Resources

Initiating A Collaboration

There are two versions of "Tips for Initiating Collaboration" - one with tips for museum professionals and the other with tips for academic professionals.

"Blickets" - Object Names and Classification [Research Toy]

This activity explores whether children are sensitive to the relationship between the name of an object and it’s properties.

"Cardinal Number" - Children's Understanding of Numerosity [Research Toy]

This activity explores when children come to understand that the amount of things represented in a set are associated with a particular number word - a concept known as the "cardinal number principle".

"Creative Ownership" - how children value 'ideas' and 'labor' [Research Toy]

This activity is based on an experiment that explored children’s conceptions of ownership in relation to the value children place on own their ideas or their own labor.

"Greedy Monkey" - Executive Function and Impulse Control [Research Toy]

This activity explores the development of executive function and impulse control in toddlers and preschoolers.

For a copy of the original paper Less is More: Executive Function and Symbolic Representation in Preschool Children please contact Dr. Stephanie M. Carlson, Department of Psychology, University of Washington (carlsons@u.washington.edu).

"Inhibition" - Theory of Mind & Executive Function in Toddlers [Research Toy]

The research toys in this activity are based on a series of tasks done by researchers at the University of Washington to assess the presence of self-control and the ability to view different perspectives, and the link between these skills, in children that are two and three years of age.

For a copy of the original paper Executive Function and Theory of Mind: Stability and Prediction From Ages 2 to 3 please contact Dr. Stephanie M. Carlson, Department of Psychology, University of Washington (carlsons@u.washington.edu).

"Novel Toy" - Impacts of Direct Instruction vs. Exploratory Play [Research Toy]

This activity explores the impact of a teacher's instruction on children's play behaviors.
The Novel Toy is used as an introduction to research activities for informal educators at many Living Laboratory sites.

"Praise" - Exploring the Effect of 'Intelligence Praise' and 'Effort Praise' [Research Toy]

This activity explores differences in children's effort when praised for "hard work" or "being smart".

For a copy of the original paper Praise for Intelligence can Undermine Children’s Motivation and Performance please contact Dr. Carol Dweck, Department of Psychology, Stanford University (dweck@stanford.edu).

Development of Science Communication Skills in Living Laboratory

These resources serve as a starting point for evaluators and others interested in conducting formal studies on the impacts of Living Laboratory on professional audiences.

Resources for Communicating Science: Professional Development, Research and Evaluation is a research-based tool for practitioners to reflect on the development researchers' and educators’ science communication skills through their experiences with Living Laboratory.

Public Interactions with Living Laboratory

Tracking Your Impact: Participants & Educational Opportunities defines how to track different kinds of visitors who experience Living Lab.

The Impact Form is for researchers to record their interactions (with visitors and staff) while at the museum. It can be complete during the shift (e.g. using tally marks to note each interaction), or at the end of the shift (e.g. noting the total number of interactions in each category). Print out a copy of the form, and have it on hand for researchers in the area where Living Lab takes place.

The Log Template provides a convenient way to compile weekly or bi-weekly updates about the Living Lab program at your site. Museum staff at Hub sites share such reports via email, with all staff involved in the Living Lab program at their site.

Many sites use Participant Stickers to help keep track of visitors who have contributed data to studies during their visit to the museum - we provide a template for printing such stickers (designed for an Avery style 5294 template).

Professional Development & Training - Research Assistants

This section includes training outlines, tips for recruiting participants in a museum environment, and other resources related to professional development for research assistants.

The Researcher Orientation Guide highlights the goals of a researcher orientation and outlines a typical orientation schedule. The document includes an orientation planning checklist, and a research contact information form.

Participant Recruitment in the Museum – Tips for Research Assistants suggests several successful strategies and methods researchers may use to recruit participants in a museum setting.

Caregiver Education - Tips for Communicating with Visitors suggests strategies for educating visitor groups of various types (e.g. school groups, extended families, children visiting with an adult other than their parent/legal guardian, etc.).

Recruiting and Training Research Assistants for the Museum Environment outlines effective strategies for finding and introducing new researchers to the Living Lab program and describes how to “ease researchers in” to their role in the Living Lab.

Researcher Orientation – Reflection Form is used to record researcher questions that arise during orientations. Researcher questions can be used to help streamline future trainings.

Living Laboratory Community Updates

This section contains brief reports from Living Laboratory sites around the country. New reports will be added as they are featured in Living Laboratory e-news.

Handouts for Caregivers

A selection of caregiver handouts that could be displayed/distributed in children's exhibitions.

Youth Development through Living Laboratory

The resources in this section were created through a workshop (held at the Museum of Science, Boston in Fall 2016) to consider ways to foster the STEM workforce via both science research and science communications experiences for high school students through Living Laboratory. Living Laboratory community members shared their current efforts and past successes, and brainstormed possible models for integrating high school students to the model.

A White Paper summarizes results of a community wide survey that helped shape the meeting agenda, as well as proceedings from the workshop itself.

This work described in this section was funded by the National Science Foundation under project #1640726.