Nanotechnology & Society Engaging Visitors in Nanotechnology & Society www.nisenet.org

Agenda “Questions” improv exercise Intro to team-based inquiry Tools for reflecting on visitor interactions Practice observing and collecting data

Improv Exercise Questions What skills are we practicing in this activity?

Scientific Inquiry 1. Observe 2. Hypothesize 3. Investigate 4. Interpret 5. Disseminate Transition: Okay, we had a chance to practice asking questions, which is at the heart of the team-based inquiry process that we’re going to talk about today. So, what is team-based inquiry (TBI)? As an analogy, we can think about the scientific inquiry process. This diagram shows a very general, oversimplified depiction of the scientific process (we know that scientists from different fields have very different ways of working). One of the hallmarks of science is that it involves asking questions (or making hypotheses) and then systematically collecting and analyzing data to answer those questions. Many of us are very familiar with scientific inquiry because it is often a goal for our visitors. For example, we might create an exhibition that tries to engage visitors in the process of observing, asking questions, and collecting data. Or we might create a program that gives students an opportunity to practice interpreting data and drawing conclusions. 4

Professional Inquiry 1. Question 4. 2. Investigate Improve 3. Reflect Inquiry is also an important part of professional practice. For example, companies and businesses often try to develop cultures of learning and to help employees become better at using data to make smart business decisions and adapt to changing market trends. Similarly, professionals in the medical field use inquiry to develop and test new treatments and schools often use inquiry as part of professional development to understand student data and improve learning. The diagram shows the ongoing professional inquiry process used in TBI, based on research from a variety of fields, such as participatory evaluation, evaluation capacity building, action research, and organizational change. Professional inquiry in general, and TBI specifically, involves asking questions related to your work or practice, collecting data to answer those questions, analyzing and reflecting on the data, and identifying concrete ways to improve based on findings. . 5

Team-Based Inquiry Team-based inquiry allows us to gather and use the information we need, when we need it, in order to improve our educational products and practices. 1. Question 2. Investigate 3. Reflect 4. Improve At its core, team-based inquiry is about building our capacity to gather and use the information we need, when we need it, in order to improve our educational products and practices.

“Horton Hears a Who” Does the program engage young children? How could it be improved? Data collection Observations of participants Surveys with caregivers and parents Debrief with program developers Lessons learned Program works best for ages 3-5 Prompt participation during the story To make this more concrete, here are some examples of TBI projects by different NISE Network teams. In each case, the team identified a question they needed to answer in order to move forward effectively with their work. In this case, the team was developing a new program and wanted to know how young children would respond to it. Data collection can include both traditional evaluation techniques, as well as more creative data collection that leverages the types of information we deal with every day as part of our work (e.g., meeting notes, e-mails, informal observations, etc.). In this case, the program facilitator worked with an evaluator to create forms to more systematically document their reflections and input from participants. In TBI, project teams identify specific lessons learned and ways to improve. In this case, the developer was able to identify the appropriate age group for the program, as well as a particularly effective facilitation strategy.

NanoDays 2012 Posters Data collection Lessons learned Are educational posters worth including in the NanoDays 2012 kit? Data collection Interviews with 30 visitors at three museums Informal observations by team Debrief with educators Lessons learned Visitors liked the graphics and suggested improvements Educators felt graphics attracted attention and defined space Another example… These examples highlight key elements of TBI: Projects are small scale and focused on information gathering to inform work. The inquiry is led by professionals, rather than evaluators or researchers, ensuring that information is useful and timely. The process of systematic, so that we become more professional and efficient in using data to inform our work. TBI is usually carried out by teams of professionals, so that we can develop shared understandings, benefit from each other’s expertise and knowledge, and provide different perspectives during data collection and analysis. It is important to document the process and findings of TBI in order to clearly articulate lessons learned and share findings more broadly. Data collection is embedded into our work and often leverages types of information we have access to every day.

Nano and Society TBI 1. Question 2. Investigate 3. Reflect 4. Improve 4. Identify successful strategies and develop new techniques. 1. What strategies support engagement and learning? These are just a few of the many ways that TBI can be used. TBI can inform the development of new programs or exhibits, the modification or adaptation of programs to different audiences or different contexts, the development or improvement of staff training programs, or the ongoing improvement of staff facilitation strategies. These examples are from NISE Network project teams and highlight how TBI can be a powerful process for developing and testing new products and programs. This is slightly different from how we will be using TBI with the nano and society activities. As we'll practice today, TBI is also very helpful for practicing and improving interpretation and facilitation strategies. For example: (discuss TBI training at nano and society workshop). For this training, we will focus on using TBI to practice conversational interpretation with the nano and society activities and improve and refine our strategies for supporting visitor learning and engagement. Question: What staff facilitation strategies and techniques work well to support visitor engagement and which strategies are less effective? Investigate: Use the conversation log (which we will look at in a minute) to capture what you learn from each visitor interaction. Reflect: Use the data reflection resources (which we will talk about at the end of the training) to look at a collection of conversation logs with other staff members and identify common patterns, including facilitation strategies that usually work well and those that usually don’t. Improve: Use what you learn from the inquiry process to improve your conversational interpretation with the nano and society activities. For this training, the TBI question is provided for us. We’ll focus on learning how to use the “conversation log” to investigate that question. 3. Review the logs with others and identify patterns. 2. Use the conversation log to document interactions.

Conversations Before we talk about the conversation log, let’s remind ourselves about conversations with visitors. (Review conversation handouts)

Conversation Log The nano in society visitor conversation log is a tool to help museum educators thoughtfully reflect on their own practice and practice using the conversational approach to engaging visitors. The log is not meant as a way to “grade” other educators, but rather should be viewed as a professional development instrument to help staff identify effective facilitation strategies. (Review basic elements of conversation log.) An important aspect of the conversation log is identifying a particular engagement or learning goal to focus on and a few indicators to determine if that goal has been accomplished. For this training, we will be focusing on one conversational interpretation goal: educators and visitors have distinct, equally important roles in the conversation. Creating these types of shared, jointly-constructed dialogs is central to conversational interpretation. How do you know if an interaction with visitors is meeting this goal? Two important indicators are: (1) visitors talk more than the facilitator, and (2) Visitors contribute their own values, expertise, knowledge, and personal experiences. Of course, the nature of the conversation will also depend on the visitor group. More generally, the conversation log can be used with any activity and tailored to any particular goals that an educator is working on (see blank version). The conversation log is meant to be filled out after each interaction with a visitor group. (Review conversation log guide.)

Data Reflection Resources Although we won’t be focusing on the “reflection” part of TBI today, there are resources included in the training module to guide discussions and analysis of the conversation log data. The data reflection guide provides an overview of how to lead a group of educators through the process of reviewing conversation log data, identifying themes and patterns, and discussing lessons learned and potential improvements based on those findings. (Review data reflection guide) The data reflection cheat sheet are a condensed version of the facilitation guide, meant to be handed out to all discussion participants. (Review data reflection cheat sheet)

Practice TBI Exploring Nano & Society—You Decide

This presentation is based on work supported by the National Science Foundation under Award Nos. 0940143 and 0937591. 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.