Our team evaluates curriculum and its impacts on students. We typically evaluate curriculum at a project level, including iterative formative evaluation during the development phase; workshop evaluation on professional development training for teachers using the curriculum; evaluation of student data and teacher implementation data; and web analytics to assess the reach of curriculum use. We have experience with needs assessments in the early stages of a project to determine teacher demands and help project teams deliver successful and relevant curricula to classrooms.  

See an example evaluation report from the Research Experience in Alpine Meteorology (REALM) 

• REALM Evaluation Impact Report 2023

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Read our recent education research publications about curriculum development:

• Boyd, K. J., Gold, A. U., & Littrell, M. K. (2021). Teaching practices around natural hazards and community resilience in Colorado. Journal of Geoscience Education, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10899995.2021.1964319.
• Harris, S., Gold, A.U. (2017): Learning molecular behaviour may improve student explanatory models of the greenhouse effect. Environmental Education Research. 24 (5), 754-771. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2017.1280448

Our team currently evaluates several informal education projects. Two examples are described below.  

At the University of Colorado Boulder’s Fiske Planetarium, we evaluate video content against funding goals; relationships built through collaborations with video experts; as well as audience impact through surveys. We analyze the reach of the videos through tracking download requests and web analytics. We have also surveyed planetarium managers to gain information about how the videos were used and received by audiences.  

See an example report from the Fiske Explorations project:

• Fiske Planetarium Summative Report 2020

For the collaborative We are Water project, we conducted needs assessment and exhibit usability studies during the development phase of the exhibition that is currently traveling to rural and Tribal libraries across the Southwest. As the exhibition travels, we are tracking visitor engagement and using feedback to refine associated community events. also collaborate with an external evaluation team who assess the impact of the project on library and community partnerships via interviews. In addition, our research group is working with library staff and visitors to understand the impact of the project on the learning ecosystems in their communities. 

See an example evaluation report from the We are Water project:

• We are Water Summative Evaluation Report Slides (2024)

Our team provides formative and summative evaluation using collaborative approaches with project teams and partners for data centers and other large, multi-organization projects. Two examples are described here. 

The Environmental Data Science Innovation and Inclusion Lab (ESIIL): ESIIL is an NSF-funded data synthesis center led by CU Boulder, in collaboration with NSF’s CyVerse (University of Arizona) and the University of Oslo. ESIIL enables a global community of environmental data scientists to leverage the wealth of environmental data and emerging analytics to develop science-based solutions to solve pressing challenges in biology and other environmental sciences. CIRES CEEE supports this center through collaborative evaluation with the leadership team to assist with the development of the center and provide feedback on data synthesis working groups, events, and connections within the ESIIL network. The CIRES team contributes skills and expertise in collaborative evaluation approaches, needs assessment, and social network analysis. 

The Navigating the New Arctic Community Office (NNA-CO): NNA-CO is an NSF community program office led by CU Boulder in collaboration with Alaska Pacific University and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. NNA-CO supports the NSF-funded NNA Arctic Research program by building awareness, partnerships, opportunities, and resources for collaboration and equitable knowledge generation through research design and implementation; and coordinates effective knowledge dissemination, education, and outreach. In coordination with the project leadership, CIRES E&O provides a process evaluation of the team, feedback on events including a large annual meeting, tracking methods for project deliverables, as well as an ongoing needs assessment and focus group engagement of the participating researchers and Arctic community members which helped define the goals and activities for the community office and assess the extent of change from those activities. 

See an example evaluation report from NNA-CO:

• NNA-CO Meeting Annual Meeting Report (2022)

Our team contributes to geoscience education research on topics around spatial reasoning, sense of place, and systems thinking.  

See all of CEEE publications or read about a few of our recent education research publications below:

• Gold AU, Geraghty Ward EM, Marsh CL, Moon TA, Schoeneman SW, Khan AL, et al. (2023). Measuring novice-expert sense of place for a far-away place: Implications for geoscience instruction. PLoS ONE 18(10): e0293003. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293003
• Littrell, M. K., Gold, A. U., Kosley, K.L.K., May, T.A., Leckey, E., & Okochi C. (2022). Transformative experience in an informal science learning program about climate change. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 1-25. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21750
• Gold, A.U., Pendergast. P., Ormand, C., Budd, D., Mueller, K. (2018): Improving Spatial Thinking Skills among Undergraduate Geology Students through short online Training Exercises. International Journal for Science Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2018.1525621