The Museums of the Rockies will develop a 2450 sq. ft. exhibit titled Landforms/Lifeforms and complementary educational materials including teacher enhancement activities, outreach trunks, and other programming. The exhibit will serve as the pivotal experience for visitors as they engage the museum's theme One Place Through All Of Time and it serve to introduce all other permanent exhibit galleries. Using the important and spectacular geological and paleontological resources of the region and the museum's collections, the exhibit will bring to life the concept of the evolution and diversification of life in response to changing geological conditions from the Precambrian to the end of the Mesozoic. Visitors will experience the Northern Rocky Mountain Region and the life supported by that region over time. Critical thinking skills of visitors will be stimulated with the purpose of enhancing their overall science literacy. The exhibit is designed to promote adult-child interaction. Special attention is being given to attracting a rural audience. Complementary programming aimed at K-12 students and teachers will be developed. The content of these activities will address the goals set forth in Montana's systemic initiative and the Systemic Teacher Excellence Preparation program. The educational materials will also be shared with member museums in the Mid-Continent University Natural History Museum Consortium.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Arthur WolfShelly WhitmanBeth MerrickBonnie Sachatello-SawyerSharon Horrigan
How do we know the distance to a star? How do we know what a star is made of? How do we know how fast an object is moving? These questions are addressed in this 1,488 square foot permanent exhibit which emphasizes astronomical spectroscopy - the detailed analysis of light from astronomical objects. This interactive, bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibit will demonstrate different applications of spectroscopy that provide insight into the universe, and will provide opportunities for students, teachers, parents, and the general public to learn about the universe. Bilingual ancillary materials will be produced: pre- and post-visit materials for school visitors; a "Life at an Observatory" ten-minute orientation/information video to be shown at the visitor center. Target audiences are students in grades K-12, and general visitors.
The project is based upon the established Math, Science, and Beyond (MSB) program which consists of a series of evening family science workshops (with curriculum materials developed for classroom settings) in which students and parents explore science and mathematics together through exciting, hands-on activities. Units for each grade level (K-6) focus on physical, earth, and life science. The MSB informal science project will adapt materials and bring the program to informal learning settings - 25 Boys and Girls Clubs of California, and 25 California Department of Parks and Recreation sites. These clubs will receive training, materials, and support to operate Science Clubs (after school MSB sessions), Science Camps (summer, off-track and Spring/Winter Break, week-long MSB sessions), and Science Explorers Family Workshops (1-2 hour sessions for elementary school students and their parents). In addition to the Boys and Girls Clubs, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the California Science Implementation Network is a key collaborator on the project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mary CavanaghEleanore TopolovacM. SusanJoseph Keating
This is a planning grant to Children's Television Workshop (CTW) to develop further the science content in a proposed television series for 8-12 year olds entitled, The Wheel In Space. This adventure series would be set on an orbiting space station 100 years in the future which, by definition is an enormous scientific and technological enterprise. The planning period would be used to investigate how its complex systems and operations can best be used to illustrate principles and processes science. Specific planning tasks include: Working with consultants in space science and other scientific disciplines as well as with organizations such as NASA and the National Air and Space Museum to explore the science and technology involved in the operation of a space station and to project what living, working, and growing up on a space station might be like a century from now; Writing a content "bible" that will serve as a technical guide to writers of the series; Writing a treatment of the series that outlines story premises that incorporate science topics; Investigating potential components of the project that may enhance the reach and impact of the television series; Examining the advantages and disadvantages of a co-production arrangement with Southern Star, a television production company in Australia interested in participating in the project. The PI's for the project will be Joel Schneider who will serve as Content Director and Jeffrey Nelson who will be Executive Producer. Both have worked on previous science and mathematics media projects at CTW. A principal consultant will be Samuel Gibbon, producer and/or executive producer for Sesame Street, The Electric Company, 3-2-1 Contact, and The Voyage of the Mimi.
