Strategies and Exemplars for Public Outreach Events: Planning, Implementation, Evaluation

Abstract:

Introduction

Each year the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sponsors a variety of public outreach events to share information with educators, students, and the general public. These events are designed to increase interest in and awareness of the mission and goals of NASA. Planning and implementation best practices gleaned from the NASA SMD Education’s review of large-scale events, “Best Practices in Outreach Events” will be shared. Outcomes from an event, i C Ceres, celebrating the Dawn mission’s arrival at dwarf planet Ceres that utilized these strategies will be shared. Best practices included can be pertinent for all event organizers and evaluators regardless of event size.

Background

The literature review focused on identifying evaluations of large-scale public outreach events—and, within these evaluations, identifying best practices. The following criteria for identifying journal articles and reports to potentially include:

• Public, science-related events open to adults and children.
• Events with more than 1,000 attendees.
• Events that occurred during the last 5 years.
• Evaluations that included information on data collected from visitors and/or volunteers.
• Evaluations that specified the type of data collected, methodology, and associated results.

Planning and Implementation Best Practices

The literature review revealed key considerations for planning and of large-scale events implementing events. A summary of related best practices is presented below. 1) Advertise the event 2) Use and advertise access to scientists 3) Recruit scientists using these findings 4) Ensure that the event is group and particularly child friendly 5) Target specific event outcomes

Best Practices Informing Real-world Planning, Implementation and Evaluation

Dawn mission’s collaborative design of a series of events, i C Ceres, including in-person, interactive events geared to families and live presentations will be shared. Outcomes and lessons learned will be imparted rising from these events and their evaluation. There will be a focus on the family event, in particular the evidence that scientist participation was a particular driver for the event’s impact and success.