Evaluation Plan

In terms of data collection, we planned to focus on observation and informal interviews. We didn’t feel it was necessary to have printed surveys for kids to fill out. We talked through what we were interested in getting feedback on and found moments of downtime during the activity to ask kids questions. Downtime happened when kids were waiting for their turn to expose their cyanotypes and when they were waiting for them to dry. When they were finished with their prints we were able to ask them the post-activity interview questions.

Topics for Evaluation

1. Does our design aid students’ understanding of the core concepts? These core concepts are tied to our learning objectives - for example, we would want to see whether or not students are able to explain what a cyanotype is and how UV light is involved in making prints.
2. Students’ overall experience with creating cyanotypes
3. Further applications of cyanotypes that students would like to explore, and whether or not postcards resonate with them
4. Other ways we can improve our lesson plan

Observation Plan

• What materials the students choose
• How engaged they are at each phase of the cyanotype making process, and in what way are they engaged
  • Are the students connecting their artistic choices with the science of the activity? Are they able to make design choices based on what they have learned about the effects of UV light on the paper when designing their postcard?

Discussing with students during the activity

To assess the students’ understanding throughout the activity, we planned to inject discussion throughout. Some topics for discussion would be:

• Getting students to predict what will happen to their prints
• Asking about what surprised them about the process
• Having students compare their expectations with the actual results of their prints
• Asking about the cyanotype reaction and if they know what is happening to their prints at each phase of the process

Post-Activity Interview Questions

1. Did you learn something new?
2. Which part was most interesting?
3. Did you gain a better understanding of visible light and UV light?