Life on Earth aims to advance (1) public understanding of the history of life on Earth and biodiversity, and (2) our knowledge of how people interact and learn from large interactive science data visualizations on multi-touch displays in public settings. Our multi-institutional project team has developed the DeepTree, the FloTree, and Build-A-Tree (BAT). The focal exhibit, called the DeepTree, utilizing large data sets from four online databases including Tree of Life web project (www.tolweb.org), Encyclopedia of Life (www.eol.org), National Center for Biotechnology Information (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/) and Time Tree (www.timetree.org), allow museum visitors to explore the relationships of 70,000 species, spanning over 3.5 billion years of evolutionary history using touch gestures on a large multi-touch computer display. Embedded inside the DeepTree, the "FloTree" encourages exploration of evolutionary processes within a single population. "Build-a-Tree" (BAT) is a multi-level phylogenetic tree-building game. These learning experiences are designed to target core evolutionary concepts and be self-directed, physically interactive, embodied, and collaborative. The Life on Earth exhibit has been installed at California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, the Field Museum in Chicago, University of Nebraska State Museum in Lincoln Nebraska, and Harvard Museum of Natural in Cambridge Massachusetts. Please visit the Life on Earth website at https://lifeonearth.seas.harvard.edu/ to find more details on publications, and the ongoing learning research and summative evaluation. The Life on Earth project brings together a team of interdisciplinary researchers in human-computer interaction and information visualization, learning sciences, museum exhibit design, cognitive and developmental psychology, and evolutionary biology.
Boston's Museum of Science (MOS), with Harvard as its university research partner, is extending, disseminating, and further evaluating their NSF-funded (DRL-0714706) Living Laboratory model of informal cognitive science education. In this model, early-childhood researchers have both conducted research in the MOS Discovery Center for young children and interacted with visitors during the museum's operating hours about what their research is finding about child development and cognition. Several methods of interacting with adult visitors were designed and evaluated, including the use of "research toys" as exhibits and interpretation materials. Summative evaluation of the original work indicated positive outcomes on all targeted audiences - adults with young children, museum educators, and researchers. The project is now broadening the implementation of the model by establishing three additional museum Hub Sites, each with university partners - Maryland Science Center (with Johns Hopkins), Madison Children's Museum (with University of Wisconsin, Madison), and Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (with Lewis & Clark College). The audiences continue to include researchers (including graduate and undergraduate students); museum educators; and adults with children visiting the museums. Deliverables consist of: (1) establishment of the Living Lab model at the Hub sites and continued improvement of the MOS site, (2) a virtual Hub portal for the four sites and others around the country, (3) tool-kit resources for both museums and scientists, and (4) professional symposia at all sites. Intended outcomes are: (1) improve museum educators' and museum visiting adults' understanding of cognitive/developmental psychology and research and its application to raising their children, (2) improve researchers' ability to communicate with the public and to conduct their research at the museums, and (3) increase interest in, knowledge about, and application of this model throughout the museum community and grow a network of such collaborations.
The Exploratorium and the Museum of Life and Science will develop, evaluate and implement Science of Sharing, a three-year full-scale development project designed to bring the scientific study of human social behavior to a broad public audience. Science of Sharing will create new ways for visitors to experiment with social psychology and will generate important information for informal science institutions committed to involving visitors in discussions of personal, societal, and scientific responses to real-world challenges. Science of Sharing addresses a critical ISE issue: creating ways for visitors to experiment with inquiry based exhibits and activities that heighten public knowledge of the study of human social behavior. Based on research in social psychology and game theory, the project (a) fosters public engagement in activities exploring collaborative behavior and resource sharing; (b) promotes awareness of connections between these experiences and STEM-related research in psychology and economics; and (c) links individual behaviors to real-world issues of resource depletion and group conflict. The primary audience is youth and youth-adult museum visitors, with particular focus on underrepresented communities with limited access to communication technologies. The secondary audience is ISE professionals with interest in new kinds of interactive experience and visualization tools focusing on social behavior and techniques for fostering social interaction and public discussion of science. The project will (1) conduct front end evaluation to assess visitor attitudes and knowledge about issues of cooperation and resource use; (2) design, prototype, and evaluate 15 inquiry-based exhibits and 4 Experimonths (public events with web, museum, and community-based components on social-psychological topics); (3) conduct design-based research to investigate aspects of these exhibits and activities that prompt self-reflection and build metacognitive skills; and (4) work with local school districts to adapt exhibits for classroom use.
