Monarchs in the Classroom provides a wide variety of materials and professional development opportunities for teachers, naturalists and citizens throughout the US. Two groups of behind the scenes people work together in a unique partnership to make this program successful: classroom teachers and scientists committed to sharing their expertise with the broader community. All of our programs reflect this partnership, combining real science with techniques that work for teachers, students and citizens, and promoting practices in which children learn science in ways that reflect the inquiry methods used by scientists to understand the natural world.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Karen Oberhauser
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Scientists Institute for Public Information (SIPI), a non profit organization of scientists and media professional that works to strengthen reporting of science, will organize annual briefings for television news directors and producers by leading scientists during the next three years. Each year 35- 50 local news directors from across the country will meet face- to-face with nationally prominent scientists for two days of discussions of leading stories in science, health and the environment. Science is underreported on commercial television, and this targeted intervention has a substantial opportunity to directly improve the quality and quantity of science reporting by America's television industry. SIPI's Media Resource Service has developed an international reputation for its provision of scientific and technical sources for journalists. The prototype TV News Director's Briefing, held March 10-12 1989, demonstrated in a practical way the potential of the project, reaching 35 key journalists from 17 states. The briefings will be attended by a geographically distributed group of professional scientists and journalists who are well supported in their discussions by extensive pre-meeting work by SIPI staff. Extensive news coverage of the topics discussed will take place and be documented by SIPI staff. A continuing evaluation study by an independent contractor will analyze the impact of the briefings on the participants. NSF support will amount to 28% of the $660,000 project total.
The California Academy of Sciences produces a science news radio feature "EARTHNEWS" which has aired daily on twelve radio stations in California for nine years. "EARTHNEWS" is a background to regular news and provides in-depth interpretation of science and environmental events to assist the public in understanding what they hear or read. In response to a very large volume of mail from listeners, a quarterly newsletter was created four years ago to announce program schedules, enhance the information presented on the radio, and offer scientists and teachers a written forum for sharing ideas. Positive response from the listening audience suggests that this feature has tremendous potential for reaching a broad national audience. The Columbia Broadcasting System has agreed to air three 60-second "EARTHNEWS" features each week and to distribute these features nationwide via satellite. A total of 156 features will be produced annually, each reaching an estimated national audience of twelve to fifteen million people. The California Academy of Sciences is requesting funding for program research and production to develop this national radio program and to continue production of the newsletter.