Understanding the Sun Through NASA Missions. The Maryland Science Center (MSC) initiative is targeted to rural educators and library patrons in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. The Maryland Science Center is lead partner collaborating with Prince George’s County, Maryland Public Schools and its Howard B. Owens Science Center, and with NASA Goddard Space Flight Center to develop Educator Workshops and library exhibits for the Maryland counties of Cecil, Kent and Washington and NASA Wallops Visitor Center (Virginia) and NASA’s Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Center (West Virginia). The project will make participants aware and better informed of NASA Heliophysics science and NASA missions studying the Sun. Participants in the programs will come to a better understanding of the Sun, space weather, and the Sun’s far-reaching influence on our planet and the rest of the Solar System. Educators will be better prepared to teach students using NASA-developed hands-on materials demonstrated and provided in the workshops, as well as Sun Spotters and Solar Scopes to examine solar surface features, helping to engage them and their students in better understanding our closest star. Rural libraries patrons will encounter NASA mission science, and MSC visitors will acquire better comprehension of the Sun. All participants will come away with a renewed appreciation of our Sun and how it works, its variability, its ongoing effects on our planet, the nature of the scientific study of the Sun, and how and why NASA is exploring the Sun with its current missions.
From Our Town to Outer Space will inform, engage, and inspire new public audiences (library staff and patrons) by sharing NASA’s missions, challenges, and achievements. FOTOS is led by the Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL). NASA mission staff will be invited to participate as active members. NCIL is partnering with Evaluation & Research Associates (ERA) to provide formative and summative evaluation services. FOTOS is a standards-based, informal education program that will reach a broad audience of librarians, library patrons, and other members of the public with a special focus on underserved and underrepresented audiences. The 3-year pilot program includes: 1) a hands-on, museum- quality library exhibit (called Discover NASA: the science and engineering of tomorrow) and tour (to 7 libraries across the country), 2) the development and broad dissemination of active learning activities for different age groups, and 3) library staff training (online and in-person) that introduces them to the STEM content of the exhibit and guides them in developing complementary programming. The project will also develop resources for the existing STAR Library Education Network (STAR Net) community of practice (CoP) whose members include librarians and STEM professionals.
Currently, many museums present histories of science and technology, but very few are integrating scientific activity--observation, measurement, experimentation-with the time- and place-specific narratives that characterize history-learning experiences. For the Prairie Science project, Conner Prairie is combining proven science center-style activities, developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota, with family-engagement strategies developed through extensive research and testing with audiences in historical settings. The goal of this integration is to create guest experiences that are rich in both STEM and historical content and encourage family learning. One key deliverable of this project is the Create.Connect gallery, which is currently installed at Conner Prairie. Create.Connect allows the project team to evaluate and research hands-on activities, facilitation strategies and historic settings to understand how these elements combine to encourage family conversations and learning around historical narratives and STEM content. For example, in one exhibit area families can experiment with creating their own efficient wind turbine designs while learning about the innovations of the Flint & Walling windmill manufacturing company from Indiana. The activity is facilitated by a historic interpreter portraying a windmill salesman from 1900. The interpreter not only guides the family though the process of scientific inquiry, but shares his historic perspective on wind power as well. Two other exhibit areas invite hands-on exploration of electrical circuits and forces in motion as they connect to stories from Indiana history. Evaluation and research findings from the Create.Connect exhibit will be used to develop a model that can guide other history institutions that want to incorporate STEM content and thinking into their exhibits and interpretation. By partnering with the Science Museum of Minnesota, we will combine the experience of science center professionals and history museum professionals to find the best practices for incorporating science activities into historic settings. To ensure that this dissemination model is informed from many perspectives, Conner Prairie has invited the participation of four history museums: The Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic, Connecticut; the California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, California; the Wabash County Historical Society, Wabash, Indiana; and the Oliver H. Kelley Farm, Elk River, Minnesota. Each of the four participants will install history-STEM exhibit components which will be connected to location-specific historic narratives. Drawing on the staff experience and talents of participant museums, this project will develop realistic solutions to an array of anticipated barriers. These issues and the resulting approaches will become part of a stronger, more adaptable dissemination model that will support history museums in creating STEM-based guest experiences.
