MIT Education Arcade, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution, designed and developed Vanished, an eight-week environmental science game as a new genre called the curated game, a hybrid of museum-going, social networking, and online gaming. Middle school aged participants engaged in Earth systems science to study a range of environmental issues associated with mass extinction. Though the game was structured around a fictional scenario--communication with visitors from the future--it posited a future affected by current environmental issues and conditions, and encouraged participants to apply systems thinking as a means to understand how these current conditions led to environmental disruptions. As part of the game play participants studied, applied, and integrated knowledge and skills from multiple sources, including Earth science, ecology, astronomy, and archaeology, and forensic anthropology. An Advisory Board and contributing scientists were be involved. The project team is currently analyzing data collected from the game to test the hypothesis that the game play would allow youth, ages 11-14, to increase their understanding of the scientific process and increase their motivation to learn more science. This summative evaluation is being conducted by TERC Inc. A Curated Game Handbook will be produced to disseminate project results as a model for new applications of game-based learning. Open source software created as part of the game has been made available, and should enable future developers in informal science education to build directly upon these foundational efforts.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Eric KlopferConrad LabandeiraScot OsterweilStephanie Norby
The importance of Ice Stories derives from its creative use of the latest communications media to convey the latest polar research. By teaching scientists to communicate, by establishing a Web site devoted to polar research, Ice Stories humanizes science and brings it to a broad, diverse audience with unprecedented immediacy, thanks to the growth of digital media. This project comes when the stakes—posed by planetary warming— have never been higher, when the techniques of media production have never been more accessible, and when the potential audience—fueled by public concern and IPY activity—has never been larger. The Exploratorium will train scientists as correspondents, shape and channel their work, and create the Web site that will be a major international hub showcasing the range of IPY research and commentary. The training and production phases of the project were field-tested with polar scientists in 2006, and the museum is an experienced producer of Web and live programs from the poles. Ice Stories conceptualizes a new model of communication with great implications for informal science education. Scientists can now bring their research directly to the public, instead of having it filtered through traditional journalistic media. Ice Stories achieves this new model by organizing three innovative components: intensive media training for polar researchers; a museum-based production unit; and the project’s informal-education Web 2.0 portal. Scientist-produced video, audio, photo-essays and blogs will be accessed free via the Web site and such technology platforms as downloadable podcasts, vodcasts, RSS feeds and by posting on popular Web sites and by dissemination through journalistic media. Deliverables include (1.) Correspondent Training—week-long workshops in media for a minimum of 20 scientists in spring and fall 2008. (2.) Productions—STEM content from correspondents, each spending 5-10 hours a week producing from the field. (3.) Media Assets Database—fully accessible correspondent productions plus material from other polar projects and collaborating institutions. (4.) Exhibits—IPY Production Studio at the Exploratorium and project material used internationally in IPY exhibitions. The project design benefits from the museum’s 30 years of making science accessible to visitors, its 22 years of creating professional development courses for educators, and its use of scientists as research guides in previous Webcast projects. Project leaders have polar experience and have collaborative relationships with researchers. Instructors for media workshops include top professionals, and project partnerships encompass major projects at both poles.
The Minnesota Zoo and Eduweb will design and develop "WolfQuest," an online, 3-D, multiplayer videogame based upon the behavior, biology and social structure of the gray wolf. This dynamic interactive experience will allow learners to become a virtual wolf (avatar) to explore gray wolves within an authentic virtual replication of wolf habitat and social structure. The scientifically accurate graphic representations of the virtual environment will afford rich and robust learning of wolf behavior, biology and habitat ecology. Participants are intended to emerge from the learning experience with a clear understanding of wolf conservation issues in the real world. "WolfQuest" is supported by a website that will function as a self-sustaining community of learners who will participate in discussion forums with wolf experts, and receive ongoing gameplay information and interaction with other participants. Additionally, the project website will provide educational guides for parents and teachers, interpretive materials, incentives to reward participants' achievements acquired through "WolfQuest" gameplay and provide a link to informal environmental organizations throughout the country. The national informal education network will afford regional customization of "WolfQuest," as well as provide social interaction among participants and organizations. The national participant network will disseminate and promote the "WolfQuest" game and wolf-related science programs. Two kiosk installations will be deployed at the Minnesota Zoo and the International Wolf Center for extended learning opportunities at those sites. Project assessment will aggregate data on learners' content acquisition, attitudinal change, game engagement and will yield guidelines for the field on effective practices in development of science education games, along with appropriate methodologies for evaluating game-based learning.
Independent Production Fund is producing a three-part public television series focusing on the latest research in the science of music. The programs will explore how cutting-edge science is revealing new connections between music and the human mind and body, the natural world and the cosmos. The series will follow researchers from a variety of fields including physiology, neuroscience, psychology, biology, physics and education, as they use groundbreaking techniques and technologies to unravel age-old mysteries about music\'s persistence, universality and emotional power. It will show how these researchers are shedding valuable new light on the way brains work. The impact of the programs will be extended through a content-rich companion web site and innovative formal and informal educational-outreach materials to both middle and high school age students, as well as a complementary radio component. Mannes Productions will produce the series; Goodman Research Group will conduct formative evaluation and Rockman et al will conduct summative evaluation.
