In early 2004 Explorit Science Center (Explorit) contracted with Visitor Studies Services (VSS) to design and conduct an evaluation of Explorit's Health In Your World Project (HIYW). HIYW is a traveling, science-based health education program for children and adults in low-income communities. HIYW features interactive experiments designed to make learning about the human body, health, and healthy choices fun and accessible. The program serves students in grades K-6, and is designed to engage parents and involve them as an integral part of the learning process. The HIYW Project was developed in
This study was commissioned to provide systematic feedback regarding visitor experience of the Low-Carb Craze exhibits (about nutrition and dieting) in Current Science Central. The principal issues to be investigated were about the interpretive experience: are visitors getting the idea that this is about current science information?; do visitors perceive the information to be recent?; are they learning any new information or not? To address these issues, an evaluation strategy was developed that focused on people's perceptions of the content and reactions to the activities; specifically
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jeff HaywardScience Museum of MinnesotaJolene Hart
Explore Evolution is a three-year project that uses a combination of traveling exhibits and activity kits to introduce the concept of evolution to museum audiences and 4-H groups. Six museum partners will collaborate on the development of eleven interactive exhibit modules on the following topics: disease in humans, eye development in animals, fruit fly diversity, sexual selection, hominoid development and extinction. The museum consortium includes the Kansas Museum and Biodiversity Center, Museum of the Rockies (MT), Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History, Science Museum of Minnesota, University of Nebraska State Museum and the Exhibits Museum of the University of Michigan. The inquiry-based activity kits will be modeled after the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's "Wonderwise" kits, funded in part by NSF, and designed for middle school audiences. An "Explore Evolution" website will be launched to support the exhibits and activity kits. Dissemination will occur through museum education programs as well as a consortium of 4-H programs in Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Michigan, Nebraska and Wyoming. It is anticipated that more than 1.8 million museum visitors and 800,000 4-H members will participate in this project.
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History proposes to develop a 5,000 sq ft traveling exhibition, along with educational material and programs. Motivated by the challenge of solving a crime, visitors will become engaged in a scientific investigation that cuts across the multiple disciplines of forensic science. This project builds upon the successful implementation of "Whodunit? The Science of Solving Crime," funded by a prior NSF grant (ESI-9253370). The proposed exhibition will travel to the member institutions of the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative, where the primary target audiences will be children in the upper elementary and middle school years. The proposed 12-month planning grant would enable research, front-end evaluation, project team meetings, and the development of a conceptual plan and a business plan for the new exhibition beginning. The Museum will develop specific plans to reach underserved audiences and to examine the feasibility of creating a version for small science centers.
The Cornell Theory Center (CTC), the university's high performance computing center, will use a Small Grant for Exploratory Research to develop a prototype online exhibit entitled "Jumping Genes." The goal is to use interactive technologies to design a 3D virtual world that engages young audiences (ages 11 & up) and encourages further exploration. The content of the online exhibit will focus on transposons, small sequences of nucleic acids associated with the rice genome. The rice transposons are thought to play a part in evolution and are currently being studied for potential use in genetic engineering. By experimenting with a variety of open-ended and discrete activities, the CTC will design a multi-user virtual environment (MUVE) that is comparable to exhibits found in science museums in terms of both quality and effectiveness. This final product will be disseminated via SciCentr.org, CTC's virtual science museum, as well as on Activeworlds, an online educational universe for middle and high school students that employs a virtual reality interface.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Margaret CorbitSusan McCouchWilliam Winn
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) requests a grant from the National Center for Research Resources through the SEPA program to develop and evaluate a model biomedical science education partnership program in collaboration with the University of Minnesota's Cancer Center, Medical School, School of Public Health, and College of Veterinary Medicine. The museum will work with 19 researchers at the University to develop a multifaceted exhibition and presentation program focusing on the importance of human tissues in biological development, function, and disease. The 1500-square-foot exhibition, to be located in SMM's new Human Body Gallery, will consist of an introduction to tissues and four topical exhibit clusters. Each topic was chosen because it tells a fascinating story of how the human body works and because it represents an important current NIH research focus in health and medicine. The exhibits will emphasize the importance of understanding how tissue function and viability leads to advances in detection, treatment, and curing different diseases. The exhibits closely support the National Science Education Standards Content Standards for Life Science for grades 5-9 (representing the majority of school field trip visitors to the museum.) A complimentary presentation/outreach program will involve NIH-supported researchers in three programs designed to increase public understanding of basic biomedical science, the causes and cures for disease, and the goals and achievements of biomedical research. A Visiting Scientists Program will feature scientists in the museum presenting programs and demonstrations related to their research interests. A Scientist Mentor Program will involve scientists closely with a diverse team of high-school aged youth to develop ongoing demonstrations and community outreach programs. A Dramatic Presentation will bring home to museum visitors the wider ethical and philosophical dimensions of tissue research.
