Q1: Planning and evaluation of science

WHAT IS EVALUATION?

Evaluation is a set of approaches and techniques used to make judgments about the effectiveness or quality of a program or treatment; to improve its effectiveness; and to inform decisions about its design, development, and implementation (National Research Council 2010). For an informal STEM project, evaluation generally provides information that can guide the project, suggest how it might be improved, and provide evidence to demonstrate whether it worked as intended.

When evaluating informal STEM education experiences, four main kinds of evaluation are often considered: Front-end, formative, remedial, and summative. Front-end evaluation occurs during the project planning process. It often takes the form of audience research as it gathers data about the knowledge, interests, and experiences of the intended audience. Formative evaluation guides project improvement during the development process by gathering data about a project's strengths and weaknesses that can be used to make improvements. Remedial evaluation is carried out when a finished exhibition or program first opens to see how all the individual components work together as a whole. The purpose is to see if any small changes need to be made before beginning summative evaluation, which focuses on a project’s overall effectiveness and impact. Summative evaluation is particularly important in making decisions about continuing, replicating, or terminating a project.

How is evaluation different from research?

The primary purpose of evaluation is to assess or improve the merit, worth, value, or effectiveness of a program or project and to advance the field (in this case, informal STEM education) by deriving lessons for fund makers, policymakers, or practitioners. Evaluation studies are typically conducted for clients and in collaboration with various stakeholders who are invested in improving or assessing a particular event, program, or activity. In contrast, educational research is typically designed to study a characteristic of learning grounded in an academic discipline such as psychology or sociology, or to study a particular theoretical framework. Research traditionally is geared toward knowledge generation for the larger field.

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Among the issues before the American People today none are of greater importance than that, of National Planning. The gradual evolution of the processes of civilization to their present state has brought National Planning to public attention as the next logical step. No one can explore the facts of our natural resources, our tool-power and our man-power without becoming aware of their interdependence and the need of intelligent coordinated action concerning them, if an orderly progressive society is to be established and maintained. If planning is to be incorporated in National Policy, the very nature of the problem itself and the facts and relationships to be dealt with should command the sincere and devoted attention of all groups of scientific workers in every field of human interest. It is not the purpose of this paper to argue this point. It will be assumed, before this group, that the planning process is a scientific process and therefore should be of great interest to the members of this association. In the short period assigned to the consideration of this subject, all that can be accomplished is to indicate what are some of the problems involved in scientific social planning. The inadequacies of the type of planning such as attempted by the German, Italian and Japanese Governments, to mention a few, and its comparison with the types of planning from which evolves a democratic social power, must be left for consideration at another time. The planning process as related to democratic social objectives is concerned with setting up a framework of relationships among the processes of civilization which has a high probability of attaining optimum social satisfactions. Modern civilization is founded on three primary dynamic systems each having its own characteristics. These dynamic systems will be termed 

"Systems of Power" and are:

l. Systems oi Resources Power

2. Systems of Tool-Power

3. Systems of Man-Power

The natural resources consist of such elements as the forests, fields, streams, minerals, wild life, plant life, climate and rainfall. The development and exploitation of these resources by man constitutes these as systems of resources power whose value in relation to social need and potentiality depends on the scientific integration observed in their development and use. The tools by which the natural resources are converted into useful goods and services arc brought together into systems of tool power through modern principles of industrial organization. They consist of factories, railroads, power plants and other organizations for production. These systems of power also have specific characteristics of operation.