EDC and the Lawrence Hall of Science propose an intensive, innovative mentoring and professional development model that will build the capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) to deliver high-quality science and engineering curricula to children in after-school programs. The program's goal is to alleviate two consistent problems of after-school STEM providers: high turnover rate and the ability to lead/teach high quality science activities. The project will put in place a broad network of trainers in three regions of the country, leveraging the expertise and collaboration of two well-established and trusted national informal education networks. The extensive collaboration involves 14 organizations total including nine science centers (of varying sizes), three state 4-H agencies, the National 4-H Council and EDC. The primary audience for this project is the trainers (science center, 4-H, others) who currently (or may in the future) train CBO staff. EDC, LHS, and three "mentor" science centers will supervise these trainings and develop the new PD resources designed to improve the quality of training that CBO staff receive from these and other trainers. The National 4-H Council will help coordinate training and dissemination of products through the 4-H national network Goodman Research Group will conduct formative and summative evaluations of the project. DELIVERABLES: This project will deliver: 1) a model of prolonged training and support to build the capacity of CBOs to lead high quality science and engineering curricula with children; 2) a mentoring model to support and supervise trainers who work directly with CBOs; and 3) professional development tools and resources designed to improve the quality of training delivered to CBO staff. STRATEGIC IMPACT: This project will impact the national after-school professional development field by (a) demonstrating a model for how science-center, 4-H, and other trainers can build the capacity of CBOs to improve the way they lead science and engineering projects with children, (b) nurturing a cadre of mentor institutions to assist others to adopt this capacity-building and professional-development model, and (c) developing professional development tools and resources that improve the quality of training delivered by trainers to CBO staff. COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS: The three "mentor" institutions are: (1) the Lawrence Hall of Science, (2) the Science Museum of Minnesota, and (3) the Boston Children's Museum. The six science centers include (1) COSI Toledo in Toledo, OH; (2) Headwaters Science Center in Bemidji, MN; (3) Providence Children's Museum in Providence, RI; (4) Rochester Museum and Science Center in Rochester, NY; (5) River Legacy Living Science Center in Arlington, TX; and (6) Explora in Albuquerque, NM. The three 4-H partners include (1) 4-H New Hampshire, (2) 4- H Minnesota, and (3) 4-H California.
The New England Wild Flower Society, in collaboration with the Yale Peabody Museum, Montshire Museum of Science, and the Chewonki Foundation, is implementing the Go-Botany project, a multi-faceted, web-based botany user interface. "Go-Botany: Integrated Tools to Advance Botanical Learning," improves botanical education by opening plant study to a larger and more diverse segment of the population including novices, citizen scientists, and informal science educators. The project is designed to integrate a variety of web tools and mobile communication devices to facilitate learning about botany and plant conservation with a focus on native and naturalized plants in New England. Project deliverables include an online database of New England plants; online keys to over 4,000 species of New England flora; a customizable user interface; My Plants personal webpages; an outdoor exhibit that incorporates mobile resources; training programs for informal science educators and educational programs for the public. Projected impacts include increased attraction to and engagement in botanical learning for public audiences and improved teaching abilities by informal science education professionals through the application of user friendly, digital resources on mobile communication devices. Go-Botany significantly impacts the field of informal science education by changing the way that informal learners learn about plants by removing barriers through the use of free online materials, mentoring, and user created resources. This project is projected to reach over 46,000 youth, adults, and informal educators in workshops and via the Go-Botany website.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elizabeth FarnsworthGregory LowenbergArthur HainesWilliam Brumback
Madison Area Technical College will refine and evaluate the effectiveness of Fusion Science Theater (FST), a combination of theater, science demonstrations, and participatory components, as an ISE teaching model, to test its transferability through development and trials of an exportable version (Science-in-a-Box), and to recruit appropriate partners nationally in preparation for a larger scale implementation and evaluation. A Fusion Science Theater event utilizes the collaborative effort of applied expertise in science, theater and education. These events support playful interactions as characters engage the emotions of the audience. The Act-It Out sequences invite children and parents to become involved in modeling scientific concepts, thus creating an environment where learning is the product of social interaction and kinesthetic, affective and interpersonal learning. To provide proof-of-concept that this a transferable model, an independent, interdisciplinary team from the University of Wisconsin, Madison Biotechnology Center will produce their own FST event that will be evaluated and compared to an existing FST program. The Madison Children's Museum will partner as a venue for the event and provide expertise in the planning process. The ultimate project resulting from this planning would include workshops to train collaborative teams from around the country in the principles and practices of FST, promotion of cross-disciplinary collaboration among professionals, and honing of an evaluation design for FST events. The trained teams would then produce FST events that reach children, their parents and the general public. The planning grant project design includes activities necessary to further test, verify and document Fusion Science Theater events. It provides a proof of concept of model effectiveness and transferability. It also initiates, develops and assesses ways to train other groups to implement the model and publicizes the model to national professional networks to spread the work and recruit site teams.
