The University of Central Florida Media Convergence Laboratory, New York Hall of Science, and the Queens Museum of Art are developing a 3-D, multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) of the 1964/65 New York World's Fair. Virtual fairgoers of all ages will be immersed in an accurately modeled historical world with more than 140 pavilions on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and an array arts and humanities exhibits. The virtual world can be freely explored through self-designed avatars, and avatar-led guided tours. Discovery Points throughout the virtual environment will afford opportunities for in-depth engagement in STEM topics that will empower participants to explore the broader consequences of technological innovations. The centerpiece of user-generated content is FutureFair, an area where online users can create and share their personal visions of the future. Interconnections reaches beyond its virtual component through its partnership with the New York Hall of Science and the Queens Museum of Art, which are both situated in the heart of Queens in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, a 1255 acre urban park that hosted the 1939/1940 and 1964/65 Fairs. The New York Hall of Science will provide face-to-face youth workshops that employ problem-based learning. Single and multi-session programs will connect adolescents to STEM content presented at the Fair through the virtual world environment. Participants will create multimedia content for inclusion in the project's website. Multi-touch interactive stations at the Queens Museum of Art will enhance their NY World's Fair Exhibit Hall by empowering visitors to individually or collectively explore various STEM topics and the symbiotic relationships between STEM and the humanities, and by serving as an attractor for visitors to the online Fair exploration. The project will be completed in time for the 50th Anniversary celebration of the 1964 World's Fair. Building upon prior research on learning in virtual worlds, the project team will investigate how STEM concepts are advanced in a simulated multi-user virtual environment and studying the effectiveness of using Virtual Docents as enhancements to the informal learning process. The research and development deliverables have strong potential to advance the state of informal science education, research on modeling and simulation in virtual world development, and education research. Michigan Technological University will conduct the project formative and summative evaluations.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lori WaltersMichael MoshellCharles HughesEileen Smith
The Maryland Science Center, in partnership with SK Films, Inc. received NSF funding to produce a large format, 2D/3D film and multi-component educational materials and activities on the annual migration of monarch butterflies, their life cycle, the web of life at select sites where they land, and the citizen science efforts that led to the monarch migration discovery. Project goals are to 1) raise audience understanding of the nature of scientific investigation and the open-ended nature of the scientific process, 2) enhance and extend citizen science programs to new audiences, and 3) create better awareness of monarch biology, insect ecology and the importance of habitat. Innovation/Strategic Impact: The film has been released in both 3D and 2D 15/70 format. RMC Research Corporation has conducted evaluation of the project, both formatively and summatively, including a study of the comparable strengths of the 2D and 3D versions of the film. RMC has conducting formative evaluation and is currently conducting summative evaluation to assess the success of project materials in communicating science and achieving the project's learning goals. Collaboration: This project employs a collaborative model of partnerships between the project team and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the University of Minnesota's Monarchs in the Classroom and Monarch Watch. Project advisors represent world-renown monarch butterfly research scientists and educators, including Dr. Karen Oberhauser, named a "Champion of Change" by President Obama in June 2013, and Dr. Chip Taylor, founder and director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas.
The University of California-Davis and its collaborators are identifying and testing strategies for implementing a model citizen science program that links the statewide Master Naturalist program with local citizen science projects that engage the public in environmental scientific research. The goals of the project are to develop a mechanism for broadening the reach of master naturalist and citizen science programs, and measure the impact of these programs on participants' science learning and environmental stewardship behavior. The project is (1) implementing strategies for engaging underserved audiences (young adults and communities of color) and enhancing learning for seniors in the California Naturalist program, (2) developing and testing a citizen science training module, (3) establishing two regional volunteer naturalist networks in Northern California that have links to local citizen science projects, and (4) developing web tools for use by program providers and naturalists to connect to projects and promote science learning. Project deliverables include training sessions, support services, network coordination, web tools, research on impacts on science learning, and participant tracking. By bringing together young and older adults to learn together, merging these audiences will result in the formation of a diverse corps of citizen naturalists who participate in ecological monitoring of local natural areas and conduct land stewardship activities. The project's findings will help program administrators scale-up the approach statewide and across the nation.
