WGBH is producing the fifth and sixth seasons of NOVA scienceNOW, a multimedia project that addresses a wide array of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics subjects via multiple platforms. They include national PBS broadcast, the PBS web site, and innovative outreach activities such as an expanded Science Café initiative. Hosted by astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, Season Five will air in 2010; Season Six in 2011. The focus is "stories of transformative research," e.g., nanotechnology, stem cells, quantum computing, as well as clean energy, and climate change. Project goals are to "produce a lasting impact on Americans' appreciation for and understanding of current scientific research," and to encourage an interest in STEM careers among younger viewers. Building upon solid prior work, the proposed project is finding new ways to interweave the television show, web materials, and Science Cafés to provide multiple entry points and pathways for the audience. For example, they will produce 32 web-only scientist profiles supported by a blog and social media tools, and then train these scientists as presenters for the Science Cafés. NOVA is planning a new strategy to maximize carriage and increase audience for the six new programs per year; the programs will run consecutively in the NOVA Wednesday evening primetime slot during the summer. During Season Three, over 2.7 million television viewers per week tuned in NOVA scienceNow, with 62,000 unique visitors to the web site per month and 75 active Science Cafés across the country. The expanded Science Café initiative is designed to become self-sustaining beyond the grant period through new partnerships with groups such as the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the American Chemical Society, and the Coalition for the Public Understanding of Science. The project will also collaborate with the Association of Science-Technology Centers and science centers around the country to host Science Cafés featuring scientists profiled on the web. Goodman Research Group will assess the reach and effectiveness of Seasons Five and Six. The focal/primary evaluation activity is a viewing and engagement study on the influence of viewing the series along with accessing and participating actively with the increased web and outreach offerings. This study will comprise web-based surveys with adaptive branching patterns, which will include data collection from a variety of participants and will focus on participants? use of the series, website, and outreach. The summative evaluation will measure how the project is reaching these audience segments, while also meeting the overall goals of increasing public understanding of science and engagement in science-related activities.
This project will produce 90-second science news stories for commercial local newscasts and science center exhibits, and determine how they change engagement with and interest in science by general audiences. Each video news story will reach approximately 2.1 million viewers that tune in to a local ABC or NBC affiliate newscast. The evaluation will study the cumulative impact of repeated exposure to these broadcast news segments. In addition ScienCentral will partner with the Maryland Science Center to investigate the use of the videos in exhibits using hand-held devices and showing them on large screens. The project deliverables include two hundred and twenty 90-second video news stories over 3 years aired by ABC and NBC affiliates; complimentary web stories with links to additional resources; evaluations of both the broadcast videos and their use in a science center. The project will also evaluate the partnership between ScienCentral and the Maryland Science Center to guide future expansion of video programming.
The Museum of Science, Boston (MOS) and its primary collaborators, the Science Museum of Minnesota (St. Paul, MN) and the Exploratorium (San Francisco, CA), are continuing and expanding the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), which has been in operation since 2005. NISE Net has established a national infrastructure of over one-hundred hands-on science centers and universities within seven regional hubs with the goal of fostering public awareness, engagement and understanding of nanoscale science and engineering (NSE). As part of this undertaking, NISE Net partners have: - created a nation-wide set of annual events called NanoDays; - developed dozens of interactive exhibits, media-based products, programs, and public forums based on NSE; - generated new knowledge about the design for learning about NSE, its applications, and societal implications; - produced a network that involves informal educators and researchers; and - developed a Web site for professionals, www.nisenet.org, that includes several resources for educators and researchers, including a catalog of educational products. During the next five years (2010 - 2014), NISE Net will continue to develop new educational products, deepen the involvement of current partnerships in nanoscale informal science education, and expand the number of partners overall to 300 organizations. The advisory committee, content steering committee, regional hubs, and other work groups will continue to develop collaborative relationships between museums and university-based NSE research centers, including Materials Research Science and Engineering Research Centers (MRSECs) and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Centers (NSECs). A Diversity, Equity, and Access group will actively support, foster, and encourage the NISE Net\'s efforts to reach diverse audiences with regard to geography, dis/ability, gender, race/ethnicity, language, and income. Four research studies will be conducted: Partnership and Network, Institutional Change, Learning Progressions, and Evidence-Based Decision Making.
