Based on discoveries made from an active research grant, Gruber, colleagues, and students will develop multimedia deliverables that highlight the biofluorescence found in coral reefs. They include development of a multimedia exhibit containing interactive, inquiry-based modules and new videos developed off the Cayman Islands. These deliverables will share the beauty of coral reefs, the source of biofluorescence (fluorescent proteins), and the fundamental importance of coral reefs in shallow marine ecosystems. The STEM content of this project is drawn from the biological sciences, including specific topics such as marine biology, physiology, ecology, and conservation. The exhibit will reach diverse audiences at public aquaria and at the principal investigator's institution. Learning will be studied by an external evaluator through formative assessment. The new science discoveries and related STEM content about coral reef biofluorescence also will be communicated via a web site that enables access by informal learners online. This Communicating Research to Public Audiences project is based on research grant MCB-0920572: Isolation, characterization, and evolution of fluorescent proteins from Indo-Pacific and Caribbean marine organisms.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David GruberVincent PieriboneCarrie Manfrino
TERC is partnering with the Toxics Action Center to enhance the capacity of environmental organizations to teach mathematical literacy skills to low-income citizens, mostly women of color. Secondary collaborators include four environmental organizations around the country. The project is (1) developing math- and statistics-rich educational materials that help non-scientists interpret environmental test results, (2) developing training materials that help environmental organization personnel provide quantitative literacy training to citizens, (3) helping environmental organizations institutionalize project resources, and (4) evaluating the impact of project activities on environmental organizers, community members, and the general public. Project deliverables include bilingual, print- and web-based instructional materials (including videos) for environmental organizations to use with staff and community members; training sessions to create a cadre of environmental organization leaders who can conduct environment-focused, math training workshops; a communications toolkit for dissemination to journalists who cover environmental issues; and a resource-rich project web site.
TERC and the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts are partnering to create an energy monitoring and conservation afterschool program for approximately 5,500 girls ages 8-11 in eastern Massachusetts. The goals of the Girls Energy Conservation Corps (GECCo) project are to involve girls in learning and applying science, using technology, developing leadership and communication skills, educating peers, saving energy, and addressing the global issue of climate change. The project is (1) developing activity-based Guides to help girls understand, monitor, and reduce energy use, (2) understand the connection between their own energy consumption and climate change, and (3) setting goals to cumulatively reduce their energy consumption.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Gillian PuttickJoan ReillyBrian DraytonKatherine LeLacheur
The California Environmental Legacy Project is a new kind of educational media project. Through an integrated package of programs and media resources, it seeks to build public understanding about about environmental change and the deep and inextricable connections we have with the natural world. The Project has three interwoven media programs: "Becoming California," is a two-hour public television documentary that takes a fresh look at our past, present and future relationship with California's changing environment. Produced for a national public television audience, the target for broadcast is summer 2014. The Changing Places Initiative is a package of regional films created for selected state and national parks in California. Produced as standalone and companion programs to the broadcast program, the films are planned for release in park visitor centers beginning in summer 2014. A companion website aims to increase public understanding of environmental change by integrating the project's video program into an engaging and interactive user interface that offers streaming video, educational resources and social networking tools. Audience Research is a key element of the project that guides development of its media and provides feedback on its overall effectiveness. Project partners include California State Parks, the National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey. KQED-TV in San Francisco is serving as its presenting station for PBS broadcast. The Project is led by team of distinguished scientists, leading educators and award-winning media professionals.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
James BaxterKit TylerJeffrey WhiteDavid Scheerer
Hopa Mountain, in collaboration with Blackfeet Community College, One Step Further, and Ogala Lakota College, will develop "Native Science Field Centers (NSFC)" to provide year-round informal science education for youth ages 8-18 and adults. Informal science education professionals are also served through the publications and materials designed to support programs targeting Native communities. The "NSFCs" will be located on the Blackfeet, Fort Belknap, and Pine Ridge reservations. The centers will develop "TribalWatch" environmental science programs that will be disseminated to six other tribes in the Missouri River Watershed. The "Tribalwatch" programs create a STEM career ladder for youth and adults to develop scientific expertise, knowledge of monitoring and an understanding of management of local lands. New technologies will be created for the evaluation of Native science programs that incorporate indigenous evaluation methodologies. Key partners include the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), the Field Museum of Natural History and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Deliverables include "Native Science Field Centers, ""TribalWatch" programs and a "TribalWatch" toolkit and training plan. Strategic impact will be realized through capacity building within Native communities, research and documentation of programming practices and dissemination of the toolkit and publications to informal science education professionals, 32 tribal colleges and other educational organizations that serve Native communities. It is anticipated that this project will reach 100,000 Native and non-Native youth, adults and informal science education practitioners in Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bonnie Sachatello-SawyerHelen AugareMichael Fredenberg
LOOP is a new multiplatform, environmental project designed to help young children, ages 6-8, explore ecosystems and understand the science and systems of the natural world. Built upon a curriculum that moves beyond the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), the goal is to help lay the foundation for a lifelong interest in the science of sustainability. Deliverables include: a 20-episode television series with animated stories and live-action segments which feature families and children; an online game to immerse players in the same ecosystems seen on television; Loop Live Missions (outdoor science activities); and an afterschool/camp curriculum designed to get children and families outside to explore natural systems. Promotion of LOOP's educational resources will be undertaken through a partner network including the U.S. Forest Service, Children & Nature Network, National Recreation and Park Association, American Camp Association, National Summer Learning Association, Girl Scouts of the USA, and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America. LOOP is produced by WGBH in Boston and intended for national distribution on PBS. The project design creates an "interactive learning loop" which cycles between the television series, the Website, and outdoor science activities. The intended impacts are to: (1) deliver educational media to the target audience that increases their understanding of science and sustainability issues; (2) model and teach science concepts and scientific habits of mind; and (3) connect children and their families to the natural world. Concord Evaluation Group will be responsible for conducting formative and summative evaluation of the project. The summative evaluation is designed to measure project impacts with respect to change in behavior and attitudes, as well as science learning. The results of the evaluation will inform the curriculum for the current and future seasons of LOOP and contribute to the growing knowledge base of how media can effectively promote and teach substantive science to the young.
