In this article, the authors review a collaborative project between two developmental psychologists and the staff of Children's Discovery Museum of San Jose. Under the broad agenda of studying the development of scientific literacy, they have been exploring the hypothesis that the guidance of parents is an important bridge between the intentions of the exhibit designer and the experience and knowledge of the child. Their research is guided by a framework inspired by a combination of socio-cultural and information-processing theories of how children learn. In the first section of this article
The Minnesota Children's Museum, in collaboration with the American Library Association will develop a project to engage children ages two through seven years old and their parents in exploring mathematics through hands-on, book-based math activities in libraries and children's museums across the country. The main elements of the project are: 1. A 1200 square foot exhibit at the Minnesota Children's Museum; 2. A traveling exhibit to ten children's museums over a six month period; 3. Five smaller versions of the exhibit will travel to 75 libraries sponsored by the American Library Association. Each library that apply for the exhibit must present a plan in which 50 percent of their exhibit audience will be children and families of the under-represented, lower income groups, and racial and/or ethnic groups. 4. Programs and materials will be designed to provide parents with the means to actively participate in their children's math education. The collaboration of the Minnesota Children's Museum and the American Library Association draws together two organizations whose natural constituencies are parents with young children. Project 1,2,3 is designed to be national in scope and creates multiple formats within which families can enjoy exploring math. Its goals and objectives reflect four messages: start early, math is everywhere, parental involvement and get into books. The project Principal Investigator (PI) Ms. Jeanne W. Vergeront received her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Science in Child and Family Studies and Environmental Design, respectively from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Currently, she serves as the Vice President, Educational Projects at the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Sciencenter will develop Tech City Exhibition, a 2500 sq. ft. traveling exhibit that will promote awareness of engineering as a process and a career. The exhibit will consist of a set of twelve interactive exhibit stations presenting design tasks from various fields of engineering related to the human needs of a hypothetical community called "Tech City." The tasks will use engineering as an iterative process to meet design goals (e.g. building a structure strong enough to withstand an earthquake) while faced with constraints (e.g. a limited budget.) The primary audience will be youth in their late elementary and middle school years with a specific emphasis on women and other groups traditionally underrepresented in engineering. A broad menu of complementary activities will be developed that includes a hands-on program for visiting school groups, a teacher training technology unit, career speakers' bureau, "Engineering Day at the Mall" program, and activities especially created for families. The Association of Science and Technology Centers will manage the national tour of the exhibit. It is schedule to circulate for three years and reach an estimated one million individuals.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will develop Engineer It! Dissemination of a Successful Multiple Outcome Exhibition. This will be a 5000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit based on their NSF supported exhibit Engineer It! that opened as a permanent exhibit at OMSI in 1994. The exhibit presents visitors with an environment rich in opportunities to design, engineer, and test structures in three testing areas focusing on water, structures, and wind. Visitors will learn basic engineering principles through experimentation by designing boats, buildings, bridges, cranes, windmills, and paper airplanes among other things. Supporting components include training workshops for host museums on how to most effectively use the experimental environment of the exhibit, a Teacher's Guide, take-home activities, and a web page. The primary audience is the general museum visitor which includes many families, and elementary school students. Careful attention will be given to the development of family friendly exhibit text that will help adults understand how children learn from developmentally appropriate hands-on activities and how they can support that learning through adult-child interaction. The content of the exhibit is in synchrony with national science standards.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Raymond VandiverJan DabrowskiNancy Stueber
