The Museum of Science, Boston (MOS) and its primary collaborators, the Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN) and the Exploratorium (San Francisco, CA), are continuing and expanding the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), which has been in operation since 2005. NISE Net has established a national infrastructure of over one-hundred hands-on science centers and universities within seven regional hubs with the goal of fostering public awareness, engagement and understanding of nanoscale science and engineering (NSE). As part of this undertaking, NISE Net partners have: - created a nation-wide set of annual events called NanoDays; - developed dozens of interactive exhibits, media-based products, programs, and public forums based on NSE; - generated new knowledge about the design for learning about NSE, its applications, and societal implications; - produced a network that involves informal educators and researchers; and - developed a Web site for professionals, www.nisenet.org, that includes several resources for educators and researchers, including a catalog of educational products. During the next five years (2010 - 2014), NISE Net will continue to develop new educational products, deepen the involvement of current partnerships in nanoscale informal science education, and expand the number of partners overall to 300 organizations. The advisory committee, content steering committee, regional hubs, and other work groups will continue to develop collaborative relationships between museums and university-based NSE research centers, including Materials Research Science and Engineering Research Centers (MRSECs) and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers (NSECs). A Diversity, Equity, and Access group will actively support, foster, and encourage the NISE Net\'s efforts to reach diverse audiences with regard to geography, dis/ability, gender, race/ethnicity, language, and income. Four research studies will be conducted: Partnership and Network, Institutional Change, Learning Progressions, and Evidence-Based Decision Making.
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
ENERGY-NET (Energy, Environment and Society Learning Network) brings together the Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) with the learning science and geoscience research strengths at the University of Pittsburgh to create rich opportunities for participatory learning and public education in the arena of energy, the environment, and society using an Earth systems science framework. ENERGY-NET builds upon a long-established teen docent program at CMNH and forms Geoscience Squads comprised of underserved teens. Together, the ENERGY-NET team, including museum staff, experts in informal learning sciences, and geoscientists spanning career stage (undergraduates, graduate students, faculty) provides inquiry-based learning experiences guided by Earth systems science principles. Together, the team works with Geoscience Squads to design "Exploration Stations" for use with CMNH visitors that employ an Earth systems science framework to explore the intersecting lenses of energy, the environment, and society. The goals of ENERGY-NET are to: 1) Develop a rich set of experiential learning activities to enhance public knowledge about the complex dynamics between Energy, Environment, and Society for demonstration at CMNH; 2) Expand diversity in the geosciences workforce by mentoring underrepresented teens, providing authentic learning experiences in earth systems science and life skills, and providing networking opportunities with geoscientists; and 3) Institutionalize ENERGY-NET collaborations among geosciences expert, learning researchers, and museum staff to yield long-term improvements in public geoscience education and geoscience workforce recruiting.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Carnegie-Mellon UniversityMary Ann SteinerEmily ElliotKevin CrowleyUniversity of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Museum of Natural History
This proof-of-concept project is a collaboration of the Museum of Science in Boston, WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and Ideum. The project will demonstrate that the project team can design and develop digital interactive museum exhibit devices that work for visitors who have a wide range of disabilities. The outcome will be one "exemplar" exhibit based on an exhibit scenario where museum visitors learn STEM concepts by manipulating and analyzing real data. The project will also develop and test the efficacy of a prototype Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Toolkit that will help other museum professionals implement the digital interactive strategies. In addition, the project will produce a white paper on the specific exemplar and a research paper with guidelines for digital interactive exhibits in museum. The project uses an innovative workshop approach that brings together individuals from a diverse range of fields to develop the digital interactive strategies. After developing the "exemplar" exhibit, the team will develop the DIY Toolkit and test the efficacy of the Toolkit in museums that do not have the same level of exhibit development resources as larger institutions. The the project's evaluation will not only determine if the exemplar works well with a wide range of people with disabilities, but also determine the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of the workshop strategy and the ability of other museums to use the DIY toolkit. If successful, this project will attend to an area of high need in the informal science education (ISE) museum exhibit community and provide a resource that will serve a wide range of ISE institutions. If the project evaluation outcomes are positive, the project will lead to a larger effort to develop more exemplar exhibits based on different scenarios and an expansion of the DIY Toolkit.
The New York Hall of Science, the Institute for Learning Innovation, Hunter College of the City University of New York, and a consortium of five regional science center/zoo partnerships will collaborate to develop, implement, and evaluate a project with the working title "Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think." It will develop a research-based traveling exhibition for science centers that explores animal cognition and cross-institutional programming strategies for zoos as a case study for the ISE field. The project's primary goal for public audiences is to foster a deeper understanding of similarities between people and animals in terms of cognition, i.e., how we think. Wild Minds will explore two interrelated hypotheses: (1) a deeper insight into how animals think will create or strengthen the awareness of an evolutionary link between animals and humans; and (2) that this sense of a strong connection can stimulate interest in the welfare of animals in the wild and in our homes. The project will create a 1,500 s.f. traveling exhibition with 15-20 exhibit components exploring aspects of animal cognition for general audiences at five major science centers with zoo partners. The Institute for Learning Innovation project will conduct applied research that will expand on the results of the summative evaluation of the exhibition by investigating whether changes in awareness, understanding, and knowledge about action are sustained over time and/or lead to attitudinal change, behavioral intention, and observable behavior. In addition, process research with the science center and zoo collaborators will provide an analysis that will identify factors contributing to or inhibiting an integrated local informal science education infrastructure in a community. The project will also conduct exploratory research to identify the challenges and benefits encountered during collaboration between science centers and zoos.
