Project Related:

Educational Resources

  • Museum Exhibits

    Grade:
    Resource: museum exhibit

Heart Smart

Grant Code: R25RR023279

Funding Years: 09/26/2006 - 06/30/2011

Institution: University of Miami Coral Gables

Department: Department of Psychology

Address:
1204 Dickingson Dr.
Coral Gables, FL, 88134

PI:
SAAB, PATRICE G.,
Phone: (305) 284-5472
Fax:
Email: psaab@miami.edu

Co-PI:
BROWN, JUDY,
Phone: (305) 284-2760
Fax: (305) 284-2769
Email: jabrown@miamisci.org

URL: http://www.miamisci.org/www/heartsmart.html
Audience

The Museum-s 200,000 visitors per year, including families, teachers, students, young adults, and tourists, are the primary audience for the Heart Smart hands-on interactive exhibit. Approximately 31% of the Museum-s annual visitors are Hispanic and 13% are Black. During the dissemination phase of the project, the exhibit will travel to both traditional museum settings as well as alternative sites, broadening audience access.

Subjects Addressed

Heart Smart will raise awareness about risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease, including the metabolic syndrome, and strategies for improving cardiovascular health. The exhibit will invite visitors to contribute data on measurements related to cardiovascular health (i.e., their height, weight, waist circumference and blood pressure), and inform visitors about the research process.

Project Description

The overall goal of the project is to raise awareness among students, teachers and the general public about the process and the importance of health-related research, improving their ability to make better personal health decisions. In addition to the hands-on interactive exhibit, the project includes a research study aimed at determining whether a museum-based health exhibit and related materials (specifically, the Heart Smart Decisions activity themed around cardiovascular health) are effective in changing cardiovascular health knowledge among 10th graders in Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Participating students will be selected from three high schools representative of the school district-s diversity. Specific project objectives are: 1. To raise public awareness of recent research on cardiovascular risk factors, the diseases associated with these risk factors, and strategies for improving cardiovascular health. 2. To investigate the extent to which a museum-based health exhibit functions as an education intervention strategy that can lead to gains in students- knowledge about cardiovascular health and address a primary prevention need. 3. To disseminate the exhibit and complementary resources to other museums and alternative venues, extending and sustaining the impact of the project. 4. To evaluate the effectiveness of the museum/university collaboration for conducting research in an informal setting.

Resources for Sharing

The high school study will generate data on 540 adolescents at three time points. The museum exhibit has the potential to generate data from 100,000 visitors. No identifying information will be included in either dataset. After the project-s investigators complete data analyses, the data will available to other users under a data-sharing agreement that provides for a commitment to use the data for research purposes only, to secure the data using appropriate computer technology, and to destroy or return the data after analyses are completed.

Dissemination Strategies

The project will identify museums and science centers with existing heart or health-related exhibits and offer them Heart Smart for a 3-month tour as a means of extending/refreshing their installation. The Museum will also identify non-traditional local venues to host the exhibit, including libraries, high schools, hospitals and university settings, leveraging the Museum and the University of Miami-s partnership. Following the completion of the experimental study, the Museum will conduct professional development on the use of the Heart Smart Decisions activity for all of the 10th grade biology teachers at the three high schools involved in the study. The Museum will develop a Heart Smart Web page, featuring the aggregated visitor data, hot science stories, and a downloadable version of the Heart Smart Decisions activity. The project partners will also disseminate project resources and findings to both informal education audiences and the research community via presentations at national professional conferences and articles prepared for peer-reviewed publications.

Abstract

The University of Miami's Department of Psychology, in collaboration with the Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium, will create a hands-on traveling exhibit, complementary classroom, and Web-based resources aimed at raising awareness about cardiovascular disease risk factors, and strategies for reducing these risks and improving personal health. The Heart Smart exhibit and educational resources will: 1) serve to highlight the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors across Miami-Dade County'

Keywords

exhibit, cardiovascular disease, personal health, obesity, diabetes, coronary disease, nutrition, activity, stress management, science museum, graduate student, student, game

View the Poster as presented at the 2006
SEPA Program Director's Conference

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