A+choreographer,+a+physicist,+and+an+evaluator+walk+into+a+theater

 **A choreographer, a physicist, and an evaluator walk into a theater:** **Mixed methods research designs for evaluating impact at the art/science/engagement interface** Diane Doberneck, Researcher, National Collaborative for the Study of University Engagement, Michigan State University [connordm@msu.edu] Paula K. Miller, graduate researcher, Michigan State University [mille995@msu.edu] John H. Schweitzer, Professor, Michigan State University [schweit1@msu.edu]



**Keywords:** Informal learning environments, art/science engagement, evaluation, mixed-methods

**Track:** Program evaluation and assessment

**Format:** Interactive workshop on research methodologies

**Date & time:** Thursday 2:00-3:10 **Location:** Salon 7

**Summary:** A great deal of learning takes place outside of schools and universities in informal learning environments (ILEs), including museums, libraries, science centers, virtual environments, and even in everyday conversations. While these ILEs are acknowledged and praised for their critical role in shaping public understanding of arts and sciences, critics cite the paucity of rigorous evaluation of learning outcomes as a major weakness. Assessment of ILEs poses a challenge for researchers: how do you rigorously evaluate outcomes without the research interrupting the learning activities?

Choreographed by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, “The Matter of Origins” employs dance movements, stories, and images to explore historical perspectives and cutting-edge physics about our beginnings. In Act One, the audience experiences projected media, soundscape, and dance by a multi-generational cast in a theater. In Act Two, they adjourn to a nearby room for tea, cake, and dialogue facilitated by local scientists. Tea includes dance interruptions and additional science content to stimulate reflection and public engagement about the nature of science, limits of measurement, and meaning of movements—both big and small. This NSF-funded, multi-site, mixed-methods evaluation exemplifies how rigor and creativity are possible when choreographers, physicists, and evaluators collaborate at the art/science/engagement interface. The research design was iterative and generative, accommodating variations in venues and audiences. At all sites, qualitative and quantitative data were collected to assess the impact of the ILE on the audience.

Findings include: 1) significant changes in audience members’ attitudes, interests, knowledge, and behavior towards science; 2) significant changes in emotional engagement with the subject matter during the performance and the tea experience; 3) positive reactions to the opportunity to engage others and scientists in conversation about individual reactions to the performance and its themes; and 4) relationships between audience members’ ways of thinking and their experience at the art/science/engagement interface.

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