The New England Wild Flower Society, in collaboration with the Yale Peabody Museum, Montshire Museum of Science, and the Chewonki Foundation, is implementing the Go-Botany project, a multi-faceted, web-based botany user interface. "Go-Botany: Integrated Tools to Advance Botanical Learning," improves botanical education by opening plant study to a larger and more diverse segment of the population including novices, citizen scientists, and informal science educators. The project is designed to integrate a variety of web tools and mobile communication devices to facilitate learning about botany and plant conservation with a focus on native and naturalized plants in New England. Project deliverables include an online database of New England plants; online keys to over 4,000 species of New England flora; a customizable user interface; My Plants personal webpages; an outdoor exhibit that incorporates mobile resources; training programs for informal science educators and educational programs for the public. Projected impacts include increased attraction to and engagement in botanical learning for public audiences and improved teaching abilities by informal science education professionals through the application of user friendly, digital resources on mobile communication devices. Go-Botany significantly impacts the field of informal science education by changing the way that informal learners learn about plants by removing barriers through the use of free online materials, mentoring, and user created resources. This project is projected to reach over 46,000 youth, adults, and informal educators in workshops and via the Go-Botany website.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elizabeth FarnsworthGregory LowenbergArthur HainesWilliam Brumback
The Science Museum of Minnesota will develop "Investigations in Cell Biology," an integrated program that introduces cell, microbiology, and molecular biology to museum audiences through open-access, wet-lab, micro-experiment benches; training and support for school teachers; classes for adults and teens; and a long-term program for local high school youth. The project includes the development, testing, and installation of four micro-experiment benches that introduce visitors to the objectives, tools, and techniques of cell biology experimentation. These benches,"Inside the Cell," "Testing for DNA," "DNA Profile," and "Microbe Control," will be part of "Cell Lab," a 1,500 square-foot open experiment area within the science museum's new core exhibition, "The Human Body," opening December 1999.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Laurie Kleinbaum FinkSusan FlemingJ Newlin
The Louisville Science Center will develop "'The World We Create' -- a Traveling Exhibit." This project will develop two traveling version exhibitions (approximately 2,500 sq. ft. each) based on the programs of the highly successful permanent 12,500 sq. ft. exhibition "The World We Create," funded by NSF. One exhibit copy will travel nationally to small and medium-sized science centers throughout the United States over a three-year period, filling a need for quality traveling exhibits and reaching an audience of 300,000 to 500,000 people. The second exhibit copy will travel to rural areas of Kentucky to be hosted by schools, public libraries or community colleges, reaching an audience of 150,000 to 200,000 students and adults.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Theresa MatteiGail BeckerNancy Potoczak
The Desert Botanical Garden will utilize its extensive collection to create a science learning center focusing on deserts and presenting fundamental science concepts applicable to all environments. The comprehensive desert exhibit created by this proposal will feature six thematic trails through 25 acres of the Garden, with the trails' themes ranging from basic characteristics of deserts to adaptions of plants, animals, and people to the desert. Emphasizing ecology and conversation, the trails will include conceptual signs, investigation stations for hands-on, interactive learning, and innovative written exploration guides. The proposal also includes educational programming which will extend the exhibit and encourage use of the Garden as an outdoor laboratory. An exhibit-based curriculum will be developed for use across the state, and an institute will be created to prepare teachers to use the exhibit and curriculum. A newspaper series focusing on key exhibit concepts will be disseminated across the state to reach out-of-school adults. The products of the proposal and the model created will be shred through various networks with a national audience. The local and worldwide population explosion in arid lands mandates an increased understanding of deserts. With this proposal, the Garden will be a catalyst for greater awareness and change.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kathleen SocolofskyRobert BreunigJoseph McAuliffeRuth Greenhouse
