In fall 2019, the Bell Museum received funding via a NASA TEAM II grant to create Mars: The Ultimate Voyage, a full-dome planetarium show and accompanying hands-on activities that focus on the interdisciplinary roles that will be needed to send humans to Mars. This report from Catalyst Consulting Group presents the findings from the summative evaluation completed in March–May 2023.
Water is an essential, basic need. It is the sustenance for living organisms. For many Native American communities, like the Ojibwe tribes of Minnesota, water is a sacred valuable life source that permeates all aspects of their culture. In these communities, water stories are often used to communicate the value and impact of water on their lives and the lives of others. These stories signal geohydrologic, sociocultural, and sociopolitical societal shifts over time. This pilot study will explore the feasibility of using Native water stories and informal learning experiences to bring water science and issues of water sustainability to youth and public audiences. A significant outcome of the pilot will be a youth-museum-educator co-created public planetarium show and program based on the water stories collected and archived. This approach is particularly novel. It provides an entry into STEM through a dynamic, multimedia context that typically does not engage youth as co-creators of the experiences. Water Values will give voice and a public platform to youth and their communities to elevate ecological issues that are relevant and timely within their own communities. It will also promote scientific discourse through field experiences, interactions with scientists and STEM professions, and community leadership development. Further, this pilot will also test a reciprocal relationship model among its partners. Analogous feasibility research to the Water Values pilot does not exist in the current NSF portfolio. Therefore, the project will not only contribute to the emerging literature base on the intersectionality of STEM, storytelling and Native cultures, but it will also contribute to broader discourse about water health, access, management, and sustainability.
The pilot study will bring together the long standing gidakiimanaaniwigamig program, with its master teachers who are experts in culturally responsive education for Native American youth, and the Bell Museum, which has decades of experience in developing informal STEM learning programs for a broad community. Thirty-five middle school aged youth, five educators, and over 200 community members will engage in the work. During the summer residential program, youth will be exposed to STEM content and important water science concepts through field-based research and a culturally relevant, placed-based curriculum focused on water and communicating water stories. These experiences will be extended during the academic year through weekend science activities that will focus on the compilation of water stories from Native communities, especially from the Ojibwe tribes of Minnesota, and creatively integrating the stories into a fully operational youth-museum co-created public planetarium program. This capstone planetarium show and program will be piloted at the Bell Museum. With regards to the research, four overarching question will guide the study: (1) How does participation in creating water journey stories increase Native students' motivation to learn and engage with STEM, (2) How does participation in creating and presenting water journey stories build change in sociopolitical awareness among Native students? (3) How do Native community members engage with water stories for sociopolitical change and greater participation in STEM? and (4) How does collaboration between gidakiimanaaniwigamig, the Bell, and the UMN impact STEM interest and participation in students and a Native community for transformative experience? Data will be collected from the youth participants, instructors and leaders, and community members. These data will be collected from content surveys, student logs, self-reported intrinsic motivation instrument, observations, and artifacts. The results will be disseminated through various mechanisms within and beyond the target communities. Formative and summative evaluations will inform that work and will be led by an external evaluation firm, Erikkson Associates.
This feasibility study is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bhaskar UpadhyayDiana DalbottenJonee Brigham
resourceresearchPlanetarium and Science on a Sphere
This poster, which was presented at the Association of Science and Technology Centers Annual Conference on October 22, 2017, compares and contrasts evaluation findings across components of the Beyond Spaceship Earth project at The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The project focuses on educating families and students about life and work aboard the International Space Station and generating interest in STEM topics and careers. Project components reviewed include an exhibit, a space object theater, and workshop-style programs focused on engineering and robotics for both families and school
The University of California, Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), in partnership with the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI, propose to develop and evaluate curriculum-based content modules for spherical display systems. These modules will combine successful research-driven curriculum materials with the compelling nature of a spherical display to engage and inform museum visitors in the process of observing and interpreting patterns of global climate data.
From 2013-2016, Pacific Science Center, implemented the Exploring Earth Systems Sciences (EESS) project with the purpose of developing and delivering scripted demonstrations utilizing the Science On a Sphere (SOS) technology in order to promote understanding of and increase interest in Earth systems sciences. Specifically, the grant allowed the Science Interpretation team to research and write 20-minute presentations, targeted towards visitors aged 11 and older, about nine unique topics such as: climate change, weather, seasons, or the Polar Regions. Staff were then provided training in
Pacific Science Center (Science Center) has been a pillar of science education programming in Seattle, Washington since 1962. Through interactive exhibits, planetarium shows, IMAX movies and outreach, the Science Center works to inspire a lifelong interest in science, math and technology. In 2010, the Science Center joined forces with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) through NASA Now: Using Current Data, Planetarium Technology and Youth Career Development to Connect People to the Universe. NASA Now was designed to increase the awareness, knowledge and understanding of
In 2011 the Bishop Museum and two collaborating organizations, University of Hawai’i at Manoa (UH) and the Pacific Voyaging Society (PVS), were awarded a multi-year grant from the Native Hawaiian Education Program (NHEP) to develop classroom and dockside curricula, an online resource center for educators, teacher workshops, a planetarium show, and a field-trip program for middle school students. The overall goal of these educational products and programs is to make STEM content accessible to Native Hawaiian students by presenting it through the lens of ancient Hawaiian navigational systems.