Water for Life (WfL) is a full scale development youth and community based program; centered on freshwater literacy, water conservation and rainwater harvesting led by the Pacific Resources for Education Learning (PREL) in Hawaii. The goals of the project are to: (a) promote an understanding of water conservation and stewardship in areas lacking adequate quality water supplies and (b) build local capacity among rural communities to develop and employ site specific freshwater harvesting strategies proven to improve water quality. Rural communities within four Pacific Island entities in the U.S. affiliated Freely Associated States (FAS) will participate in WfL activities. PREL is collaborating with a host of organizations (such as the Federated States of Micronesia National Department of Education, Marshall Islands Conservation Society, and the Micronesian Conservation Trust, etc.) to develop and implement all phases of the initiative. This work is already improving the quality of life for hundreds of people in the FAS through water conversation education and improved water quality in local areas. Working closely with site-embedded PREL staff, Core Teams at each site - consisting of 4-6 local leaders from environmental agencies, water/sanitation systems, and education institutions - participated in a 5-day professional learning immersion in May, 2013, to buld capacities to develop and facilitate water conservation and catchment activities at the four target sites in the FAS. The Core Team members at each site now are recruiting and collaborating with local community members to implement site-specific projects that both educate and provide enhanced access to high quality drinking water. Both adults and youth are now engaging in a spectrum of proejcts that address loca needs and priorities through site-specific service learning activities. The site-specific focus in each locale, determined by the local Core Team, is distinct. In Palau, the Core Team has built broader community awareness of water conservation issues, raised the issue of water security in national conversations, engaged remote communities in improving natural rainwater drainage collection systems, and produced youth-oriented educational materials focused on local sites. In Yap, the Core Team members have collaborated with public utilities to install first-flush diverters into community rainwater catchment systems on Yap proper, and now are installing these devices in rainwater catchment systems on Yap's neighbor islands. In Chuuk, groundwater springs in remote communities are being upgraded for improved storage capacity, protection against contamination, and better public access. In Majuro (RMI), public school rainwater catchment systems are being repaired, repainted, cleaned, and upgraded so that schools can and will provide adequate drinking water to students (and to broader segments of the community during droughts). Broad segments of communities, including school classes and clubs, church and civic groups, etc. are becoming increasingly involved in building better water security and resilience for their communities, in preparation for a predicted drought, predicted to hit in the winter of 2014-2015, brought on by an El Nino event now edevelopig in the eastern Pacific. Water for Life has produced a range of locally relevant educational materials, including books, pamphlets, flyers, etc., some in English and others in local languages. Posters and billboards are being produced to enhance and maintain public awareness. Infrastructure projects are enabling better collection of more, higher quality water for drinking. A full-scale water handbook is under development, and this will serve as a basis for a self-contained water 'course' that will be offered through local community colleges. The experiences of project participants are being captured, analyzed, and reported in front-end, formative, and sumative evaluations conducted by David Heil & Associates. Thousands of individuals, comprising large segments of the participating countries' populations, will be directly impacted by the project. The results will be applicable to other remote and rural communities outside of the Pacific distressed by poor water quality and ineffective freshwater harvesting systems.
This award addresses the archaeological issues surrounding the ancestral Pueblo people and their Neolithic revolution or disappearance from the Mesa Verde region of southwestern US. The research describes the people, their living conditions and the environment, their impact on the region and the reason for their exodus to form new societies such as the Tewa-Pueblo society. The research and its results are significant, from both an archaeological and socio-cultural standpoint. An exhibit is planned, to explain and inform the public, in the History Colorado Center in Denver, Colorado, that will transfer this cultural knowledge to the under-served public including Native American and numerous rural residents. The effort is a collaborative endeavor involving the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center in Cortez, Colorado and the new History Colorado Center. The exhibit will feature a typical living area, a scientific area with discussion of tree rings, and an area for discussion with scientific experts. In addition, the deliverable will include a website for further discussion with scientist and for accessing the latest research efforts. The evaluation of this project is extensive starting from an overall evaluation of the museum itself and how to make this exhibit a significant part of the museum, pleasing to the audiences and how to improve its impact once the exhibit is open.
