galaxy, and 45 seconds for those who did no classifications. Coding of group interactions showed that citizen science based museum experiences are fertile ground for social collaboration and engaging guests in the scientific experience of making claims and citing evidence, with significant `Astro talk', 'Making scientific claims', and 'Helping Behavior'.
One of the most important contributions of this effort was laying the foundation to trace engagement and learning across museum and online experiences. U!Scientist's direct connection to the rich online Zooniverse experience provides a unique opportunity. 10% of those who interacted with U!Scientist within the exhibit went on to participate in Zooniverse online after their museum experience. While it was beyond the scope of this effort to fully implement the tracking mechanism from in-person to online, the foundational elements are in place to link the U!Scientist and Zooniverse.org user behavior logs.
Broader Impacts: U!Scientist supports the development of a scientifically literate populace through direct engagement in the process of science and providing scaffolded opportunities for evidence-based reasoning. U!Scientist also provides the opportunity to challenge social norms around who can and cannot be a scientist and encourages broader participation in scientific research.
The Adler Planetarium in Chicago welcomes 500,000 guests each year and served as the pilot site for U!Scientist. The Adler has a socioeconomically, racially, and ethnically diverse audience, including the 50,000 Chicago Public School predominantly Latinx and African American students visiting through field trips each year. Ten percent of Adler guests interact with U!Scientist during their visit and ~10% of those continue their engagement online via Zooniverse afterwards. On average, Adler guests contribute ~1000 classifications each day through U!Scientist, and have classified over 160,000 galaxies to date.
The impact through the Adler is multiplied by our packaging the open-source code such that other institutions can host U!Scientist experiences as well in the coming years. Of the ~2000 science museums in the U.S., we estimate that a few hundred have the resources to purchase a touch table and ~10% of those are likely hosts for U!Scientist. There is the potential to provide 'spark' museum-based experiences for 100,000s of museum guests each year and the opportunity to transform those experiences into long-term science engagement through the rich online Zooniverse community and experience.
Last Modified: 08/05/2021
Modified by: Laura Trouille
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