The National Museum of Natural History is producing 3-D and 2-D versions of a large format film on natural history. With a working title of Wonders of Life, the film will explore the diversity of life on Earth and how this diversity came to be. It will examine the biological, geological, and cultural entities that interact in myriad ways to generate, shape, and sustain the enormous biological and cultural diversity of our planet. The film will be supported by outreach material designed to support further exploration of the topic of diversity in both informal and formal settings. An inexpensive family activity guide to be available at venues that show the film will feature engaging and challenging activities for families with children ages ten through 15. A teacher resource guide, distributed free to teachers attending the film with groups of students, will be developed for use in grades 5 through 8. A classroom activity poster will be developed to serve grades 2 through 5. A Wonders of Life home page will support in-depth study of the film's topics. Larry O'Reilly, Director of The Discovery Center Project at the NMNH, will be PI and Executive Producer for the film. The Senior Scientific Advisory Board will be chaired by Dr. Robert S. Hoffman, Senior Scientist and former Assistant Secretary for Science at the Smithsonian Institution. The board also includes Sir David Attenborough, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Margaret Geller, Ivan Hattingh, and Dr. Thomas Lovejoy. Dr. Kay Behrensmeyer, Curator of Paleobiology and former Associate Director for Science at the NMNH, will lead a core team of scientists who will be directly involved in production. The film will be produced by Christopher Parsons and David Douglas will be Director of Photography.
During the 3 years of this project, 72 high school and middle school teachers and 36 students will work as members of atmospheric research teams studying each of ten airshed around the Portland, OR metropolitan area. Each summer's activities include a 4-week atmospheric interaction research course and a one-week air quality measurement campaign during a pollution episode. Transfer to the classroom is anticipated through action research projects during the academic year. An interactive webpage will enable all partners to access data, real time models of the atmosphere, and descriptions of the action research projects. A lead high school will serve as the Horizons-Air site for an airshed zone and will work collaboratively with four other middle/high schools, the Horizons-Met sites.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Linda GeorgeDaniel JohnsonWilliam Becker
Unicorn Projects, Inc. is producing and distributing a project on the origins of life and its connections to the origin of the universe. The project will present the challenges facing scientists working to unlock universal mysteries and the often painstaking but ultimately rewarding process of the scientific endeavor. It will be designed to reach the lay audience by linking what seem to be abstract and complicated ideas -- like how the universe was born, or how stars evolve -- to issues at the heart of everyday life raised by such simple questions as "Where did we come from?" The components of the project will include: * Four, one-hour television programs for prime time broadcast * An informal science outreach component targeted to middle school-age children and families * Activity kits and training guides adaptable for both informal and formal education * A World Wide WEB site The Co-Executive Producers for the series will be Thomas Levenson and Larry Klein. Levenson has been on the staff of NOVA at WGBH and was producer for the NOVA program on Einstein. Klein has been the producer for numerous science films including "Matters of Life and Death" in the Science Odyssey series. The co-producer for the series and science editor for the project will be Alan Dressler, an astronomer and cosmologist whose principal area of research is the formation and evolution of galaxies. Advisors to the series include: Colleen Cavanaugh, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University; George V. Coyne, Director of the Vatican Observatory; Douglas Erwin, Research Paleobiologist and Curator at the National Museum of Natural History; Sandra Faber, Professor of Astronomy and University Professor at the UCO/Lick Observatory, UC, Santa Cruz; John P. Grotzinger, Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Matt Mountain, Director of the Gemini 8M Telescopes project; and Ethan J. Schreier, Astronomer and Associate Director for Operations at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Outreach material will be developed by staff at the Pacific Science Center and implementation will be handled by the AAAS.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Thomas LevensonLarry KleinBarbara Flagg
The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the Interdisciplinary Center for Coastal Studies, New York Botanical Garden, Puerto Rico Youth at Risk, Boy Scouts, and others implemented a citizen science program for age 12 and older. This project targeted local residents, visitors to Hacienda La Esperanza Reserve, and members of community environmental projects on topics including archeology and human impacts on local ecosystems; conservation and restoration of wetlands; and shoreline and costal processes.
