For over thirty years, the Exploratorium has been exploring new practices in exhibition design, media development, and teaching and learning. The following papers, reports and links describe some of our work.

The Visitor Research and Evaluation Department at the Exploratorium conducts evaluation studies on our exhibits and programs and research studies on the learning that happens in our public spaces. Research studies include quantitative comparisons among different potential strategies for the design of exhibits and programs which have broad applicability beyond a particular exhibit or set of exhibits.

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Informal learners are not limited to physical spaces, but include mobile, distant, and lifelong learners. New forms of interaction with new media, learning technologies, and high-speed networks require new models and methodologies for designing and studying learning and teaching mediated by these innovations. Our work involves both research and evaluation studies of online and onsite audiences who connect with the Exploratorium via its webcasts, networked multimedia, wireless technologies, and digital libraries.

Exploratorium Online: A Digital Library for Science Education

Presentations from ASTC 2003

The Electronic Guidebook Project: Using Portable Devices and a Wireless Web-based Network to Extend the Museum Experience

Who's Out There? A Pilot User Study of Educational Web Resources by the Science Learning Network (SLN)

Digital Learning and Play

The Exploratorium offers multi-year professional development programs for a range of educators, including classroom teachers, museum-based educators, and school district administrators. These programs immerse participants in deeply meaningful experiences with hands-on activities, science content knowledge, and inquiry-based science teaching methods. Our research explores changes in teaching practices and how our inquiry-based model of teaching, professional development, and social learning context translate into effective practices and improved learning on a local and national level. In addition, we are exploring the longitudinal impact of Exploratorium museum educator programs on youth development and participation in science.

Exploratorium Online: A Digital Library for Science Education

The Exploratorium's Institute for Inquiry Four Cornerstone Claims

The Turning Test: A New Approach to Evaluating Investments in Educational Capacity and Infrastructure-Assessing the Impact of the Exploratorium's Institute for Inquiry

Inquiry Thoughts, Views, and Strategies for the K-5 Classroom: A monograph for professionals in science, mathematics, and technology education

Successful organizations learn how to manage change, transform work practices, and sustain innovation within its own institution as well as with other partner institutions as change agents. Via our international partnerships with schools, museums, technology centers, after school clubs, and scientific research laboratories, we are engaging in an evolving area of research in the development and study of partnerships, organizational change practices, and leadership in the study of informal science learning and institutions, and their relationships to schools.