A Youth-Directed Cafe Scientifique targets culturally, ethnically, and economically diverse youth ages 11-18 with a web-based program designed to engage students in active discourse on current STEM topics. Building on the adult program of the same name, this youth-centered project also provides opportunities for individual and group activities. Project partners include Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Bradbury Science Museum, Sandia National Laboratory, Los Alamos Women in Science, and the University of New Mexico, which will serve as a source of scientists to act as speakers and mentors. Northern New Mexico Collefe, Santa Fe Community College, University of New Mexico, and theNew Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, as well as area high schools will host discussions and focus group meetings. Recruitment of youth participants will be carried out by New Mexico MESA as well as four local high schools. Project deliverables include a robust model for engaging youth in an active online community and Youth Leadership Teams (YLT). YLT's select topics, recruit members, and facilitate Cafe discussions and blogs. Cafe meetings enable youth to explore a topic of their choice in an online session led by a youth host in conjunction with a guest speaker. The follow-up sessions encourage more in-depth exlopration of the topic via interviews, articles, community meetings, and museum exhibits created in collaboration with the Bradbury Museum. The Cafe website will highlight youth produced podcasts, essays on science topics, and a blog. Strategic impact resulting from this project includes the development of a creattive model that effectively engages youth in STEM discourse while meeting the cultural and intellectual needs. It is anticapated that this project will serve over 5,700 youth in three years.
This collaboration between the Franklin Institute and the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation identifies the role of crucial intermediaries in the science learning of children and points to the opportunities offered through a museum and library partnership to provide engaging science resources in under-resourced communities where many adults lack science expertise and confidence. Through an emphasis on literacy and science, LEAP into Science builds the capacity of after school leaders, teens and parents to be competent science learners and facilitators and to connect science centers, parents and libraries in support of the science learning and achievement of children. Project features include a workshop model for families with K-4 children, enrichment sessions for after school students, family events at the museum, professional development for library and after school youth staff, and a national expansion conference. The conference introduces the project to potential national implementation sites. Case studies of sites from this conference inform a research study investigating the obstacles, modifications and necessary support to initiate and sustain the program model. The formative and summative evaluation measure the impact of this program on children, parents, librarians, and teen workers at the libraries. Fifty-three Philadelphia libraries in addition to libraries in three cities selected from the implementation conference have a direct program impact on 10,000 people nationally, including 300 after school facilitators and children's librarians.
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences project is based on NSF-CCLI-EMD, 0341143, Development of a Smart Vibration Platform Experiment. The 24-month-long project is part of a continuing collaboration between the PI at the University of Houston and the staff of the Children's Museum of Houston (CMH). CMH is in the process of developing an exhibition on "smart materials," and has a stepwise exhibit development plan that involves the PI and his engineering students. The project work is adapting a device on the vibration dampening effect of magneto-rheological (MR) fluids from an educational application in an undergraduate mechanical engineering environment to a museum exhibit for ages 8+. MR fluids have the unusual property of being able to transform from the liquid state to a semi-solid state when subjected to magnetic fields. They are being used in the design of buildings in earthquake prone areas. The development team consists of the PI and college seniors in their Senior Capstone Design course, an education program evaluator at the University, and exhibits and program staff from the museum. Deliverables include a smart materials "earthquake dampening" exhibit and a touch-screen activated "video jukebox" unit on the research scientists and students and on the MR fluid. The CMH Kids' Committee is providing input on the exhibits as well.
The intent of this project is to use social network methods to study networks of afterschool and informal science stakeholders. It would attempt to create knowledge that improves afterschool programs access to informal science learning materials. This is an applied research study that applies research methods to improving access to and enactment of informal science education programs across a range of settings. The investigators plan to collect data from 600 community- and afterschool programs in California, conduct case studies of 10 of these programs, and conduct surveys of supporting intermediary organizations. The analysis of the data will provide descriptions of the duration, intensity, and nature of the networks among afterschool programs and intermediary agencies, and the diffusion patterns of science learning materials in afterschool programs. The project will yield actionable knowledge that will be disseminated among afterschool programs, intermediary organizations, funding agencies, and policymakers to improve the dissemination and support of afterschool science learning opportunities. The project is focused on free-choice settings where every day the largest numbers of children attend afterschool programs at schools and in other community settings. It seeks information about what conditions are necessary for informal science programs to significantly impact the largest possible number of children in these settings.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barbara MeansAnn HouseRaymond McGheeCarlin Llorente
Independent Production Fund is producing a three-part public television series focusing on the latest research in the science of music. The programs will explore how cutting-edge science is revealing new connections between music and the human mind and body, the natural world and the cosmos. The series will follow researchers from a variety of fields including physiology, neuroscience, psychology, biology, physics and education, as they use groundbreaking techniques and technologies to unravel age-old mysteries about music's persistence, universality and emotional power. It will show how these researchers are shedding valuable new light on the way brains work. The impact of the programs will be extended through a content-rich companion web site and innovative formal and informal educational-outreach materials to both middle and high school age students, as well as a complementary radio component. Mannes Productions will produce the series; Goodman Research Group will conduct formative evaluation and Rockman et al will conduct summative evaluation.