The Nature of Aging project presents the biology of senescence to families and K-12 students through interactive exhibits and museum experiences. Senescence is perhaps the most complex and least understood biological process, yet it is also a universal experience marked by signs we all recognize. Aging has great relevance in the twenty-first century as medical advances and demographic shifts accelerate the growth of our elder population, and scientific research narrows in on the central mysteries of the aging process. In partnership with the Center for Healthy Aging at the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) and national experts in gerontology research and education, the Nature of Aging project has produced a 2,500-square-foot permanent exhibition, Amazing Feats of Aging, which opened in OMSI-s Life Science Hall in May 2003. A duplicate 2,500 traveling exhibition was also produced and began its national tour in June 2004. The proposed eight-year tour to an average of three venues per year is funded by exhibition rental fees and significantly extends the life and audience of the project. Visitors to the Amazing Feats of Aging exhibition explore comparative aging across the animal kingdom, healthy aging, and the aging of the brain. The exhibition is intended for a family audience, and activities are designed to foster intergenerational interaction. The exhibit experience is enriched by a series of educational materials and programs including a teachers- guide, an interactive website, demonstrations, and activities in OMSI-s Life Science Lab. The Amazing Feats of Aging exhibition was made possible by the contribution of expertise, photographs, video footage, software, prepared slides and specimens from scientists and researchers across the country, including: Aging Concerns, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, OHSU, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, National Institute on Aging, Oregon Zoo, Portland State University, University ofCalifornia, San Francisco, University of Colorado, Boulder, University of Idaho, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Virginia, and Washington State University.
The New York Hall of Science, partnering with biomedical researchers, educators and the Association of Science-Technology Centers, is planning to develop, test, (Phase I) and nationally disseminate (Phase II) a new exhibition titled Molecules and Health. This exhibition will engage middle and high-school students and the general public in inquiry-based learning on the role of molecules in health illness and prevention. The proposed project will be a national model for conveying the molecular basis for health-related sciences, which will be increasing central to research and public understanding in the coming decades. The exhibition will be based upon Marvelous Molecules-the Secret of Life, a permanent exhibition at the Hall of Science, and will include an extensive array of biomedical and health-related exhibits. We will develop pre- and post-visit materials for teachers' use, a family guide through the exhibition, and two Explainer-run demonstrations, as well as a web site to support classroom learning. This exhibition will travel to science centers within the United States through the Association of Science and Technology Centers touring program. We anticipate that 1,000,000 science museum visitors throughout the country will see the Molecules and Health exhibition during the four year dissemination phase. We will share the results of our evaluation and the process of developing this exhibition to the science education field.
MEDMYST: Dissemination Phase II A Phase I grant, The Reconstructors Investigate Medical Mysteries, from the National Center for Research Resources (R25 RR15295) funded the creation and field-test of innovative web-based materials targeted for middle school students. The product has come to be known as MEDMYST.It is an episodic adventure series with accompanying classroom activities focusing on infectious diseases and the microbes that cause them. The MEDMYST materials consist of: a) web adventures; b) classroom activities; c) MEDMYST Magazine--all designed to engage students in problem-solving activities not likely to be encountered elsewhere. Each of these components is available free of charge on the web site (http://medmyst.rice.edu) and all components are aligned with the National Science Education Content Standards. An extensive field test involving over 700 students from 9 different schools tested the efficacy of these materials. The results, accepted for publication in American Society for Microbiology's Microbiology Education journal, indicated significant learning gains with exposure to the Internet component of the materials. In this Phase II application, the goals are: 1) To create a network of MEDMYST Dissemination Partners and Lead Teachers whose expertise and training will continue beyond the SEPA funding. 2) To amplify teaching of Infectious Disease related concepts though MEDMYST in middle school classrooms by training a minimum of 1200 teachers, who will teach approximately 150,000 students over a two-year period. 3) To evaluate the impact of MEDMYST teacher training and document the adoption process in classrooms. 4) To continue to promote MEDMYST in a variety of educational settings, such as homes, after-school programs, museums, and with links from other web sites. To accomplish these goals, we have formed partnerships with the University of Washington Educational Outreach, The Minnesota Science Museum, the John P. McGovern Museum of Health ad Medical Science, and the American Society for Microbiology.
