Scientist-Educator Collaborative Workshop Workshop Evaluation

Held at the New England Center on the University of New Hampshire Campus Friday, March 13, 2009 through Saturday, March 14, 2009

The quantitative and qualitative information we receive through the workshop applications and evaluations is extremely important to our work here at COSEE-OS. Each successive workshop evolves in response to the feedback we receive from the participants.

Before the workshop, we collected a wide array of information about the participants, including background information. Following the workshop, participants completed evaluations that asked them to rate a number of areas such as the effectiveness of the multimedia tools, their learning of the science content, and the effectiveness of concept mapping.

Fostering high-quality interactions between scientists and educators is a key goal. Rather than let participants self select their teams, we "match make" educators using Ocean & Climate Literacy principles as our framework. In this case, educators rated their interactions with scientists as an average of 6.8 on a 7-point Likert scale (see graph at right), and 92% indicated that they had felt like scientists acted as peers and colleagues.

At the University of New Hampshire workshop, everyone felt the tenor of the interactions was positive and collegial. A few wished they'd been able to spend more time learning more from the scientists about the content.

Here is a summary of how participants felt about the overall organization of the workshop.

At least 80% of participants, often 90% or more, responded positively to questions about:

• The length of pacing of the workshop
• The amount of new experiences and enjoyment
• The workshop experiences overall (new learning and content, interactions with colleagues, scientists and COSEE-OS staff)

Watch a video of educator Marjorie Inderbitzen as she remarks on how the process of concept mapping can help unite science disciplines.

Quotes from Workshop Participants

"The workshop exceeded my expections - I did not think that I would have found the concept mapping piece as educationally positive."

"The opportunity to hear from so many scientists was incredible and really made this extremely worthwhile."

"It was a great workshop! Not only did I learn more about using concept mapping--but I am also leaving with a notebook of ideas about lots of other things I can do with my students after conversations with other teachers and the scientists. This was really one of the most valuable workshops I have been to for a long time!"