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 project will be conducted by a team of investigators from North Carolina State University. The principal investigator proposes to examine the characteristics, motivations, in and out-of-school experiences, informal science activities, and career trajectories of 1000 science hobbyists and "master hobbyists." Master hobbyists are individuals who have developed science expertise and spend considerable free time engaging in science as a leisure activity. Master science hobbyists are found across most areas of science (e.g. birdwatchers, amateur astronomers). This research will determine who these individuals are, their career pathways, how they engage in science activities and what motivates, sustains, and defines their science interests. One of the particular goals of this research is to develop new understandings of how science hobby interests develop for women and underserved minorities. In the proposed research investigators will use the results of interviews and surveys to identify contextual factors that influence the motivational processes that, in turn, influenced choices of careers and contribute to ongoing choices in hobby and citizen science activities. Of interest in this study is how citizen scientists who are also serious hobbyists differ from master science hobbyists. Research on citizen scientists has shown that this group is highly motivated by collective motives (such as a desire to help others and further science), whereas this may not be the case with the master science hobbyist. Two groups will be sampled: a) birdwatchers and b) amateur astronomers. This sampling model will allow investigators to contrast their findings by: 1) those who have selected a science career versus those that did not select a science career, 2) those who participate in citizen science activities and those that do not, and 3) those who are birdwatchers (greater mathematical components) and those who are amateur astronomers (lesser mathematical components). Additional coding and analyses will examine any differences in the evolution of bird watching and astronomy hobbies. The results of this research will be examined in light of existing motivational and sociocultural models of career selection. This research will document differences in the perceived motivational elements that influenced master science hobbyists/citizen scientists to choose a science career or not. The results can inform federal, state, and local policies for supporting youth and adults engaged in free choice learning. Results of this research will inform the design of intervention/recruitment programs and ISE outreach initiatives. Potential audiences include ISE institutions (e.g. museums and science centers), organizations with links to STEM (e.g. scouts, boys/girls clubs) and pre- and college initiatives that seek to influence career choices and life-long science interests. The proposed cross-disciplinary approach will promote new understandings of complex issues related to motivation, retention, career selection, leisure activities, engagement with formal and informal educational environments, gender and ethnicity, communities of practice and changes in interests over time. Members of the advisory board have expertise in assessment and measurement and will work closely with the project team to conduct a detailed examination of methodologies and analyses at all phases of the project.
The project's goal is to facilitate the growth and use of the web site informalscience.org for posting reports of research and evaluation of Informal Science Education (ISE) funded projects. The project leaders will also synthesize the posted evaluation reports of informal science education research and development projects into readable documents. This synthesis will cover all available data from evaluation and research studies reported to informalscience.org across all sectors of ISE (e.g., museums, after school programs, video, radio, film, and technology). The investigators will provide the ISE community with information about these studies through publication on the site, through peer-reviewed publications for a research and evaluation audience, and through communications at conferences focused on ISE policy-makers and ISE practitioners. The report writing will be managed by a small staff of professional researchers and practitioners at the University of Pittsburgh, Minnesota Museum of Science, and Visitors Studies Association. The project will be continually evaluated by a board of advisors that will provide a yearly written report about the web site and synthesis work. The evaluators are researchers familiar with syntheses and meta analysis methods, experts from media, museum, and community programs, and also experts on development and use of professional development web sites. The evaluation will address whether or not the syntheses of evaluation reports was as rigorous as possible given the type of reports that are available. The usefulness of the reports and web site to the field of practice and research will also be a matter for concern by the advisory board. The long term aim of the project is to create a network that promotes deeper connections between evaluation and practice. Also, the network is expected to meet the needs and working styles of the various ISE sectors and to create exchanges and synergies among them. The site is expected to become more usable and useful to the field in each succeeding year, and it is expected to maximize its impact for practitioners, evaluators, policy makers, and funders.
