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Hilarie Davis

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Measuring the effects of education and communication space science activities is a challenge due to different audiences, formats, dosage, and objectives. What claims can be made about the effect of a collection of different activities? What methods and measures can evaluators provide to activity managers to collect data that can be aggregated across activities? A summative evaluation approach was devised based on the National Science Foundation Framework impact categories of behavior, attitudes, skills, interest/engagement, and knowledge (BASIK), “Identification of these categories was based on analysis of project impacts from a comprehensive review carried out on a representative sample of Informal Science Education proposals, final reports, and summative evaluations” ((Friedman, 2008, p. 11). Measurable objectives were developed for each of the 53 activities offered by the 21 institutions with specific identification of the intended impact categories. Methods and measures were then complied to evaluate the effect of those activities on their audiences’ behaviors, attitudes, skills, interest and/or knowledge. For the knowledge impact, the space science concepts were identified for each activity from the Science Literacy Strandmaps (http://nasawavelength.org/strandmaps). This provided a portfolio overview by concept and level, as well as concept. Methods and measures were identified by impact category to provide data across activity on effects. Results from evaluations of projects are reported in an online portfolio by institutions and summarized across projects for annual reporting.