Frozen Planet is a landmark multi-media seven-part television series, with complementary website, whose goal is to inform and inspire audiences about the environment and ecology of the Polar Regions and the science being carried out there. The series will highlight multiple disciplines including climatology, volcanology, geology, glaciology, as well as natural history. Frozen Planet will be produced in High Definition by the BBC Natural History Unit and Discovery Communications for broadcast worldwide on Discovery Channel in 2011. The proposal to NSF is for 1) field support for filming various NSF-supported research efforts in Antarctica and 2) funding to cover evaluation of the project's intended learning impacts in the United States. Goodman Research Group will conduct the summative evaluation to measure learning impacts centered on the audience's understanding of the polar environment, the science being undertaken there, and the implication of the new scientific findings to their everyday lives. For scientific and field support, the production team is collaborating with many organizations in addition to NSF's Office of Polar Programs including the British Antarctic Survey, the Canadian Polar Continental Shelf Project, and NASA. Through repeated broadcast, video-on-demand, the website, and DVDs, the project will provide a comprehensive, enduring resource. The project is anticipated to reach more than 65 million people across the U.S.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dan ReesCarlos GutierrezChrstine Weber
This project will create the infrastructure to provide Hispanic media with an ongoing source of high-quality science news tailored to meet the needs and interests of Hispanics. The proposed Hispanic Science News Service website will be a downloadable internet resource site for Hispanic print, radio and internet editors, journalists and producers to access science stories, radio capsules and science information resources. This service would be promoted through partnerships with the National Association of Hispanic Publishers, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and The Hispanic Radio. Specific media deliverables will include: Exploracion, a weekly, Spanish-language newspaper column; La Ciencia en Breve: El Universo a tu Alcance (Science News Briefs); Exploracion, a daily science radio news capsule; and uploads of science content to the Univision.com website.
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.
Cosmic Serpent - Bridging Native and Western Science Learning in Informal Settings is a four-year collaboration between the Indigenous Education Institute and the University of California-Berkeley targeting informal science education professionals. This project is designed to explore the commonalities between western science and native science in the context of informal science education. The intended impacts are to provide informal science education professionals with the skills and tools to gain an understanding of the commonalities between native and western worldviews; create regional networks that bridge native and museum communities; develop science education programs in which learners cross cultural borders between western science and indigenous peoples; and meet the needs of diverse audiences using culturally-responsive approaches to science learning. Participants are introduced to topics in physical, earth, space, and life science, using an interdisciplinary approach. Deliverables include professional development workshops, peer mentoring, museum programs for public audiences, a project website, and media products for use in programs and exhibits. Additionally, regional partnerships between museums and native communities, a legacy document, and a culminating conference jointly hosted by the National Museum of the American Indian and the Association of Science and Technology Centers will promote future sustainability. Strategic impact is realized through participants'' increased understanding of native and western science paradigms, museum programs that reflect commonalities in the two approaches, partnerships between museums and native communities, and increased institutional capacity to engage native audiences in science. This project directly impacts 270 informal educators at 96 science centers and tribal/cultural museums nationally while the resulting programs will reach an estimated 200,000 museum visitors.
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 proposal will develop and disseminate locally developed STEM-rich audio programs for the traveling public, in particular vacationing families, using emerging traveler information technologies, traveling festival kits, and an interactive website. The project is linked to the 220-mile Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway that traverses a dramatic landscape, rich in natural resources and unique contributions to scientific research. Collaborators include the Eastern Sierra Institute for Collaborative Education and the University of California at Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael CollopyBarbara AndoJacque Ewing-TaylorSusan Szewczak Clark
The California Science Center (CSC) developed the "World of Ecology," a 45,000 sq ft permanent exhibition that involves the large-scale fusion of interactive science exhibits with the immersive live-habitat concept of zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens.The focus for this project is the Extreme Zone, which will explore how species adapt to their environment. It contains four habitats: the Sonoran desert, deep sea hydrothermal vents, polar regions and rocky shores and will include more than 259 terrestrial and aquatic animal and plant species. The overall goal is to communicate that in every ecosystem the physical and living worlds are connected and shaped by the same fundamental ecological principles. It will be achieved through the integration of science center exhibits with immersive habitats on a large scale. This approach provides an interesting model for the science center, museum, zoo and botanical garden fields. The target audience is the 1.6 million annual CSC visitors, 57% of whom are from minority populations, with an emphasis on families, elementary and middle school students. In addition, CSC will enhance the exhibition through outreach programs that serve at-risk students. All audio-visual programs will be available in Spanish as well as English, and a Spanish language audio guide will be produced. Collaboration with the Santa Barbara Zoo will bring valuable expertise as well as enhance prospects for dissemination.