This is a Communicating Research to Public Audiences (CRPA) award that addresses the issues around the Chacoan people and their impact on the Middle San Juan region of New Mexico during the era of 1050-1150 AD. This area and its people have been the subject of interest to the Archaeological field with studies and a PBS documentary suggesting solar system awareness and use. This prooject goes beyond the past data providing modern interpretation of the site and the Chacoan people's impact via migration. The primary collaborators on this project are the Center for Desert Archaeology, Aztec Ruins National Monument, Salmon Ruins Museum, and the Mesa Verde National Park (National Park system). The project design includes exhibits at two museums (Aztec Ruins National Monument and Salmon Ruins) with interactive touch-screen computer systems which enable the visitors to digitally tour the Aztec and Salmon pueblos viewing architecture, artifacts, and the landscape of the Middle San Juan area. Visitors will also be able to manipulate 3-D animations, deriving their own experiences and choices. Finally, there will be fixed interactive displays. In this way, the visitor will be able to go back and recreate the past. Using the methods and artifacts participants will be able to derive the migration of the Chaco peoples and their impacts on the pueblos. It is anticipated that the digital media will be shared on the internet for extended impact. Evaluation by outside consultants consists of front-end and summative analyses. The intended outcomes include increasing the knowledge of local citizens using the interactive exhibit with two languages and cultural correctness. Youth will be served in a similar manner. In addition, the participants will be acquainted with the techniques used by the scientists thereby imparting logic, methodologies, and interpretation skills.
The Institute for Learning Innovation, in collaboration with Mary Miss Studio and the Institute for Urban Design, is conducting an exploratory research and development project on sustainable practices related to the built infrastructure of New York City. The work will (1) pilot test and study new interpretive strategies for urban "place-based" public learning experiences that focus pedestrians' attention on a city's ecology and existing built sustainability infrastructure; (2) engage urban design professionals and STEM researchers to explore how these new strategies have the potential to transform how urban design fields inform, dialog and interact with the public about sustainable urban design and planning; and (3) assess the effectiveness of these public interpretation programs on STEM learning beyond traditional Informal Science Learning Environments (ISEs) such as science museums. Project participants also include faculty from the City College of NY Graduate Program in Urban Design, STEM faculty from Columbia University, and staff of the Provisions Library in Washington, D.C. The project is an early phase of the "City as Living Laboratory" initiative that can leverage the Rockefeller Foundation-funded Urban Design Week program in New York City scheduled to occur September 15 - 20, 2011. This request to NSF adds an additional track to the process to specifically focus on STEM learning and urban sustainability. From the promotional materials: "The Institute for Urban Design is currently preparing for the first annual Urban Design Week, a public festival created to engage New Yorkers in the fascinating and complex issues of the public realm and celebrate the city's exceptional urbanity. Through a rich roster of charettes, summits, installations, film screenings, exhibitions, and tours, Urban Design Week will draw in citizens from every borough and walk of life and highlight the idea that cities are made by collective effort, and that each of us can be a part of that great endeavor." The project goal is to generate new models for public engagement with science in the city environment and to explore how urban designers and planners, as they design for sustainability, can more effectively collaborate with STEM researchers and with the public. The project has both research and programmatic deliverables. Research activities include: Public Audiences: observational study of pedestrians in the installation environment; intercept surveys of the public about their experiences with the streetscape installations. Professional Audiences: pre-installation surveys on the role of public space science interpretation for altering public discourse about urban planning and sustainable cities; focus group assessment of professionals\' experiences with observing public interactions with the installations; online delayed- post experience survey on learning outcomes in terms of knowledge, attitude, motivation and anticipated impacts on professional practices; analysis of blog postings and public media surrounding the installation; survey of attendees at an ISE forum on the project, its goals, outcomes and potential for future developments. Programmatic deliverables include: a workshop that engages urban design students in the development of experimental streetscape installations; a pilot installation on streets in the City College of NY (consistent with approvals already received by NYC Dept. of Transportation); a City as Living Laboratory art-science workshop for Urban Design Week professionals to highlight possible benefits of inter-disciplinary collaboration; a panel discussion around new forms of citizen engagement through a "city as a science learning environment"; a forum specifically for ISE professionals to explore the research findings and potential for use as a strategy to increase science learning in city places.
The investigators plan to design, develop and test a series of exhibit prototypes that build visitors' capacity to engage in discussions of socio-scientific issues, particularly those related to the numerous human-biology and health-related socio-scientific issues present in their lives today. The purpose of this small-scale project will be to explore the feasibility of designing un-facilitated museum exhibit experiences that engage museum visitors in activities where they recognize the components of socio-scientific arguments, evaluate them, and pose arguments of their own. The exhibit will use techniques of interactive exhibits usually applied in science museums to explore objects, phenomena, or scientific and engineering processes but the subject of this exhibit is about words and talk rather than things and physical phenomena. It is intended to give visitors practice in science thinking skills that citizens can use in listening critically, assessing arguments, and framing arguments of their own. This project will support the design, development, and testing of six unfacilitated activities that engage visitors in deconstructing, evaluating, and developing arguments related to socio-scientific issues. The investigators will develop prototypes so that labels, content, and physical design can be changed during the course of formative testing. The prototypes will be developed by members of the Museum of Science Education and Strategic Projects Departments. This project is intended to gather evidence through evaluation about whether an unstaffed exhibit can be designed to increase visitors\' capacity to engage in discussions of socio-scientific issues and health-related socio-scientific issues. The Museum of Science Research and Evaluation Department will conduct the formative evaluation of these prototypes. It will provide new evidence about the ability of museum exhibits to increase the scientific thinking skills of visitors.