This proof-of-concept project is a collaboration of the Museum of Science in Boston, WGBH's National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM) and Ideum. The project will demonstrate that the project team can design and develop digital interactive museum exhibit devices that work for visitors who have a wide range of disabilities. The outcome will be one "exemplar" exhibit based on an exhibit scenario where museum visitors learn STEM concepts by manipulating and analyzing real data. The project will also develop and test the efficacy of a prototype Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Toolkit that will help other museum professionals implement the digital interactive strategies. In addition, the project will produce a white paper on the specific exemplar and a research paper with guidelines for digital interactive exhibits in museum. The project uses an innovative workshop approach that brings together individuals from a diverse range of fields to develop the digital interactive strategies. After developing the "exemplar" exhibit, the team will develop the DIY Toolkit and test the efficacy of the Toolkit in museums that do not have the same level of exhibit development resources as larger institutions. The the project's evaluation will not only determine if the exemplar works well with a wide range of people with disabilities, but also determine the cost-effectiveness and efficacy of the workshop strategy and the ability of other museums to use the DIY toolkit. If successful, this project will attend to an area of high need in the informal science education (ISE) museum exhibit community and provide a resource that will serve a wide range of ISE institutions. If the project evaluation outcomes are positive, the project will lead to a larger effort to develop more exemplar exhibits based on different scenarios and an expansion of the DIY Toolkit.
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will demonstrate the feasibility of engaging children ages 8 to 13 in the wonders of science and the application of scientific principles through the transmedia SCIENTASTIC! project. The study will also demonstrate that the television series will help students answer questions and solve problems for themselves and their community. The American public supports the advancement of scientific knowledge and our investment in scientific research leads the world. However, Americans are falling behind in educating the next generation of scientists. Late elementary school is an ideal time to capture students' attention and engage them in STEM activities. Using rigorous evaluation techniques we will show that SCIENTASTIC! encourages hands-on learning by exploration, questioning and thinking. The innovative television program and integrated companion resources provide scientific role models and demonstrate the scientific process in an entertaining way. The associated web site, Apps, Web 2.0 repository and teaching aids allow students, teachers, and parents to further explore concepts introduced in the show. Preliminary analysis reveals that the SCIENTASTIC! target audience liked the show, would watch the show and learned from the show. Further analysis will demonstrate that the transmedia approach increases viewer interest and learning. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will play a transformative role in encouraging students to take STEM courses in college, pursue scientific careers, and become a scientifically informed electorate. By developing the story beyond the story, transmedia SCIENTASTIC! has strong commercial value. Dissemination through public television allows for a potential audience of 250 million people. Commercial and noncommercial sponsorships will be sold with associated on-air credits. Additional direct funding will be sought from industries with interests in promoting science and health literacy. A commercial version of the program will be offered to cable networks on a licensing basis, with DVDs, Apps and study guides sold to schools, homeschoolers, and parents. With a broad and commercially viable dissemination, SCIENTASTIC! will show children the joys of science by demonstrating and engaging in hands-on, team- based learning in real-world contexts. This process will improve student retention and will show that SCIENTASTIC! introduces new ways to learn. The SCIENTASTIC! project will evaluate teaching techniques information that will be shared with policy-makers, educational institutions, and teachers to improve education nationwide. By spreading successful methods for engaging children in math and science, SCIENTASTIC! shoiuld have significant societal benefit creating a generation of scientifically educated decision-makers.
Planet Earth Television (PET) created Scientistic!, a television series that focuses on a young girl's scientific investigations of the world around her. The pilot episode, Sticks and Stones, explored bones and how they heal. A website and iPad app were also developed to supplement the program. REA evaluated the impact of the television program, website, and app on youth's knowledge about and interest in science and specific topics related to bone health and healing. REA recruited youth (grades 1-7) to participate either at home with their families or in a classroom with their teachers. REA
Family groups comprise a significant percentage of the museum visitor population, and many programs are created specifically for young learners (Borun, 2008). One such learning environment is that of planetaria, where both live and pre-recorded programs are presented to introduce concepts in Earth and Space Science to young children. Pacific Science Center’s Preschool Trip to the Moon live, interactive planetarium program was used as a context for exploring families’ motivations for attending a planetarium show, their reactions to the show, and in particular what children learned from the show
Field trips to science museums can provide students with educational experiences, particularly when museum programs emphasize scientific inquiry skill building over content knowledge acquisition. We describe the creation and study of 2 programs designed to significantly enhance students' inquiry skills at any interactive science museum exhibit without the need for advanced preparation by teachers or chaperones. The programs, called Inquiry Games, utilized educational principles from the learning sciences and from visitor studies of museum field trips. A randomized experimental design compared