We propose to leverage the power of the Internet and the appeal of on-line gaming environments for middle school students to create a new type of learning resource in science. Case histories of medical discovery will be transformed into "problem- based" multimedia mysteries for students to solve. Through prior research we have developed and field tested a working model for an adventure series that engages middle school students. We propose to extend the model to new content. Assuming the on-line role of a Reconstructor who seeks lost medical knowledge from the past, students will unravel the origins of specific diseases or medical discoveries. The learning objectives for each episode will be multidisciplinary. The goal is to engage students in constructing their own knowledge by participating in virtual experiments, by helping them establish a context for the discoveries, and by understanding issues involved in forming public health policy. An experienced team representing medicine, biology, history of science, education, and information technology will oversee the project, assuring the integrity of the site content, and incorporating cutting edge technology. A process of iterative prototyping, focusing heavily on teachers and students will be employed to make the resource site exciting, educational, and useful in classrooms, in homes, and in museums. The field tests will be conducted in schools, representing a cross-section of the community, assuring appropriate presentation of materials to target populations.
The Tech Museum of Innovation and Stanford University School of Medicine Department of Genetics have established longterm partnership to enable the public to draw connections between modern genetics research and choices they face about their health. Together we will develop, produce, evaluate, and disseminate Life's New Frontier, a dynamic exhibition which will inform the public about the goals and methods of modern genetics. Interactive permanent exhibits and guided learning centers, staffed jointly by museum educators and by working scientists (predominantly Stanford graduate students and postdoctoral fellows), will take the public into the minds and laboratories of scientists who are revolutionizing biomedical science. The exhibition and associated public and school programs will emphasize the emerging discipline of bioinformatics, which is fundamental to the Human Genome Project, gene-based diagnosis, rational drug design, and treatment of disease. Life's New Frontier will open in the summer of 2003 to reach an estimated 1.5 million diverse people annually through museum and online visitation. It will set a new standard for the treatment of cutting-edge science in exhibitions by establishing an infrastructure that permits rapid changes to exhibit content, and creating opportunities for visitors to receive personalized science and health updates after their visit. The exhibition also will serve as a platform to foster continuing personal interaction among middle and high school students, Stanford faculty and students, and the general public. The Tech/Stanford partnership will be maintained through staff liaison positions at each partner institution and will be evaluated to assess its effectiveness. We hope to extend this model to other departments at the Stanford University School of Medicine, and to disseminate it as a model for other science center/university partnerships in biomedical sciences. We anticipate significant outcomes of this partnership: the pblic will be better able to apply the ideas of modern genetics to decisions about their health; and a broad range of students from diverse backgrounds will be inspired to pursue biomedical education and research.
KY-H.E.R.O.S. (Health Education Rural Outreach Scientists) is a health science education program that partners the largest science center in Kentucky with Science Heroes-- important regional biomedical research scientists. The Science Heroes, their stories and their studies serve as inspiration to our rural audience. The project objectives are to: (1) Convey the relevance of health science research to people's daily lives and promote awareness of healthy lifestyle choices and wellness; (2) Promote understanding of the fundamental principles of the scientifc process and inspire K-12 teachers to incorporate current research into their teaching of health science; and (3) Encourage students to pursue advanced science education and increase awareness of the wide range of health science related careers. The Science Center, working with the distinguished Science Heroes, their research teams and a group of 15 knowledgeable professional advisors will develop the new KY-H.E.R.O.S. science education program. The program will include new hands-on labs and demonstrations, teacher training workshops, career exploration activities, interactive videoconferencing distance learning links, and innovative public programs. Using museum-based exhibits and a wet lab, traveling exhibit components, telelinking (distance learning), an interactive website and printed and electronic materials, we will present information about the work of the Science Heroes and its relevance to the lives of participants. The focus of the program will change every two years to feature three different scientists and their work. A total of nine scientists will be included during the 5 year period covered by the SEPA grant. As the focus changes every two years to a different three scientists, all the programs and exhibits will be changed accordingly. KY-H.E.R.O.S. will be designed to serve audiences composed of school groups on field trips; teachers in workshops; classes in remote areas of the state participatng through videoconferencing; underserved groups including economically disadvantaged, minorities and young women; and the family audience that makes up about 60% of the Science Center's annual attendance. Formative and summative evaluation will be conducted by an outside firm to ensure effectiveness.