This two-year project is communicating the results of scientific discoveries produced by an on-going LTER (Long-term Ecological Research) project devoted to understanding the Everglades ecosystem. Specifically, Dr. Heithaus is capitalizing on the discoveries funded through 0620409 (Coastal Oligotrophic Ecosystems Research) about the role of large-bodied, top predators in the Everglades, including bull sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) and American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). The STEM content of this project is biology, in particular ecology, the environment, and conservation. These results are being communicated via: (1) multimedia exhibit presentations at multiple museums and nature centers in southern Florida, primarily the Museum of Discovery and Science (MODS), located in Ft. Lauderdale near the Everglades and (2) online dissemination of mini-documentaries and other educational components at social media websites and the LTER web site. The target audience for the museum exhibit components includes learners from diverse cultural backgrounds, such as urban family groups reflecting the demographics of southern Florida. This project will also develop a documentary about Everglades ecology that is planned for dissemination on a cable TV channel devoted to natural history. In order to link with formal education, related educational deliverables are being produced for use in science classroom settings (grades 4 through 12) that are aligned with the state science standards and benchmarks. Formative assessment conducted by museum staff and university students will evaluate learning outcomes as they relate to STEM content learning goals. After the two-year funding period, the science learning opportunities produced from the current Communicating Research to Public Audiences (CRPA) project will be sustained as the exhibit travels to other venues and as web deliverables are accessed on-line.
Through programs (including small group conversations, citizen conferences, and public forums) an interactive exhibition, and two research studies that address issues that are fundamental to establishing museums as places of public dialogue and deliberation, this project engages the general public, policymakers, and caregivers in deliberations around the latest early childhood development (ECD) research. It also builds on an increased understanding of the importance of ECD to expand civic engagement around this urgent social issue. The overall goal of the project is to help audiences understand child development, how environment and experiences impact development, and what we as a society can do to support our youngest citizens. Specifically, audiences explore: How the brain develops from birth until kindergarten (or age five); how a child's environment and experiences sculpt the brain, with some experiences enhancing the child's self-control and learning, and other experiences that actually impede development; and what the project audiences can do to ensure that all children have a strong foundation to learn and thrive.
The Louisiana State Museum and Tulane University/Xavier University Center for Bioenvironmental Research and the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography, along with several other research collaborators, designers, evaluators, and the Times-Picayune newspaper are partnering to develop a multi-pronged approach on educating the general public, school children, teachers and public officials on the STEM-related aspects of Hurricane Katrina and its implications for the future of New Orleans and other parts of the country. The major products will be an 8,500 square-foot semi-permanent exhibit, smaller exhibits for Louisiana regional libraries, a comprehensive Web site on hurricanes, a set of studies on informal learning, a case study for public officials about the relevance of science research to policy and planning, teacher workshops, and a workshop for interested exhibit designers from around the country. This project advances the field of informal science education by exploring how museums, universities, and their communities can work together to provide meaningful learning experiences on STEM topics that are critical to solving important community and national issues.
