The New Ecological Paradigm for Children is modeled after the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) and the New Ecological Paradigm-Revised (NEP-Revised) for adults. The survey contains 10 questions assessing three subscales that contribute to one’s “environmental world view” including “rights of nature,” “eco-crisis,” and “human exceptionalism.”
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Constantinos C. ManoliBruce JohnsonRiley E. Dunlap
This article describes the goals and methodology of the Field Museum in Chicago's Calumet Environmental Education Program (CEEP) in the Calumet region of southeast Chicago. The program engages students grades 4-12 in science by letting them apply what they have learned to real-life community conservation issues. Evaluation highlights and lessons learned are also included.
The University of New Hampshire Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans and Space is partnering with the Houston Museum of Natural Science and Evans & Sutherland, Inc. (Salt Lake City) to produce Ice Planet Earth, a 30-minute updateable digital full-dome planetarium show, along with a variety of educational programs by polar researchers, educational materials for teachers, and an Ice Planet Earth Web site maintained by the University. Additional partners include organizations in Pittsburgh, Baton Rouge, Concord, NH, Portland, OR and in Melbourne Australia and Haifa Israel. The project's science focus is on the key role of the polar regions in globally-linked systems through the viewpoint of Earth as a unique ice and water world. Two updateable pre-show products are being developed a five-minute-long Polar Immersion preview as visitors enter the theaters that incorporates changing high-resolution fisheye images taken by researchers in the field, and Polar Events Update just before the main feature begins that will be presented live by planetarium staff. Estimated attendance over the life of the programs is estimated to be a minimum of 1.5 million. Evaluation is being conducted by the Program Evaluation and Research Group (PERG) at Lesley University, Boston.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Annette SchlossMark FahnestockCharles VorosmartyRichard LammersCarolyn Sumners
The California Academy of Sciences produces a science news radio feature "EARTHNEWS" which has aired daily on twelve radio stations in California for nine years. "EARTHNEWS" is a background to regular news and provides in-depth interpretation of science and environmental events to assist the public in understanding what they hear or read. In response to a very large volume of mail from listeners, a quarterly newsletter was created four years ago to announce program schedules, enhance the information presented on the radio, and offer scientists and teachers a written forum for sharing ideas. Positive response from the listening audience suggests that this feature has tremendous potential for reaching a broad national audience. The Columbia Broadcasting System has agreed to air three 60-second "EARTHNEWS" features each week and to distribute these features nationwide via satellite. A total of 156 features will be produced annually, each reaching an estimated national audience of twelve to fifteen million people. The California Academy of Sciences is requesting funding for program research and production to develop this national radio program and to continue production of the newsletter.
The Louisville Science Center (LSC) proposes to develop "The World Around Us (WAU)," an 8,000 sq ft exhibition, plus programs and materials designed to increase environmental awareness of citizens, inspiring greater understanding and respect for earth's natural resources. Exhibition components are CenterStage; AtmoSphere: Air that Surrounds Us; TerraSphere: Environments that Support Us; and AquaSphere: Water that Sustains Us. The exhibition integrates hands-on activities and media-based visitor experiences with approximately 1,000 specimens from the LSC collections. The project takes an interdisciplinary thematic approach founded in educational goals and STEM content that is closely linked to national science standards. Target audiences are children in grades 3-8, parents, caregivers and teachers. LSC expects to reach some five million visitors over ten years after opening the exhibition. The project focuses on reaching rural and underserved audiences in Kentucky and Indiana. Its impact will be extended through strong ties to the schools and with ancillary materials. The distance learning capability of the Collections Discovery Gallery will extend the reach of the exhibition beyond the museum walls. In addition, the application of PDAs and handheld GIS technology will add to experience of the field in these areas. Dissemination of "green" fabrication techniques will help other science centers follow similar approaches.
As teachers respond to the demands of educational reform and strive to meet increasing pressures of educational benchmarks and standards, there is less and less time to utilize innovative teaching techniques. Education reform expectations, coupled with increasing class size and shrinking budgets has significantly impacted the way that science education is delivered in schools. 4-H Wildlife Stewards, a Master Science Educator's Program was developed in response to these emerging concerns in science education. The program is based on the premise that trained volunteer Master Science Educators
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mary ArnoldMichael DaltonMaggie LivesayRobin Galloway
The Chedd-Angier Production Company is requesting support for the long-standing, highly acclaimed PBS series, "Scientific American Frontiers," now in its 13th season. Alan Alda hosts the program. NSF funds will leverage existing PBS support and expand the series from five to six programs and increase the scope and depth of the science covered in each program. Topics in the new season cover a broad range of disciplines including cutting edge scientific efforts in cosmology, anthropology, global warming, brain research, obesity and weight loss, and hydrogen fuel cell research. The funds will also be used to expand the "Frontiers" web site and raise the visibility of the program by enhancing the promotional campaign. These efforts will aim to improve the value of the series to science teachers as well as to the general audience. Formative evaluation will be undertaken by Multimedia Research; summative evaluation, by Knight-Williams Research Communications.