Tornado Alley is a large-format 2D/3D film and comprehensive outreach program exploring the science behind severe weather events. The project focuses on cutting-edge developments in the fields of meteorology and earth science, demonstrating weather monitoring technologies. The project spotlights the current research of the VORTEX 2 (V2) project--the most ambitious effort ever to understand the origins, structure and evolution of tornadoes. The principle target audiences are science museum audiences, with additional special attention to under-served, rural mid-western communities, which will be served by digital 3D screenings. The film will be produced by Graphic Films and Giant Screen Films and distributed by Giant Screen Films. The Franklin Institute will create and manage outreach to professional audiences. Informal Learning Solutions will conduct formative evaluation; RMC Research Corporation will conduct summative evaluation of the project. The film, produced by Paul Novros (PI) and directed by Sean Casey, will collaborate closely with the V2 team, led by Dr. Josh Wurman, and consult with the project advisors to assure clarity and accuracy of the science being presented. A distance-learning initiative to serve educators--both formal and informal--will be managed by Karen Elinich (co-PI) of The Franklin Institute. The project's innovative outreach strategies leverage the mobility of the tornado intercept vehicle (TIV) built by Sean Casey, and the Doppler on Wheels and MGAUS (weather balloon vehicles) to bring scientists and weather-monitoring technology into direct contact with audiences. Outreach to underserved audiences, especially rural audiences, will provide opportunities for interactions with V2 PIs and their students, who serve as role models in science careers. In addition, cyber infrastructure will allow groups of educators to interact remotely with V2 researchers and experience visualizations of weather data. The film and ancillary materials will be translated into Spanish. The project serves as a model for the dissemination of the methods and results of a specific major NSF hard-science research endeavor to the general public through ISE products and activities. The goal of the project is for the audience to increase their knowledge and understanding of the scientific process, learn what meteorologists do, what technologies are used in meteorology and weather science and the factors and forces in meteorological events. It is intended that young audience members will also develop and interest in weather science and potential careers in science and engineering. In the first five years of the film\'s release, the audience is anticipated at 7 million plus. In addition, the live outreach events are expected to engage approximately 40,000-60,000 individuals.
This Full-Scale Informal Science Education award focuses on the physical and social science surrounding the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation beneath the surface in north central and western Pennsylvania. The project targets the adult residents of the impacted or soon-to-be-impacted areas of Pennsylvania. This is a complex project involving the disciplines of geology, engineering, chemistry, social science, performance, and land management. Further, the project team includes a mix of physical scientists, educators, theater arts faculty, social scientists and engineers from Pennsylvania State University, the Pennsylvania State Cooperative Extension Service, and Juniata College. The project addresses several potential barriers to communication of science to the public. The proposal team provides four entry points for citizens of rural Pennsylvania to engage in learning about energy, its needs in the Nation, the economics behind these needs, the geology of the shale deposit and how to have productive discussions and make decisions using science-based evidence. The project will engage a multitude of communication mechanisms such as forums, community meetings, theater performances, data centers, blogs and workshops. The Pennsylvania State Extension will play a central role in working at the local level. The project is a complex effort wherein the residents of north central and western Pennsylvania will learn about the science and policies of natural gas extraction and how to derive and use scientific information for decision making. The proposal team will learn how to work and communicate with rural citizens. Further, the team will derive a variety of models from these activities that are likely to be adaptable for use in other areas of the Nation that have natural gas deposits.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael ArthurDouglas MillerJo BrasierRenae Youngs
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Presentation on NSF grant DRL-0337354 (""TexNET: Texas Network for Exhibit-based Learning and Teaching"") presented at the CAISE Convening on Organizational Networks, November 17th, 2011."") presented at the CAISE Convening on Organizational Networks, November 17th, 2011.