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 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.
"Saving Species" will engage large and diverse public audiences in inquiry-based learning and environmental stewardship through a system of exhibits at zoos and other informal science education institutions throughout the U.S. The exhibit system will include more than 70 touch screen interactives and related technological infrastructure being created by Project Dragonfly at Miami University (Ohio). Project partners include the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Brookfield Zoo, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Denver Zoo, Liberty Science Center, Louisville Zoological Garden, New York State Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Pittsburgh Zoo, Riverbanks Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, Toledo Zoo, The Wilds, Woodland Park Zoo, and Zoo Atlanta. Touch screen exhibit components will be designed for specific programs at partner zoos. The partner institutions in this consortium are establishing exhibits nationwide linked to one of three Saving Species campaigns: 1) the Great Ape Campaign allows families to conduct research on captive ape populations and to help save wild apes by joining the work of experienced field researchers; 2) the Wild Cat Campaign focuses on endangered cat species and allows families to join in conservation efforts along with professionals; 3) the Sustaining Life Campaign builds on widespread interest and growing exhibitry in environmental stewardship, renewable energy, and climate change. The consortium includes a shared library of public inquiry and public-action tools (e.g., cell phone recycling), as well as remote monitoring capabilities that provide real-time measures of station success, facilitating the development of variations of exhibit interactives across the country. More than 500 staff from informal science institutions are participating in "Saving Species" professional development through workshops and graduate courses in major cities and conservation sites worldwide. The formal educational opportunities include two new Master\'s degree programs co-delivered by Miami University and informal science institutions: (1) the Advanced Inquiry Program, and (2) the Global Field Program. Strategic partners include the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, public television, Conservation International, and the Society of Conservation Biology. Project evaluation by the Institute for Learning Innovation includes specific assessment protocols that are identifying patterns of engagement by gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic class so that disparities can be addressed across these demographics. A planning study and front-end evaluation will inform the future development of personalized, post-visit engagement opportunities on social networking platforms. "Saving Species" will achieve broad impact nationally, reaching millions of visitors to the participating institutions annually during the funding period and beyond, fostering the relationship between science inquiry and public action, and building multi-institutional partnerships committed to sustaining life on our planet.
The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, the Institute for Learning Innovation, and several environmental organizations are merging existing bird-focused citizen science programs with gardening and online social networking activities to provide older adult learners (age 35 and up) with opportunities to investigate the environmental impacts of implementing landscaping and carbon-reducing practices in their backyards, community gardens, and parks. The YardMap Network project is developing learning resources that will help gardeners, birders, and novices learn bird-habitat improving and carbon-reducing living practices by joining a nationwide ecological social network composed of more than 100,000 people. The goal of the project is to create online learning communities that move people from basic and intermediate levels ecological understanding to advanced levels of understanding by providing experiences whereby YardMappers learn about, design, evaluate, share, and invent conservation practices in their backyards and other green spaces. While developing the network, the project will gather data to test the hypothesis that coupling citizen science activities with social networking technologies to create online learning communities improves participants\' understanding of project-relevant science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The project will track learning outcomes using standard evaluation techniques and by following individuals\' routes of entry, network interactions, mapped garden practices, carbon-neutral behaviors, and their bird monitoring activities. YardMappers will divide naturally into treatment groups, creating a quasi-experimental design to test the importance of social networking for basic, intermediate, and advanced learning outcomes.
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.
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