Treasuring our Natural Heritage: Natural History and Environmental Science Education is a multifaceted project that will be developed by the Idaho Museum of Natural History. Their goal is to heighten an understanding of issues surrounding the concept of biodiversity among the general public. By using the metaphor " the economy of nature," they will present three concepts: biodiversity which will include the idea of keystone species, natural capital, and extinction debt & conservation biology. This approach and the use of this metaphor is based on pre-exhibit research work that demonstrated that rural Idahoans understand this as a system of exchange, where each species holds a different 'occupation' and a variety of occupations is critical to the health of the economy. This project will bring participants in touch with the value of scientific research through presentations by scientists whose recent research results will provide a deeper understanding of the living systems around them. Views of elders from Idaho's Native American tribes will be included to add a critical human dimension. With this award they will develop a series of three small traveling exhibits, three-part educational video series for public broadcasting, and three multimedia science kits for use by children's groups on each of the three concepts noted above. With this multifaceted design it is anticipated that this program will reach 50% of Idaho's 1.2 million people. It is anticipated that the exhibits will become generally available once they have completed their circulation in Idaho.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stefan SommerAllen JacksonAmy LaffertyAndrew GibbonsAlbert Strickland
The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science will develop two areas in a new 70 acre outdoor exhibit "BioQuest Woods: Linking Animals and Plans with Interactive Exhibits". This concept is to pair live animals and plants in their natural setting with science center-style interactive exhibits to communicate key ideas in biology and physics. Support will go to sixteen interactive stations in two four-acre theme areas "Catch the Wind" and "Down to Earth". "Catch the Wind" will assist visitors in the exploration air movement and learning about how plants and animals use air in specialized ways. For example, visitors will experiment with air thermals while observing the behavior of birds of prey and will learn how prairie dogs exploit the venturi effect to ventilate their burrows. In the "Down to Earth" thematic area, visitors, simulate the activities of field biologists, will track bears equipped with radio collars, examine living invertebrates, among other activities. Scientific instruments, including microscopes, in kiosks will aid on-the-scene study of live animals and plans. "BioQuest Woods" will help visitors, teachers and students gain the realistic experience of scientific inquiry in a natural setting. Education programming will highlight curriculum linkages and fulfills the goals of North Carolina's new science curriculum. It directly addresses the State's competency-based goals requiring understanding of natural systems and the interrelations of the basic sciences. Pre and post-visit materials will be developed along with teacher guides and enhancement activities. This project is being developed with the cooperation of the Austin Nature Center, the National Zoo, and the Indianapolis Zoo.
The New York Hall of Science requests $829,312 over four years to develop and circulate a traveling version of "Hidden Kindoms - The World of York Hall of Science in April, 1991. The traveling version will consist of: an introductory panel; 16 Easy-View microscopes exhibiting living microbes; units dealing with size, scale and magnification; two interactive computer programs entitled "Understanding AIDS" and "How Your Body Fights Disease"; a video microscope for the Microscopic Life demonstration; units on virusesand bacteria; a mosaic of color transparencies of different microorganisms; one Optech (BYOB) interactive video microscope; three zoetropes illustrating mcrobial movement; and a mini-laboratory room containing all the equipment and materials necessary for maintaining the exhibit and presenting the MICROLAB workshops to students and teachers. The 1,500 square foot exhibit will travel to nine sites over three years. The new York Hall of Science will provide on-site training in estasblishing and maintaining the exhibit, a weekly shipment of microrganisms and supporting materials, an exhibit catalog, an 11-minute video featuring living microbes, pre- and post- visit materisla for schools with suggested activities , and programs for student and teacher workshops. A novel feature of this traveling exhibition will be the opportunity for the host museum to retain, on a cost-share basis, the mini- laboratory with its equipment and four Easy-View microscopes which can become the core of a microbiology program. Biology, Microbiology; Informal Science Education; Elementary, Middle and High School
The Health Museum (THM) is requesting $868,108 over 30 months to create a 3,600 sq. ft. permanent exhibit containing seven Body Stops components, which will maintain THM's science literacy focus by linking concepts of human biology to everyday experience through visitor exploration of the human body's seen and unseen operating systems. Ancillary instructional materials and programs will be produced. The educational goals of the project are to: 1. Promote understanding of the basic biological sciences in the context of the human life cycle and health; 2. Present vital basic science information through an active and accessible exhibit environment which complements formal science education; 3. Develop an appreciation of basic human biological sciences as they are presented similarly across all people and an appreciation of human variability as these biological processes are played out in the individual. The target audiences are families, urban youth, and student and teacher groups.