Ohio's Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, Ohio, in association with the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA. and the Battelle Memorial Institute will create and circulate a 4,000 square foot traveling exhibition, "Mission to Mars." Interactive exhibit units will be organized into a spacecraft mission simulator. Visitors in teams will run a scientific mission to the planet Mars. Exhibits and simulation activities will cover basic and applied science and mathematics topics appropriate for middle to high school students and family audiences. Educational materials for school use will accompany the exhibition. COSI has a strong reputation for interactive science exhibitions. Their widely acclaimed "Science of Sports" exhibition will be seen in more than 15 cities. The Pacific Science Center has a similar reputation for educational exhibitions and related materials development. Their educational materials on dinosaurs have been widely used by other museums. The Battelle Memorial Institute is a world- renowned research and applied science organization. "Mission to Mars" is supported by commitments from thirteen of America's leading science museums and a major award from Apple Computer Company. The project team will deliver a timely exhibition that will be both engaging and challenging, rich with scientific detail while still appealing to family audiences. "Mission to Mars" will travel to 13 cities on a three year tour, reaching an estimated three to five million people. NSF's 43% of the project cost will be leveraged by more than $878,000 in contributions from the originating institutions, from the displaying museums and from Apple.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Charles O'ConnorJoseph WisneMichael Stanley
The Thames Science Center collaborative with the resources of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Wesleyan University and the National Air and Space Museum will design and develop the project, "Shoot For the Moon." This science education project will capitalize on the attraction, familiarity and proximity of the moon using it as a basis to enrich and supplement the eight and ninth grade physical science curriculum. Ten classroom units, complimentary experiments and demonstrations will be developed. "Moonwatch" software and audio visual materials, including an instructional videotape and a multi.image presentation will accompany the units. Sixteen teachers and museum educators will participate in the training, evaluation and testing as the project is integratedinto the curriculum of twelve schools and four museums. The project is designed to be replicated in schools and science centers in different geographical locations nationally. The site for development and testing will be the Thames Science Center, a regional science museum in eastern Connecticut. The science center offers formal science enrichment programs and tours for students and teacher professional development programs throughout the region.
Communicating Ocean Sciences to Informal Audiences (COSIA) is an innovative project that creates unique partnerships between informal science education institutions and local colleges conducting research in ocean sciences, with an emphasis on earth, biological and geochemical sciences. The project enables over 100 undergraduate and graduate students that are enrolled in the Communicating Ocean Sciences college course to create engaging learning activities and teaching kits in conjunction with their informal education partners. Institutional teams include: Long Beach Aquarium and California State University-Long Beach; Hatfield Marine Science Center and Oregon Sea Grant at Oregon State University; Virginia Aquarium and Science Center and Hampton University; Liberty Science Center and Rutgers University; and Lawrence Hall of Science and University of California-Berkeley. Students learn valuable outreach skills by providing visiting families and children with classes, guided tours and interactive learning experiences. Deliverables include a three-day partner workshop, a series of COSIA Handbooks (Collaboration Guide, Informal Education Guide and Outreach Guide), an Informal Science Education Activities Manual and Web Bank of hands-on activities. Strategic impact will be realized through the creation of partnerships between universities and informal science education institutions and capacity building that will occur as informal science institutions create networks to support the project. It is also anticipated the evaluation outcomes will inform the field abut the benefits of museum and university partnerships. The project will impact more than 30,000 elementary and middle school children and their families, as well as faculty, staff and students at the partnering institutions.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific requests $1,317,701 over three years to implement its California pilot project to six sites around the country. Each site will establish local, self- sustaining coalitions linking science centers, astronomical institutions, school districts, and community groups. These coalitions will, with training and support from the national Project ASTRO staff, identify, link, and support the astronomer/teacher partners in their area to use the excitement of astronomy to improve the teaching and learning of science in elementary and middle school. A second strand of the project will use the Project ASTRO materials and techniques to train astronomers and teachers at national meetings outside the six sites to set up individual ASTRO partnerships on their own. Materials to be produced include a: Project ASTRO Coalition Manual; Training Manual; update to the Resource Notebook for the Teaching of Astronomy. Target audiences are students in grades 4-9.