The Experiential Science Education Research Collaborative (XSci) at the University of Colorado Denver has established a museum educator/theater network of eight museums around the country, pairing larger with smaller institutions. The Association of Science-Technology Centers, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and several other organizations also are collaborators. The primary audience is informal science educators; secondary audiences are museum and science center visitors. The Science Theater Education Programming System (STEPS) is a technology the allows educators to create their own media-enhanced live theatrical presentations of science programs that include dynamic content, interactive virtual characters, and multiple plot-lines and endings to shows. The initial set of theater programs focus on astrobiology, along with a suite of training programs and communication formats for educators. The STEPS technology allows these programs to be delivered both on site and via outreach, depending on the goals of each organization. An in-depth research component is examining the impact of the project\'s designed community of practice structure utilizing team leadership theory in terms of professional identity construction for participating informal educators. Deliverables include: the museum partnership network, the STEPS system and programs, professional development tutorials and workshops, evaluation of the programs, and research products, among others.
Recognizing that the Maker movement embodies aspects of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) learning that are the hallmarks of effective education — deep engagement with content, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, learning to learn, and more — NYSCI, in collaboration with Dale Dougherty and Tom Kalil, approached the National Science Foundation to sponsor a two-day workshop. Over 80 leaders in education, science, technology and the arts came together at NYSCI to consider how the Maker movement can help stimulate innovation in formal and informal education
The Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre (doing business as the Learning World Institute), in collaboration with informal science education venues, universities, and corporations in Chicago, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., is organizing a set of three professional conferences and a web site to encourage stronger national and local communities of practice around the application of arts-based learning (ABL) to informal science education. Arts-based learning is the instrumental use of artistic skills, processes, and experiences to foster learning in non-artistic disciplines. The goal is to apply ABL to informal science education in ways that can foster the acquisition of STEM skills that are important in today's workforce. The set of conferences, with a total attendance of 750, will focus on an understanding of current and potential ABL applications to workforce skill development, opportunities to practice ABL directly, and creation of a research agenda on the impact of ABL on science education. The web site (funded through other sources) will help conference attendees prepare for the workshops, provide opportunities for networking, aggregate resources, and host the research agenda.
FETCH with Ruff Ruffman is a daily half-hour PBS television series with accompanying Web and outreach activities targeted to 6- to 10-year olds. The program brings science learning to young children by uniquely blending live-action with animation, game show convention with reality programming, and humor with academics. The intended impacts are to 1) help the target audience develop interest, knowledge and skills necessary to do science; 2) train afterschool leaders to better facilitate science activities with kids; and 3) demonstrate how media can be used to teach substantive science and share the results of project evaluation with others in the field. The requested funds will allow the project to expand the science curriculum with 20 new half-hour episodes and expand the Web site, focusing on three new science themes that highlight topics of interest to this age group. The Web site will include four new science-based Web games that will allow kids to create and post content of their own design and contribute to nationwide data collection. A new FETCH Online Training resource will be created to help afterschool leaders to effectively engage in FETCH's hands-on science activities. American Institutes for Research (AIR) will conduct summative evaluation of the Online Training program.
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Kate Taylor
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Arizona State University is conducting a May 2010 two-day workshop that will bring together "Next Generation" (NextGen) science communicators (writers, journalists, bloggers, documentary filmmakers, museum professionals); NextGen scholars/researchers in science and technology policy; and publication editors. The goals are: to help improve the communications skills of these professionals, to encourage collaborations of communicators and scholars, and, ultimately, to help the public gain a better understanding of the policy dimensions of STEM by encouraging more effective communications about STEM and policy issues that affect their lives. The workshop provides direct experience in a writing genre called "narrative nonfiction" or "creative nonfiction," a domain in which Gutkind has been a leader. The co-PI, Guston, is a scholar in science and technology policy and an active partner of the NSF-funded Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network. In addition, the Spring 2011 issue of Issues in Science and Technology will include works by the collaborating communicators/scholars. This workshop precedes and informs a larger conference on science policy, The Rightful Place of Science?," funded by others, including NSF's Science, Technology, and Society program.
Madison Area Technical College will refine and evaluate the effectiveness of Fusion Science Theater (FST), a combination of theater, science demonstrations, and participatory components, as an ISE teaching model, to test its transferability through development and trials of an exportable version (Science-in-a-Box), and to recruit appropriate partners nationally in preparation for a larger scale implementation and evaluation. A Fusion Science Theater event utilizes the collaborative effort of applied expertise in science, theater and education. These events support playful interactions as characters engage the emotions of the audience. The Act-It Out sequences invite children and parents to become involved in modeling scientific concepts, thus creating an environment where learning is the product of social interaction and kinesthetic, affective and interpersonal learning. To provide proof-of-concept that this a transferable model, an independent, interdisciplinary team from the University of Wisconsin, Madison Biotechnology Center will produce their own FST event that will be evaluated and compared to an existing FST program. The Madison Children's Museum will partner as a venue for the event and provide expertise in the planning process. The ultimate project resulting from this planning would include workshops to train collaborative teams from around the country in the principles and practices of FST, promotion of cross-disciplinary collaboration among professionals, and honing of an evaluation design for FST events. The trained teams would then produce FST events that reach children, their parents and the general public. The planning grant project design includes activities necessary to further test, verify and document Fusion Science Theater events. It provides a proof of concept of model effectiveness and transferability. It also initiates, develops and assesses ways to train other groups to implement the model and publicizes the model to national professional networks to spread the work and recruit site teams.