Based on discoveries made from an active research grant, Gruber, colleagues, and students will develop multimedia deliverables that highlight the biofluorescence found in coral reefs. They include development of a multimedia exhibit containing interactive, inquiry-based modules and new videos developed off the Cayman Islands. These deliverables will share the beauty of coral reefs, the source of biofluorescence (fluorescent proteins), and the fundamental importance of coral reefs in shallow marine ecosystems. The STEM content of this project is drawn from the biological sciences, including specific topics such as marine biology, physiology, ecology, and conservation. The exhibit will reach diverse audiences at public aquaria and at the principal investigator's institution. Learning will be studied by an external evaluator through formative assessment. The new science discoveries and related STEM content about coral reef biofluorescence also will be communicated via a web site that enables access by informal learners online. This Communicating Research to Public Audiences project is based on research grant MCB-0920572: Isolation, characterization, and evolution of fluorescent proteins from Indo-Pacific and Caribbean marine organisms.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David GruberVincent PieriboneCarrie Manfrino
The California Environmental Legacy Project is a new kind of educational media project. Through an integrated package of programs and media resources, it seeks to build public understanding about about environmental change and the deep and inextricable connections we have with the natural world. The Project has three interwoven media programs: "Becoming California," is a two-hour public television documentary that takes a fresh look at our past, present and future relationship with California's changing environment. Produced for a national public television audience, the target for broadcast is summer 2014. The Changing Places Initiative is a package of regional films created for selected state and national parks in California. Produced as standalone and companion programs to the broadcast program, the films are planned for release in park visitor centers beginning in summer 2014. A companion website aims to increase public understanding of environmental change by integrating the project's video program into an engaging and interactive user interface that offers streaming video, educational resources and social networking tools. Audience Research is a key element of the project that guides development of its media and provides feedback on its overall effectiveness. Project partners include California State Parks, the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey. KQED-TV in San Francisco is serving as its presenting station for PBS broadcast. The Project is led by team of distinguished scientists, leading educators and award-winning media professionals.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
James BaxterKit TylerJeffrey WhiteDavid Scheerer
Situated within the framework of their NSF funded sociolinguistic research, partnering institutions, Gallaudet University and the University of California-Davis, will develop and broadly disseminate a 2-hour DVD that builds knowledge and fosters community awareness, among informal and formal audiences, about the scientific structure and history of American Sign Language (ASL), with an emphasis on Black American Sign Language. Through this Communicating Research to Public Audiences (CRPA) grant, the DVD and its existing companion guidebook will: (a) link ASL to current empirical research; (b) describe the complexities of the science of language development (written and spoken); (c) detail the evolution of Black American Sign Language; (d) provide strong evidence that sociolinguistic variations and dialects are not unique to spoken languages; and (e) foster related discussions in formal and informal settings. The project will involve ASL interpreters and hearing, hearing impaired and deaf local community members, students, and teachers; ranging in age (adolescents to seniors), geographic location within the United States, and socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds. Informal settings such as local community, resource and cultural centers will participate in project dissemination efforts and activities. Formal settings such as postsecondary linguistics courses, deaf studies courses, interpreter training courses, and professional workshops will also serve as secondary venues for project dissemination activities. The research design, videotaped data clips and findings from the seminal sociolinguistic research involving data from 22 study groups at six different sites will be encapsulated and made accessible via the primary deliverable, a 2 hour DVD. Designed for various audiences, the DVD will present the socio-historical significance of the research, data collection and methods employed, and data clips of participants narrating their life experiences. Phonological variables, syntactic & discourse variables, contact phenomena, and lexical variations will also be discussed and illustrated in the DVD. Targeted public and professional audiences will be recruited to receive the DVD, the companion guide book, and other project resources. Project deliverables include a 2 hour DVD, training materials, workshops, and web site enhancements. Through active dissemination efforts, the project intends to reach approximately 29,000 people. The project should: (a) increase knowledge and awareness about the scientific structure and history of ASL, and (b) provide greater access to content- including STEM content-through a broader understanding of geographical and social factors that influence non-spoken language variations, particularly Black ASL. A mixed methods evaluation study will be employed to monitor all aspects of the DVD and training materials development, refinement, and implementation. Focus groups will be conducted and questionnaires will be distributed to collect data and determine the extent to which the project has effectively met its primary goal to share and disseminate its research findings more broadly to public audiences, with a special emphasis on informal audiences and organizations. The project will address a need in the field for research about the scientific structure, history, and socio-cultural factors influencing variations in non-spoken languages, particularly in Black ASL. Broad dissemination of this research could raise public awareness about ASL variations thereby, providing interpreters and a sizable portion of the deaf and hearing communities with valuable insights on ASL that could improve content accessibility among deaf and hearing impaired individuals. The project also highlights an important, overlooked component of American history. In addition, this project would further the ISE program's efforts to diversify its portfolio with respect to content (science of language; linguistics) and target populations (deaf, African-American). The original NSF funded scientific research project and the proposed dissemination efforts, also support ISE's commitment to fund projects with an aim to communicate NSF funded research to informal audiences and within informal settings. With an anticipated reach of 29,000 people, the project?s website, local community events, and linkages with ISE organizations such as The Department of African American Studies Afro-American Studies Resource Center at Howard University in Washington, DC; The Stiles African American Heritage Center in Denver; and The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, NY and professional organizations such as the Gallaudet University Press and the National Association of Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA); will provide multiple opportunities for public engagement in the research and cross-disciplinary, cultural discussions about this work within the context of informal and formal education.