The California Academy of Science will develop "Chinook: A National Traveling Exhibit on Salmon." The main components will be a 3500 sq. ft. and a 5000 sq. ft. version of an exhibit about salmon ecology and biology, genetic diversity, and the science of species preservation. Futher, components of the exhibit will be reproduced for a 500 sq. ft. exhibit for the new public visitors center at the Bodega Marine Laboratory. The exhibit will focus on the Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon. Several themes from the California Science Frameworks and Benchmarks for Science Literacy serve as the foundation for the interpretation. Benchmarks theme of evolution and the Framework theme of patterns of change are woven throughout the exhibit and are illustrated by salmon life cycles, genetic diversity, and physical adaptations. Benchmarks theme of systems and interactions as well as the Frameworks theme of scale and structure are also incorporated in the interpretive material. The exhibit will be developed by the ichthyologists, educators, and exhibit designers of the California Academy of Science and genetic researcher from the Bodega Marine Laboratory of the University of California at Davis. Thirteen individuals have been selected as project advisors. They bring a diversity of perspectives including expert knowledge of the science concerns (salmon and habitats issues, anthropology) to the educational interests (both formal and informal). The various evaluation studies will be carried by CAS staff member Lisa Mackinney. The complementary materials linking the exhibit with formal education that will be developed are a Teachers Resource Kit and a Chinook Curriculum Guide. The Teachers Resource Kit, available to each host site, will include a slide show, a video tracing the story of salmon fisheries, a special issue of the CAS educator newsletter, sample of fish scales and otoliths, a compilation of resources from government agencies and env ironmental organizations, and a bibliography produced by the CAS Biodiversity Resource Center. The Curriculum Guide will include sixteen hands-on activities using readily available materials to reinforce the educational objectives. A Chinook Family Activity Guide targeted at families with children between the ages of five and ten, will provide parents with specific steps to facilitate discussion what at the exhibit and to suggest follow-up activities to do at home.
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum is requesting $370,728 to create a traveling exhibit entitled "How Things Work, which will familiarize students and the general public with the science and engineering behind 15-20 "gadgets" which play vital roles in their everyday lives. A number of the exhibit elements will be based on the work of Dr. Richard Crane. Ancillary materials will be developed for classroom teachers as part of school outreach. An Exhibition Resource Guide will be developed for use by other museum venues, as well as teachers, students and others.
The California Museum of Science and Industry requests $1,103,410 over three years to work in a partnership with the National Council of La Raza to develop two content-rich "discovery rooms" in the Museum that are supportive of further learning in the larger museum context and that guide parents from culturally diverse backgrounds in supporting their children's science learning at the museum and in the home. A major component of the project is the "Our Place Academy," a comprehensive education program that will train Latino parents of preschool and school-age children to serve as learning facilitators in the discovery rooms. The curriculum of the Academy will focus on skills that will both serve Latino parents as partners in their children's science education and as leaders and disseminators within their own communities. A training guide entitled, "Making it our Place" will be developed as a practical guide for building a trained staff from the parents in a community to facilitate learning in a discovery setting. Target audience is parents with preschool and school-aged children.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ann MuscatSylvia ConnollySharon SchonhautCarol ValentaRoxie EsterleMaria Bonillas
The San Jose Children's Discovery Museum will develop an exhibit "Take Another Look." A semi-permanent version will be installed at the Children's Museum and a 600-750 sq. ft. traveling version will be developed and circulated under the auspices of the Association of Science and Technology Centers Traveling Exhibition Service. Consisting of 14 individual elements, the exhibit is to communicate the essential role and significance of observation in the human experience and its more purposive character in science; the role and importance of instrumentation in scientific observation; and the importance to science of observing and interpreting phenomena in different ways. "Take Another Look" is aligned with nationally developed science education goals as outlined in Goals 2000, the AAAS Benchmarks, and with the California's Science Framework. The project targets the adult/child unit (parents and teachers with children age 2 to 10 that they accompany). Particular attention is being paid to reaching traditionally underserved audiences including Latino, Asia, and African American. Complementary materials include a Teacher's Guide, a Family Activities Guide, and a free/low cost "take-away" card with suggested activities and recommendations for other activities. It is estimated that in four years it will reach over two million children and adults both at the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum and host museums of the touring version.