"How Things Fly" is a major new exhibit gallery being produced by the National Air and Space Museum and is scheduled to open in 1995. The goal of this permanent exhibition is to convey, to the broadest possible audience, the essential principles by which aircraft and spacecraft fly. "How Things Fly" represents an important departure from other exhibitions at the Museum in both content and execution. Instead of relying on static displays of historical artifacts, "How Things Fly" will use interactive devices and live demonstrations designedto spark curiosity, invite visitor participation, and provide children and adults with the opportunity to discover for themselves answers to some of their fundamental questions about flight. "How Things Fly" will be the first major exhibiton at the Museum devoted entirely to hands-on learning. It will incorporate some of the best interactive exhibitry ideas from othermuseums, improve upon them where possible, and include a substantial number of original exhibits. While intended to help visitors more fully appreciate the Museum's collection, the cooperative efforts, such as publications, a traveling exhibition, and educational outreach programs, will extend the exhibition's impact across the nation.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barbara BrennanSteven SoterChristopher StetserDavid RomanowskiJoann Hinkel
The Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (LACMNH) will develop "Cats! Wild to Mild" a traveling exhibit on endangered wild and domestic cats. This will be a 5000 sq. ft. exhibit intended to engage families, school groups, and adults in the history, biology, and evolution of the family Felidae. The primary objectives of the exhibit are to awaken interest in scientific study in children, to provide parents and children with a stimulating interactive environment, to increase public knowledge about the status and conservation of wild cats, and to promote responsible pet care. The exhibit will include a large number of mounted cat specimens and various interactive activities in addition to label panels. A broad menu of complementary programming is planned, both for use at LACMNH and by museums hosting the exhibit. Items and activities include: teacher enhancement activities, curriculum guide, and other materials, pre-and post-visit materials for students, family take-home materials, kits for teachers and families, a CD-ROM and a place on the museum's WWW page with an extensive amount of information about cats and activities for the user, among other things. The formal education materials will be designed to integrate the study of cats into state-mandated areas of the curriculum such as reading, mathematics, and social studies. An audience that is specially targeted is the traditionally underserved group. The exhibit will have a five year tour at fifteen venues and will open at LACMNH early spring, 1997.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
James OlsonJoan GrastyBlaire Van Valkenburgh
The investigation of naive conceptions of science has many implications for both teaching and learning. The predominant model for past investigations has been with school children or within very formal settings. Extending investigations of misconceptions to informal settings is the challenge of this research. Museum visitors' misconceptions about two topics, gravity and mechanical advantage, will be recorded through a variety of interview formats. Twenty-five persons from each of the age ranges 9-11, 12-14, 15-18, and college students/adults will be interviewed. Information from the interview will be used to modify the current exhibit or to build new prototypes. The research will determine if a modification can be made that results in individuals moving from their previous misconceptions toward a correct conceptualization of the concepts. This research will document what individuals actually learn from museum exhibits and how "front end evaluation" can be used to redesign exhibits for maximum concept learning. The proposed research is challenging and has the potential of adding significant information to science education research on misconceptions. The principal investigator is highly respected in the field of museum education and the associated staff and consultants are the top scholars in their respective fields.
Cornell University, through Main Street Science (the education program of its Nanobiotechnology Center), proposes to create a 3,500 sq. ft. traveling exhibition on nanoscale science and engineering in partnership with Sciencenter of Ithaca, New York. Intellectual Merit: The exhibition will address two questions: How do we see things too small to see, and how do we make things too small to see? In sections titled Small, Smaller, Nano; Seeing Nano Structures; Making Nano Stuff; and Nano and Me, hands-on activities and experiences will present the tools, processes and applications of nanoscale science and engineering for children ages 8 to 13 and adults. Broader Impact: This traveling exhibition is projected to reach some three million visitors in at least six sites as part of its national tour. It will then become a permanent exhibition at Sciencenter. Dissemination will be supported by a web site, take-home materials, a children's book and activities to carry out at home, along with links to formal education.
The Museum of Science (Boston) Discovery Center, MIT Early Childhood Cognition Lab, Boston Children's Museum, Indianapolis Children's Museum, Children's Museum of Richmond, and Maryland Science Center will help develop and evaluate a variety of methods to engage adults in activities that help the adults understand and apply current cognitive science research on children's exploratory play and causal reasoning development. The primary audience is adults with young children; secondary audiences are informal science education professionals who operate early childhood exhibit areas and cognitive science researchers.