It seems like the study’s title is a form of wordplay but the authors do not hint at this in their introduction or executive summary,

Summative Study of the Nano Mini-exhibition
Summative Evaluation
Gina Svarovsky, Juli Goss, Gayra Ostgaard, Nelda Reyes,
Clara Cahill, Ryan Auster, and Marjorie Bequette

Published May 2013 by the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISENet)

In any case, here’s how the August 2013 issue of NISENet’s The Nano Bite describes the study,

Wondering how many people will come into contact with the NISE Net mini-exhibitions? Or what visitors are learning from the mini-exhibition? The Summative Study of the Nano mini-exhibition was just posted to nisenet.org. The study took place during the spring and summer of 2012. After being observed during their Nano mini-exhibition experience, 455 visitors across six different partner institutions participated in surveys and interviews with NISE Net evaluation team members. Check out the summary of findings – as well as the complete report: http://www.nisenet.org/catalog/evaluation/summative_study_nano_mini-exhibition

• ​One finding from the study was that visitor dwell times at the mini-exhibition were over 4 times greater than the field average:
  • ​The average time spent by a visitor group within the Nano mini-exhibition was 6:07 (min:sec), and the median time was 4:00. Dividing the standard square footage of 400ft for the mini-exhibition footprint by the median dwell time leads to a Sweep Rate Index (SRI) of 100, which is approximately four times greater than the field average (Serrell, 1998; Yalowitz & Bronnenkant, 2009). Even if the mini-exhibition is installed in a larger space, the SRI is still well above average (at 500sq ft., the SRI is 125, still more than three times greater than the field average).

In the spring of 2012, the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) Public Impacts Evaluation group embarked on a three-year study to explore the public impacts of the most resource – intensive educational products developed by the Network. During this first year of the study, the Public Impacts Evaluation focused on conducting a summative evaluation of the Nano mini-exhibition, a 400-square foot, modular exhibition that will be replicated and installed at approximately 70 partner institutions. The Network established three broad goals for the mini-exhibition:

1. Nano will reach tens of millions of visitors during the life of exhibition copies.
2. Nano will create an environment that encourages engagement and learning for a broad public audience.
3. Nano will complement other nano learning experiences, including NanoDays.

By committing to the small footprint design and national distribution plans of Nano, the NISE Network took several risks. First, in order to achieve the desired reach numbers for the mini-exhibition, it had to be something that Network partners wanted to put out and keep on public display. Second, the mini-exhibition needed to be successful in a wide range of institutions that each drew an even wider range of visitors. Lastly, the mini-exhibition needed to effectively and efficiently communicate key messages about nano to visitors within a compact space. Together, the goals and risks of Nano led to the articulation of the following evaluation questions for the summative study:

1. What is the projected reach of the Nano mini-exhibition?
2. Is Nano successful in providing visitors with an engaging experience and promoting visitor learning of nano concepts?
3. Is Nano successful in these ways for different types of contexts and for different types of audiences, including Hispanic visitors and visitors with disabilities?
4. Does Nano catalyze new or expanded public programming around nano at the host institutions?

These questions were answered through a range of methods. A counting study, where data from counting tallies were combined with annual attendance records to project visitor contact with Nano, was performed during the summer of 2012 at seven initial host sites in order to answer the first evaluation question and estimate the reach of the mini-exhibition.

These initial host organizations – which are spread geographically across five NISE Network regions and include a range of institution types and sizes – were thoughtfully chosen by the Network Leadership in consultation with the NISE Network evaluation team in order to create a varied sample for the summative study. Further projections for the total number of visitors reached through all of the distributed Nano copies are based on the counting data collected at the original seven sites.

In order to answer the second and third questions, observations, surveys, and interviews were conducted during the summer of 2012 at five of the seven initial host sites in order to gather information about visitor use and learning. These instruments were purposefully aligned with indicators of success described in Table 1, which were articulated and refined by the Nano design team (NISE Network, 2012) through the design, development, and formative evaluation processes (Bequette & Van Cleave, 2011).

…

Lastly, the fourth evaluation question was answered through the Nano mini-exhibition reporting survey sent to 41 Network partners hosting mini-exhibition copies as of January, 2013. (pp. 5-6 PDF)

Findings

1. The estimated reach of the Nano mini-exhibition is sizeable and broad.

Conservatively speaking, an estimated 7.1 million people will come into contact with the mini-exhibition annually, assuming that a) all available copies are out on the floor, and
b) all copies are displayed for an entire year, as required by the contract that all recipients sign.

2. Nano is successful in providing visitors with an engaging experience and in promoting visitor learning of nano concepts.

Visitor data across all study sites demonstrates that the mini-exhibition was successful across all of the indicators defined by the Nano design team, including sustained use, interest and enjoyment, social interaction, broad age range, further exploration, and learning about nano content.

3. Nano is successful within different types of institutions.

Examining the data by institution type reveals that Nano was successful in engaging visitors and promoting learning of nano concepts both in the science center context as well as the children’s museum context.

4.Nano shows promise for being successful for Hispanic visitors and visitors with disabilities.

Small exploratory studies conducted at four institutions provide insight into the
experiences of visitors from these audience groups within their local contexts. While broad generalizations should not be made from this data, Nano did appear to be successful with the specific visitors who participated in these studies.

5. Network partners say Nano is catalyzing new and enhanced programming.

The vast majority of partners who responded reported implementing new or expanded programming as a result of the mini-exhibition.

Nano Haiku

Nanoparticles
Make more steam using sunlight,
Clean scalpels and poop

This haiku by Vrylena Olney refers to the two potential uses of the solarclave from an article about:  sterilizing medical equipment and sterilizing human and animal waste to reduce the spread of disease.

You can find the full August 2013 issue of The Nano Bite here.