This project will establish a research foundation for archaeological education in informal learning environments. It will investigate the use of archaeological content and concepts to help museums and other informal learning organizations increase and diversity their audiences. In addition to generating information and a data base, the effort will develop a research framework for presenting this subject to various public audiences with emphasis on underrepresented groups. The plan is to develop and implement a Delphi survey for a variety of stakeholders, including 60 museums, to determine what they do to attract diverse audiences, what is needed to create effective archaeology learning opportunities, and how successful they have been in communicating archaeological content and concepts. The result will be a synthesis that informs a broad spectrum of the informal science education community.
This project will develop a comprehensive Space Weather Outreach program to reach students, educators, and other members of the public, and share with them the discoveries from this scientific discipline. The Space Science Institute will capitalize on its prior successes and the success of other education programs to develop a comprehensive and integrated program that has the following five components: (1) the Space Weather Center website that includes online educational games; (2) Small Exhibits for Libraries, Shopping Malls, and Science Centers; (3) After-School Programs; (4) Professional Development Workshops for Educators, and (5) an innovative Evaluation and Education Research project. Its overarching goal is to inspire, engage, and educate a broad spectrum of the public and make strategic and innovative connections between informal and K-12 education communities. Partners include UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory; the American Library Association; Macerich: a mall developer with nationwide impact; and the Math, Engineering, Science Achievement program. The project brings together a creative collaboration between exhibit designers, graphic artists, formal/informal educators, and research scientists. The project spans a full spectrum of science communication strategies (formal, informal, and public outreach). The evaluation part of the project will examine how well the project elements work together and a pilot research study will explore the efficacy of online digital games for communicating complex space weather content. Results will be published and the findings presented at professional meetings and online. The three-year project is expected to impact well over two million people, including exhibit and website visitors and outreach visitors at various venues such as libraries and malls.
This award provides critical support to continue operating the Public Observatory at the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) beyond the initial two-year period of construction, opening, and initial operation, and to keep it viable until it can become a permanent fully endowed education and public outreach feature on the National Mall.
This award provides continued funding for a 3D High Definition (HD) video documentary about an international group of earth scientists engaged in an investigation of the processes responsible for central Mongolia's unusually active uplifting terrain (the Hangay Dome) and its consequences for regional climate patterns and ecosystems (EAR -1009702). The Hangay Dome in central Mongolia provides an excellent and accessible laboratory to investigate these processes and determine the degree to which mantle upwelling, mafic underplating, lithospheric foundering or plume activity have been important agents in its uplift.
Advances in genomics are rapidly increasing our understanding of not only the human body, disease and health-related issues but how humans and other species interact and respond to changing environments. Genomics represents a scientific frontier that connects with individuals and families at the most personal level, with the potential to shape the future of human healthcare. However, advances in genomics and their implications for personalized medicine are far out-pacing public awareness and knowledge. The Connecticut Science Center and the University of Connecticut partnered under a National Science Foundation funded collaboration between Dr. Rachel O'Neill, UCONN, and Dr. Hank Gruner, Connecticut Science Center, and the National Center for Science & Civic Engagement to engage the public in developing a conceptual understanding of genomics.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Connecticut Science CenterRachel O'NeillHank Gruner
Health care in the United States is expensive and complex, and there are many competing interests that make it an increasing necessity for health care consumers to take an active role to better advocate for themselves and those who are impacted by the decisions that are made. Making effective health care choices requires both science literacy and critical thinking skills to understand and evaluate options. The Weighing the Evidence (tentative title) project team will work with medical experts, researchers, health and medicine journalists, and community partners to improve visitors’ critical analysis skills and ability to review evidence so that they can make informed health care decisions. To meet this goal a traveling exhibition will be developed utilizing a unique collection of historical and contemporary quack medical devices donated to the Science Museum of Minnesota when the Museum of Questionable Medical Devises closed in 2002. While the collection is rich in fun and entertainment, it also offers a multitude of opportunities to reflect on science, society and ethics, skepticism, and objectivity. This collection, along with interactive experiences, theater programs, outreach programming and a companion web site will provide visitors with the tools needed to become more knowledgeable health care consumers.
This evaluation examines visitor engagement at the “Science On a Sphere” (SOS) exhibit at Pacific Science Center, Seattle, WA. Evaluators varied characteristics of the data presentation—such as topic presented, presence of a question prompt, and image rotation—and measured the resulting visitor engagement for each of the different treatments. Furthermore, the evaluation examined visitors’ interest in the SOS exhibit, as well as the extent to which visitors connect the exhibit to surrounding exhibits. This study examines different treatments to the SOS exhibit to determine the presentation
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TEAM MEMBERS:
University of Washington | Pacific Science CenterDylan HighDanielle AcheampongEllie KleinwortTravis Windleharth