Office for Research Advancement

Oregon Sea Grant's Cyberlab uses real-time assessment and evaluation allowing visitors at the Hatfield Marine Science Center Visitors Center the opportunity to construct knowledge across learning contexts and become active participants in research. Such technologies allow for continuous data collection across multiple learning contexts and promote active participation of learners. Projects have explored public understanding of complex scientific visualizations, docent interpretive practices, impacts of live animal encounters on conservation values, collaborative activity among families at digital touch tables, engineering and tinkering activities of visitors, and use of handheld technologies to create continuity across learning environments.

A cyber-scholars research fellows program brings dozens of learning sciences researchers to OSU, to carry out onsite and remote research using the network infrastructure of the Cyberlab, and seven dissertations and theses have been supported at OSU. A cross-cultural/cross-linguistic research agenda has been developed using the same tools to analyze data from science museum experiences in Brazil and Columbia. The project has resulted in the development of seven science museum exhibits experienced by approximately 150,000 visitors annually.