"IPY: Engaging Antarctica" is an informal science education project designed to increase public awareness of Antarctic geological research and discovery during the International Polar Year. Submitted through NET Television, the project will produced a PBS one-hour television documentary for air on NOVA in fall 2008 (w.t. "Antarctica's Icy Secrets") complemented by a multi-faceted outreach effort. The intended impacts of "Engaging Antarctica" are to: 1) enhance the general public's awareness and understanding of scientific research conducted in Antarctica; 2) create innovative collaborations for developing and disseminating Antarctic educational materials; and 3) enhance our knowledge of how youth and adults understand Antarctic research. The documentary will illuminate geoscience research as it being accomplished throughout IPY and specifically focus on the ANDRILL project, a major focal point during the global campaign of polar education and analyses. The program will document how scientists search for evidence to resolve conflicting hypotheses regarding ice sheet history and dynamics. NOVA Online will create a companion site for the program. In addition, the outreach materials include the Flexhibit, a digital package of high resolution images and files (visual and audio) accessible via the web, at no cost to the user. These will include scientist's stories in their own words, and inquiry-based activities developed by LuAnn Dahlman, the TERC geoscience curriculum specialist. Dahlman will work with the ARISE educators who have been selected to go to Antarctica to work with the ANDRILL science team. Mini-grants will be given to youth organizations in low income communities to participate in the trial test of the Flexhibit activities and enable participation in the project. Multimedia Research will conduct front-end and formative evaluation. Summative evaluation will be conducted by Multimedia Research and Amy Spiegel, from the University of Nebraska Center for Instructional Innovation.
John Carroll University, Cleveland's International Women's Air and Space Museum and Cleveland Public Schools are partnering in a three-year project to provide a cross-age, collaborative exhibit development experience to increase young peoples' science understanding and interest in science and teaching careers. The program exposes 120+ high school and undergraduate women to the skills of educational program planning and implementation. Content includes science, technology, engineering and math related to flight, and the history and role of women in flight related careers. The project proposes a highly supportive learning environment with museum, science and education experts working alongside students at secondary and undergraduate levels to design exhibits that will meet the interest and needs of the museum, and the young children and families from Cleveland schools who visit. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, the evaluation will measure change in participant career interests, content understanding and perception of science, technology, engineering and math subjects, and skill development in presenting these concepts to public audience members. Public and professional audience experiences will also be evaluated. More than nine hundred local elementary school age children, their families and 15,000 general public audience members will participate in student-designed, museum-based exhibits and programs. Deliverables include a model for university/museum partnerships in providing exhibit development and science learning experiences, three team-developed permanent exhibits about flight and women in science, a set of biographies about women and flight in DVD format and three annual museum based community events. The model program will be informed by national advisors from museum/university partners across the United States who will attend workshops in connection with the projects public presentations in years one and two. These meetings will both provide opportunities to reflect on the program progress and to develop new strategies in the evolution of the program design. Workshop participants will develop plans to implement similar programs in their home locations, impacting another layer of public audiences. The transferability of the model to these new sites will be measured in year three of the proposal. An additional 25,000 participants are expected to be impacted in the five years following the grant period. Beyond the implementation sites, the model's impact will be disseminated by the PI and participants in the program through peer reviewed journals and presentations at national conferences.
After completing the Biomimicry: Synthetic Gecko Tape activity, surveys were distributed to fourteen visitors. The survey was designed to elicit information regarding the degree of visitor interest, enjoyment, and ease in understanding the activity. Responding visitors for this activity actually participated in a week-long program; some of their responses reflect their participation in numerous activities.
In this article, Jane Clark Chermayeff recalls a trip to Angkor, the UNESCO World Heritage site in northwest Cambodia and home to two archaeological sites being conserved by the World Monuments Fund. Chermayeff shares her experience in Angkor as she and a team of conservators attempted to deal with the challenge of dealing with hordes of visitors each day and importance of communication and interpretation as an aid toward site conservation. Included are five recommendations for facing similar challenges in heritage preservation.
This Proposal is a Small Grant for Exploratory Research (SGER) to fund a new science radio show targeted specifically for commercial talk radio. The proposed 10 one hour programs will be co-hosted by Neil de Grasse Tyson, astrophysicist, popular best selling book aurthor, writer, host of PBS scienceNow, and the frequent contributor on cable television networks including The Daily Show. The programs would be broadcast on CBS Talk Radio Statiion, KLSX. The program will feature a variety of celebrity guests as well as scientists who share an interest in space and science. Listeners will be encouraged to interact with the guests calling in to pose questions and voice opinions. The programs will present traditionally dry or technical topics in a humorous format. The recent pilot program on KLSX generated the most call-ins ever during a weekend talk show on that station. The goal is to reach an audience that is not otherwise served by current programming on public radio and to eventually become self-supporting on commercial radio.