Studying Family Learning at a Traveling Environmental Biology Exhibit Developed with and for Alaska Libraries and their Communities

Given the many pressing challenges to environmental sustainability, it is important that learning opportunities foster connections to nature, especially because such connections are linked to understanding and pro-environmental behavior. It is well-established that outdoor nature experiences, particularly those that generate emotional responses such as feelings of awe, can bring about a sense of nature connectedness.

However, the ways that nature connectedness can be brought about by indoor informal learning experiences, such as nature-focused exhibits, is relatively underexplored. Relatedly, awe is an emerging affective learning outcome of high interest in the informal STEM learning field. This project will add to the nascent research literature by studying the relationships between exhibit design elements, nature connectedness, and emotional responses such as awe.

Researchers at the University of Alaska and exhibit developers and evaluators from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry will partner with librarians and their communities across Alaska to develop a traveling exhibit on pollination, one which is specifically designing to elicit a sense of awe and nature connectedness.. Pollination is a critical aspect of terrestrial ecosystems, with the vast majority of flowering plants requiring a pollinator in order to reproduce; however, many pollinator species are declining or shifting their ranges due to climate change and other environmental issues.

General knowledge about pollination remains low, a trend that is evident in Alaska. Yet, in Alaska, these trends have implications for culturally important wild-collected plants. The exhibit will travel to several libraries around Alaska, reaching diverse families with children ages 7-12, including rural families, Alaskan Native families, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander families, families from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, and learners with disabilities.

Grounded in principles of Universal Design for Learning and incorporating components that are derived from known antecedents of awe, this immersive exhibit will feature giant flowers that allow visitors to take the perspective of a pollinator. Augmented reality and multisensory elements will directly engage learners in pollination-related concepts such as interdependent relationships.

To deepen connections to localized community interests and experiences, librarians will co-design public programming activities related to the exhibit content.

This project builds knowledge in the informal STEM learning community in two ways. First, the project will use an exploratory qualitative design to query the relationships between exhibit design elements and the ways in which nature connectedness and emotions are generated and linked. Two main research questions include 1) What emotions are experienced in an exhibit designed to produce awe among visitors?

Which aspects of the exhibit produce which kinds of emotions? 2) What, if any, changes in nature connectedness do visitors describe after experiencing the exhibit? In what ways does nature connectedness intersect with any emotions experienced? Interviews and video data for 40 families will serve as the primary data sources.

The project will draw from and build on several existing coding schemes (e.g., the Core Affect/EARL scheme, a Nature Connectedness scheme), supporting methodological advancement in the field as well. The qualitative nature of the research will allow the team to explore whether and how core elements of nature connectedness intersect with the cultural values (e.g., Tlingit), and detail such nuances in the findings.

Front end evaluation will engage Alaska communities to form the exhibit content and stories, while summative evaluation will investigate the extent to which participants find the exhibit and programming interesting, engaging, informative, and relevant. The second contribution to informal STEM learning knowledge-base is through summative evaluation queries into lessons learned from participating librarians regarding the development and delivery of programming, and the impacts of the project on participating libraries and librarians.

Findings will be widely shared by the University, OMSI, and the libraries to ensure broad impacts in each of these related fields. Dissemination will include social media, journal publications, and presentation at professional meetings.

This Integrating Research and Practice project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.