The California Academy of Sciences will produce "Water is Life," a 30,383 square-foot permanent exhibit with educational programming. The exhibit is designed to engage the public with the living world of water, to foster environmental stewardship and increase science literacy. Three habitat components -- Philippine Coral Reef, California Coast and Global Rainforests -- are conceptually and experientially linked through "Water Planet," which explores water's physical properties and how they impact living organisms and lead to aquatic diversity. Each component also reinforces the importance of conserving aquatic resources. Educational programming takes "Water is Life" to local schools and community events and onto the World Wide Web, as well as provides venues for formative evaluation of exhibit design elements. The development of lending kits, plus supporting manuals and workshops, will extend the reach of "Water is Life" regionally and nationally. Similarly, instruction manuals and workshops for creating desktop, living reefs will have national impact. The compelling draw of live organisms, hands-on activities, and exhibit enrichment through educational programming provide accessibility to a large, diverse audience. The exhibit will reach over one million annual visitors, and a larger audience will experience distributed educational programs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Margaret BurkeLinda KulikChristopher AndrewsTerrence GoslinerRobert Jenkins
CoCoRaHS or the Community Collaborative Rain and Hail Study builds on previously funded NSF research on precipitation patterns in the western portion of the US. This award will expand the current citizen science efforts to include those living in the Great Plains including Eastern Colorado, Western Nebraska, Northwest Kansas and Southeast Wyoming. Participants gain experience in data collection and analysis while working with scientists and contributing to a national research study. CoCoRaHS volunteers will learn about the impact of regional weather patterns on agriculture, water resources and environmental quality while collecting rain, hail and snow data. Participants are also invited to take part in other activities to build on the research experience including a series of seminars, field trips and workshops. The project will result in the development of the following materials: graphic depictions of data using ARC-GIS software, a teacher curriculum, an upgraded website and a quarterly newsletter.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Robert CifelliNolan DoeskenSteven Rutledge
Sea Studios Foundation is developing a five-hour television-based project that will examine "Earth System Science," which will be produced in association with the National Geographic Society (NGS). Geologists, biologists, oceanographers, climatologists, social scientists and others are joining forces to understand the planet's rapidly changing environment. The series will follow the on-going research of these scientists as they investigate the links between Earth's geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. These programs are planned as the first season of an annual series on the topic. Educational outreach will include a hands-on traveling exhibit to be developed and tested by the Maryland Science Center; an Educator's Guide for print and electronic distribution to informal science centers and community organizations; a "resource toolkit" to augment the Educator's Guide and an Internet site hosted by NGS that provides links to existing and new environmental resources. The series content also will be integrated into several NGS venues including: National Geographic Today, the daily news program on the National Geographic Channel; National Geographic Magazine, which will create a "global report card" as an annual feature; and National Geographic for Kids magazine, which is distributed to children in grades three through six. The project advisory board includes: Richard Barber, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Duke University Robert Costanza, Professor of Zoology, University of Maryland Gretchen Daily, Interdisciplinary Research Scientist, Stanford University Robert Dunbar, Specialist in Global Environmental Change, Stanford University Habiba Gitay, Senior Lecturer, National Centre for Development Studies, Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management, Canberra, Australia Michael Glantz, Senior Scientist, the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group, National Center for Atmospheric Research John Katzenberger, Executive Director of Aspen Global change Institute Jane Lubchenco, Professor of Marine Biology, Oregon State University J. R. McNeill, Professor of History, Georgetown University Harold Mooney, Professor of Environmental Biology, Stanford University Steven Schneider, Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change, Stanford University Brian Walker, Coordinator of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's Biodiversity Sector, Adelaide, South Australia
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mark ShelleyTierney ThysDavid Ellisco
Oregon State University will expand its successful Master Science Educators program and create a national model for the delivery of natural science education to elementary and middle school youth. Master Science Educators are volunteers who undergo a rigorous 30-hour training and commit to 50 hours of service to a community site, such as a community center, housing project or school. Volunteers work in teams of two so that each site receives 100 hours of service devoted to the research and development of a natural science project. Volunteers and on-site and off-site scientists who act as virtual volunteers, guide youth ages K-8, in the design, development and evaluation of their project. Wildlife habitat projects provide a means for participants to learn inquiry and are tailored to address local science standards. A trainer's guide, a volunteer handbook, a guide for community sites and promotional and training videos will be produced, as well as a web-based science course. It is anticipated that 240 volunteers will be trained to work with over 12,000 youth during the course of the project. Dissemination will occur through the 4-H Extension service, impacting both urban and rural populations.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Maureen Hosty
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, CA is organizing a workshop, The National Ocean on the Edge Workshop, which is convening more than fifty leading scientists, exhibit designers, film makers, informal science educators, and communicators for two and one-half days, May 12-14, 2009, along with follow-up activities. The participants are taking four of the booklets in the National Academy of Sciences Ocean Science Series as the point of departure for developing concrete exhibit and program ideas to exchange, entertain, educate, and empower the public. The four themes are: Coastal Hazards, Ocean Pollution, Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries, and Oceans and Human Health. Workshop participants are exploring and evaluating several modes of communicating with the public and preparing a tool kit for each theme. Each tool kit will include: a revised booklet based upon the NAS document;a set of references suitable for the general public; a set of recommended films and exhibits on the topic that have worked for general audiences; and concrete ideas for connecting with the public. In addition to traditional modes of communicating with the public, a variety of social networking techniques are being explored.