Discover NASA is the Discovery Museum’s endeavor to engage students in grades K through 12 as well as members of the general public in innovative space science and STEM-focused learning through the implementation of two modules: upgrades to the Challenger Learning Center, and the creation of K through 12 amateur rocketry and spacecraft design programming. The programming will be piloted at the Discovery Museum and Planetarium, and at the Inter-district Discovery Magnet School and the Fairchild-Wheeler Multi-Magnet High School, with an additional strategic partnership with the University of Bridgeport, which will provide faculty mentors to high school seniors participating in the rocketry program. Through these two modules, the Discovery Museum and Planetarium aims to foster an early interest in STEM, increase public awareness about NASA, promote workforce development, and stimulate an interest in the future of human space exploration. Both modules emphasize design methodologies and integration of more advanced space science into the STEM curriculum currently offered by Discovery Museum to visitors and public schools. The Challenger Learning Center upgrades will enable the Museum to deliver simulated human exploration experiences related to exploration of the space environment in Low Earth Orbit and simulated human exploration of Moon, Mars, and beyond, which will increase public and student awareness about NASA and the future of human space exploration. The development of an amateur rocketry and spacecraft development incubator for education, the general public, and commercial space will stimulate the development of key STEM concepts.
Prince George’s County Public Schools (PGCPS) Howard B. Owens Science Center (HBOSC) will infuse NASA Earth, Heliophysics, and Planetary mission science data into onsite formal and informal curriculum programs to expand scientific understanding of the Earth, Sun, and the universe. The goal of the project is to develop a pipeline of programs for grades 3-8 to enhance teacher and student understanding of NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Earth, Planetary, and Heliophysics science and promote STEM careers and understanding of NASA career pathways using the HBOSC Planetarium, Challenger Center and classrooms. During the school year, PGCPS students in Grades 3 through 8 will experience field trip opportunities that will feature NASA Sun-Earth connection, comparative planetology, Kepler Exoplanet data, and NASA Space Weather Action Center data. PGCPS Grade 3 through 8 teachers will receive summer, day, and evening professional development in comparable earth and space science content both engaging the HBOSC Planetarium and Challenger facility and its resources. The students and teachers in four PGCPS academies (Grades 3 through 8) will serve as a pilot group for broader expansion of the program district-wide. ESPSI will provide opportunities for county-wide participation through community outreach programs that will promote NASA Earth, Heliophysics, and Planetary mission data. Community outreach will be offered through piloting the Maryland Science Center outreach program to four of PGCPS southern located schools and monthly evening planetarium shows along with quarterly family science nights that will include guest speakers and hands-on exhibits from the local science community and Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC).
This report summarizes findings from an evaluation of the NSF-funded project: Two Eyes, 3D. Through collaborations with two museums, the project sought to develop and test learning outcomes for stereoscopic (3D) resources. More specifically, the external evaluation—conducted by Rockman Et Al—sought to determine the perceived value of using stereoscopic technology within museums and planetariums, uncover best practices for implementation of stereoscopic resources, and further explore best practices for research partnerships within museum settings.
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American Association of Variable Star ObservrsJennifer Borland
NASA Now: Using Current Data, Planetarium Technology and Youth Career Development to Connect People to the Universe uses live interpretation and new planetarium technology to increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of NASA missions and STEM careers among schoolchildren, teens and the general public. Pacific Science Center seeks to achieve two primary goals through this project. The first goal is to create and deliver live planetarium shows both on- and off-site to schoolchildren and the general public that showcase NASA missions and data, as well as careers in physics, astronomy, aerospace engineering and related fields. The second goal is to engage underrepresented high school students through a long-term youth development program focused on Earth and space science that provides first-hand knowledge of science and careers within the NASA enterprise along with corresponding educational pathways. Over the course of this project Pacific Science Center will develop four new live planetarium shows that will be modified for use in an outreach setting. All of these shows (for both on- and off-site delivery) will be evaluated to determine the impact of the program on various audiences. In addition, the project will provide an understanding of the impact that an in-depth youth development program can have on high school students.
A Fulldome Planetarium Show for Space Science: A Pilot Project was designed to immerse and engage middle school students (grades 5-8) in space exploration, comparative planetology and the importance of sustainability on our own planet. Morehead Planetarium and Science Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led the project, which involved the development of a 27 minute fulldome digital planetarium show and supporting curricula. The project included advisors from NASA JPL, UNC’s Physics and Astronomy Department and the Wake County North Carolina Public School System. The show draws on discoveries by the Mars Exploration Rovers, Hubble Space Telescope and other NASA missions to compare and contrast geological, atmospheric, and other physical characteristics of the places visited by the show's main characters. The aims of the show are to provide an engaging learning experience that helps students understand the criteria used to classify Solar System bodies and appreciate the environmental conditions needed to support life as we know it. Further, the show aims to communicate why Earth - with a balance of systems and resources found nowhere else - is an "amazing oasis" in our Solar System. The Standards-Based Learning Activities for Middle School support and extend the content of the Solar System Odyssey show by providing clear, detailed ideas for pre- and post- visit lessons. The lessons center on Teaching about Technology Design, Integrating Science and Language Arts, Teaching about Environmental Systems and include science experiments, creative writing and vocabulary exercises, discussion and engineering design challenges. The lessons reference specific NASA missions, and some of the activities are modeled directly after previously produced NASA educational materials. The show and curricular materials have been translated and are available in Spanish.