The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will create a 5,000 sq ft traveling exhibition designed to engage families with children ages 10-14 with concepts of algebra. Access Algebra will increase visitor awareness of the role of algebra in everyday life and help them to develop algebraic thinking skills. This exhibition will travel to 21 science centers, reaching some 3.5 million visitors on its national tour. It will be accompanied by an Educator's Guide, Family Guide, and complementary web activities.
Access Algebra incorporates testing and implementation of an innovative model for professional development for museum exhibit, program, and interpretive staff. It links the exhibition tour to training at each venue designed to increase knowledge of algebra concepts and to develop facilitation skills in family math learning. The package includes workshops, training DVD, printed guide, Math Toolkit, and website support.
Project partners include TERC, Oregon State University College of Education (OSU), and Blazer Boys & Girls Club (BBGC). The BBGC members will participate in exhibit development over an extended (12-week) period, helping to create an exhibition that will engage a target audience of underserved low-income youth.
The strategic impact of Access Algebra derives from the development and testing of effective strategies for engaging audiences in exhibit-based informal math learning, along with increasing the capacity of the field for facilitating these kinds of experiences through a new model for professional development.
What does it take to create a video game, line up rhythms like the best DJs, or design a roller coaster that produces the biggest thrills? Whether it is art, music, or engineering, it takes math to meet these creative challenges. In the exhibition Design Zone, visitors discover how video game developers, music producers, roller coaster designers, and other creative problem solvers use math to do the amazing things they do. The Access Algebra project, funded by the National Science Foundation, was undertaken to address two critical needs in the informal science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education field: to develop and test effective strategies for informal math learning and to build capacity among STEM educators to facilitate that learning. The project, led by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), produced Design Zone, a 6,000 sq. ft. traveling exhibition, and a series of workshops to be delivered to education staff at museums as the exhibition tours. More information on the project can be found at www.designzoneexhibit.org/. Intellectual Merit Science centers and museums can play an important role in supporting math literacy, but there have been few studies of effective strategies for promoting math learning in informal settings. The evaluation of the Access Algebra project identified a number of promising strategies for engaging visitors in algebra and for supporting parents and other caregivers in their roles as facilitators of their children’s learning. In addition, the project is building capacity in the museum field for facilitating informal math learning. Each museum that hosts the exhibition receives facilitation training for their education staff—a series of workshops and a Math Toolkit. Independent evaluation found that this training made a difference: it improved the experience for visitors, it contributed to the staff’s professional development, and it supported the commitment of museums to the facilitation of math learning. Most staff who participated in the training said it helped them gain skills to better facilitate visitor experiences in Design Zone and beyond. Broader Impact The project also sought to address a broader societal need for more informal math learning opportunities. The project recognized that algebra often acts as a "gatekeeper" subject. If students cannot succeed at algebra, their options for further education in STEM subjects and STEM careers become limited. Many students first encounter algebra classes in middle school. Thus the project chose a target audience of 10- to 14-year-olds and their families, with an emphasis on reaching minority and low-income youth and families. To better support classroom learning, the exhibition was developed to align with national math standards. Design Zone involves visitors in algebraic thinking—discovering and exploring mathematical relationships— as they engage in creative problem solving in art, music, and engineering. The exhibition uses the power of social learning, and especially family learning, to help build the target audience’s confidence in their abilities as math learners and their understanding of algebraic concepts, most importantly, mathematical relationships known as functions. Youth and families in the target audience were involved throughout the development process. The exhibits team at OMSI worked closely with a youth exhibit development team from a local Boys & Girls Club to develop exhibit ideas and concepts for the overall design of the exhibition. Independent evaluation of the project found that the exhibition was both educationally effective and entertaining. Ninety percent of children in the target age range engaged in algebraic thinking at the exhibits, and overall 95% of respondents surveyed (and 97% of those in the target age range) agreed that they enjoyed their experience. The exhibition opened at OMSI in 2010 and is currently touring museums across the US. Over its eight-year tour, we anticipate that the exhibition will reach more than 3.5 million visitors. The full summative evaluation reports on the exhibition and the professional development program are posted at www.omsi.edu/sites/all/FTP/files/evaluation and http://informalscience.org/.
