COSI

COSI will embark on a two-year project to identify and test key messages for communicating the idea that "social science is a science and it matters to me and my world." Informal learning institutions, such as COSI, often lack experiences that expose visitors to the social sciences. COSI seeks to fill that void by creating a suite of prototype experiences to help visitors construct meaning around the big, complex idea of social science. The project is designed to provide informal science educators and designers with new evidence-based avenues for communicating the nature and role of social science. Visitors to these institutions will better understand the role of social science in relation to other sciences. Iterative feedback from visitors and professionals in the field will help COSI determine what activities appear to best convey the subthemes: what is social science, how you do social science, what social science can tell us, and why it matters.