The aim of this project is to formally study and improve upon the practices that integrate STEM with creative practices and embed them into unconventional learning environments, like cultural festivals. The goal is to determine outcomes based on three theoretical frameworks, the concept of follow up activity and subsequent reinforcing experiences.
Project deliverables include a how-to guide on expanding STEM audiences, targeted at cultural institutions who want to incorporate science content into their activities, and for ISL institutions who want to integrate their activities into cultural settings.
Mark Rosin
Professor / Executive Director
Hi everyone! Happy to be presenting here. Be sure to shoot any questions over. Mark
Paul Slater
Great project! We can all benefit from such a creative exploration. Having fun while learning makes heavy content easy...and then community shares the innovation with others. STEM parties are the BEST!
Mark Rosin
Mark Rosin
Professor / Executive Director
Thanks Paul!
Lisa Miller
Teacher
Everyone looks like they are having fun with the STEM activities! It's great to see.
In the information about Guerilla Science next to the video, it says "The aim of this project is to formally study and improve upon the practices that integrate STEM with creative practices and embed them into unconventional learning environments, like cultural festivals. " Could you please share how you are approaching the formal study. Thanks!
Mark Rosin
Martin Storksdieck
Lisa, good question. In am leading the small research team at Oregon State University's Center for Research on Lifelong STEM Learning. We are working with Mark to conduct studies on who tunes in to GS, and also what those who do take away from the experience. We do this through feedback forms, short so-called spot interviews, semi-structured deep interviews, observations and follow-up online surveys. We did this at the Eclipse Festival, but also other GS events. The key to our research questions about who participates is to compare the GS participants with those who don't or have not yet. We use a range of measures around identity, interest, and satisfaction. Initial results are promising and we hope to have the first manuscripts written in the next month or so.
Rebecca Teasdale
Rebecca Teasdale
Thanks for sharing the research piece, Martin. This exciting work! Do you have any preliminary findings to share about who participates in terms of demographics and/or STEM identity?
Mark Rosin
Martin Storksdieck
Yes! The short of it: GS is serving a wide range of audiences, including those who like science, but also those who are not much connected to it. We found that among this audience, or even the festival goers in general, few people were adverse to science, though they had rather complex perspectives on it. A really important initial finding is also that it matters for this audience how science is presented. They appreciate the art-science connection that GS creates, the creative and playful way of the experience. Whether this is now a context-specific expectation or holds no matter where this audience may encounter science is not yet clear. We are currently writing up the first round of results and should have a paper soon.
Mark Rosin
Todd Newman
Just excellent! Burning man for science. This reminds me that experiments can be more fun than real life. Keep up the good work!!!
Mark Rosin
Stephen Uzzo
Chief Scientist
Thanks for sharing your work. The video clip is lively and well communicates the spirit of the event. So congratulations are in order for getting science learning to the coveted and largely unattended to (or what, at least looks like) 18-24 year old audience. What a coup! Would like to know more about the demographic of the audience you served at the event, and looking forward to seeing what Martin comes up with. Great work.
Mark Rosin
Martin Storksdieck
Martin Storksdieck
Thanks, Steve: We had a pretty good representation at the Guerilla Science portion of the Eclipse Festival, including families (yes!). The age range at this festival was wide, and represents to a degree the high ticket price to get in. But in June we'll collect data at the Figment Festival in Governor's Island (New York, June 23/24), and we will probably see a different audience there, way more family oriented. We are very curious about comparing with the Eclipse. Ah, and: PLEASE COME VISIT!
Mark Rosin
Anushree Bopardikar
Fascinating to see how science can be made accessible to a broader audience in creative and lively ways! The images in your video convey powerfully how unconventional learning environments can blend science with local culture to provide engaging, educative experiences. I was struck especially by the variety of activities that were put together. Can you say more about what strategies you have found helpful to identify suitable activities and experiences for a target audience?
Mark Rosin
Mark Rosin
Professor / Executive Director
That's a great question, and it's something that we're trying to deconstruct formally.
In terms of the festival events that we're showing in the video, the curactors/event producers who put on the event all have a background in either exhibition development or science festivals AND are music festival afficionados. So, the curators are all people who have a deep intuitive understanding of what the audience would like.
What we'd like to know is how it's possible to create events for an audience where the core Guerilla Science team does not have a deep intuitive understanding of that audience. We're experimenting with that now by running a science-artists residency program, which is going to populate about half the FIGMENT programming for June 23-24th. We'll see how that goes and we'll be writing up the results in a way that we hope others can use.
Victoria Coats
interesting new venue to experiment with the science/art/exhibit/performance/activity mash up. Are the festivals multiple days with the same audience? do participants return to repeat or try new activities? is this model more effective with a semi-captive audience or would it work for different kinds of venues? When are you showing up at the Oregon Country Fair?
Mark Rosin
Professor / Executive Director
Yes, festivals are multiple days. Typically of medium size: 10,000 - 20,000 attendees, in general.
In a given year, it's hard to say what proportion of the people who come to the activities come to more than one. There is certainly a proportion of return attendees, but I really don't know what percentage to put on this.
The model does work especially well for semi-captive audiences. I would attribute this primarily to the culture of exploration and an openness to trying new experiences that comes with attending a (music/arts) festival. There is a literature on this that is going to be part of the next paper we write.
While we don't know rigorously if this would work for other venues, we suspect it would based on some experiments in other sorts of venues: Food markets and pop-up urban spaces. This year we are going to Dutchess County Fair, NY to test this.
Further posting is closed as the showcase has ended.