Researching Impact: Measuring Technology Enhanced Outcomes from the NASA Space Science Education Consortium

A conceptual framework for empirical research on the impact of NASA Space Science Education Consortium (NSSEC) activities is presented in this paper, along with a cross-referencing system between the NSF-based NSSEC evaluation framework and historical definitions of comparable psychometric constructs in the literature. A selected set of findings from fours years of research on the impact of hands-on, technology infused space science activities provide evidence for large content knowledge gains and an increase in interest in space science, as well as the development of positive dispositions (persistent positive attitudes) toward space science –as a result of weekend space science camp activities. Findings provide evidence that: a) pre-post assessments, b) treatment versus comparison group studies, and c) retrospective pretest (reflecting on before versus after), can all yield useful empirical data for quantitative analysis of impact.