The Children’s Museum developed From the Blue Planet to the Red Planet: Exploring Planetary Science to provide opportunities for students in grades 4 through 8, teachers, and families to learn about Mars exploration. The Museum partnered with the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) on four teacher professional development modules related to aspects of planetary science: soil and plant study, air pressure, robotic exploration, and the comparison of Mars and Earth. Teachers who attended free workshops could bring students to the Museum for classroom and planetarium experiences. The Museum received support from Central Connecticut State University and technical advice from Phoenix Project scientists at JPL. The Museum created a timeline of Mars exploration history with video clips of milestones and an accompanying quiz kiosk. CCAT created virtual Mars drive-through experiences with which visitors could explore the planet. The Travelers ScienceDome Planetarium staff wrote, directed, and animated a full-dome planetarium program about the future study of Mars that was finished in December 2012. For over two years the Museum has sponsored free, monthly Mars Madness programs during which the general public can visit the exhibit, see a Mars-related planetarium program, and test out some of the hands-on activities developed for the school groups. The Museum hoped to reach a diverse audience, especially, those people who might otherwise not afford admission. We have produced four teacher professional development guides with hands-on activities, an exhibit for our facility, a dedicated website, and a planetarium program.
The Science Museum of Minnesota prototyped interpretive approaches to using an innovative scientific visualization system developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called Science On a Sphere (SOS). SOS is composed of a wide variety of visualizations projected onto a six-foot sphere creating animated, whole-planet views of the Earth, other planets in our solar system, and their moons. Visualizations of the Earth cover topics such as weather, climate, topography, earth system dynamics, and geophysical processes. A challenge of SOS is making the content accessible
In August 2009, the Program Evaluation and Research Group (PERG) at Lesley University contracted with the project's PI at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) to evaluate My Dome: Defining the Computational and Cognitive Potential of Real Time Interactive Simulations in an Immersive Dome Environment, an NSF funded grant. The project focuses on creating interactive experiences in immersive virtual environments, and builds off previous work the PI and co PIs have done in developing films and immersive experiences in domes and traveling domes. The project includes staff from the Carnegie Museum
Ice Planet Earth (IPE) was a three-year NSF-Funded grant, with a focus on building awareness and understanding of polar processes and designed to coincide with the International Polar Year, which took place from March 2007-March 2009. A key feature of the IPE project was the development of 'Ice Worlds', a planetarium style film designed for both general audiences and for students/youth. IPE was a collaboration between the University of New Hampshire, and the following institutions: The Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh; the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences; the Louisiana Art