This project will bring STEM education to rural communities through local public libraries. Museum quality exhibits labelled as "Discover Earth", "Discover Technology", and "Discover Space" will spend 3 months at a series of locations around the Nation. Twenty four medium sized libraries will be chosen for the large exhibits and forty small libraries will be chosen for scaled down versions. The project's intent is to provide exhibits in every state and to reach as many under-represented individuals as possible. The significance of this project is that rural areas of this country are underserved regarding STEM education and since this segment of society is represented by 50-60 million residents, it is important to reach out to them. There is a significant segment of the Nation's population (50-60 million) that is underserved by out-of-school learning venues such as museums and science centers. An earlier phase 1 project demonstrated at 18 sites that rural libraries and librarians could provide STEM education to community members ranging in age from adults to children using these hands-on exhibits. Each exhibit (earth, space or technology) includes information about the topic and technologically enabled models to provide interesting and fun discovery mechanisms. They use common layman friendly language that highlights the most recent discoveries in each area. Each exhibit will be placed in the selected library for 3 months during which the library will organize events to feature and advertise the STEM learning opportunities. Another feature of this project will be to determine the models of learning in library settings and as a function of the demographics. The partners in this project that bring the necessary expertise are the American Library Association, the Afterschool Alliance, the Association of Rural and Small Libraries, the University of Colorado Museum, Datum Advisors, LLC, Evaluation and Research Associates, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, the American Geophysical Union, and the Space Science Institute.
This project is intended to develop a model for STEM education through local libraries. There are several unique features in this endeavor. The model is being aimed at rural libraries and adult residents that are geographically remote from typical venues such as museums, zoos, and science centers. According to the 2000 census, there are 50 million individuals in this designation and the size of the group is increasing and becoming more diverse. Efforts to impact diverse audiences who are economically disadvantaged will be part of the plan. In many rural locations there are few community venues, but libraries are often present. The American Library Association and the Association Rural and Small Libraries have begun the reinvention of these libraries so they can become more attuned to the communities in which they are apart. Thus, this project is an effort to find new ways of communicating STEM concepts to a reasonably large underserved group. The design is to derive a "unit of knowledge enhancement" (some portion of Climate Change, for example) through a hybrid combination of book-club and scientific cafe further augmented with videos and web materials. Another part of the design is to enhance the base STEM knowledge of library staff and to associate the knowledge unit with an individual who has the specific STEM topic knowledge for a specific unit. Considerable effort shall be expended in developing the models for staff knowledge enhancement with a progressive number of librarians in training from 8 to 20 to 135. To build the content library model, five units of knowledge will be devised and circulated to participating libraries. Evaluation of the project includes front end, formative and summative by the Goodman Research Group. In addition to the "units of knowledge enhancement," the major results will be the model on how best to relate and educate citizens in rural environments and how to educate the library staff.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. The Lost Ladybug Project (LLP) is a Cornell University citizen science project that connects science to education by using ladybugs to teach non-scientists concepts of biodiversity, invasive species, and conservation.
This CRPA award will address the science behind solar energy, its capture, measurements, and uses. It is a collaborative effort between scientists at Portland State University (PSU) and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). Materials for the OMSI staff will be prepared by the scientists and the OMSI staff will work with the scientists on making presentations to the public. OMSI will translate information from the exhibits, displays, and presentations into Spanish to engage the Hispanic population. Scientific café?s will be part of this engagement. The PI and OMSI museum have had a working relationship for some time adding to the potential success of the project. The PI and his colleagues at PSU have a major effort going in research on photonic science suggesting that this engagement can continue to be updated as the time goes on. The project will be evaluated by the well established evaluation group at OMSI. Further, Spanish speaking public will be embraced with this material as will rural residents from traveling exhibits and displays.