Oceanus (working title) is a multi-platform media project designed to increase ocean literacy and communicate the latest oceanographic research and exploration. Produced by National Geographic Television, the project will focus on the complex science behind the global ocean systems and the many challenges involved in deep-ocean exploration. Oceanus is designed to reach a broad public audience across both genders and all demographics. The project also includes links to formal education, with special outreach efforts to Spanish-speaking students. The project goals are to increase viewer literacy about 1) the essential principles and fundamental concepts underlying ocean systems and functions, and 2) the impact of the ocean on humanity and our influence on it. The deliverables include a 5-part "landmark" television series featuring Dr. Robert Ballard and a host of international scientists, which will premiere on the National Geographic Channel in 2012. The series will employ a new generation of underwater exploration technology which allows for an unprecedented view of the ocean floor. The project also includes digital and online content, a companion book, coverage in National Geographic magazine and National Geographic Kids magazine, formal and informal materials for teachers and students and an outreach program for underserved youth. Multimedia Research will conduct formative evaluation in two phases, and Knight Williams Inc. will conduct summative evaluation in three separate studies to assess the project\'s learning impacts with respect to the television series, web and outreach activities. Oceanus will showcase technical innovations which advance deep-sea film making. The project aims to engage a broad audience with compelling stories about a critical area of science and related cutting-edge engineering. The television series is expected to reach 25 million viewers in the U.S., and the outreach material millions more. The summative evaluation will add to the body of research on the impact of science educational television on adults, and the impact of outreach to underserved audiences with respect to ocean-related topics.
The STAR Library Education Network: a hands-on learning program for libraries and their communities, (STAR_Net for short) is led by the National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) at the Space Science Institute (PI: Paul Dusenbery). STAR stands for Science-Technology, Activities and Resources. Team members include NCIL staff, the American Library Association (ALA), Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP). STAR_Net is developing two comprehensive, informal education programs: Discover Earth and Discover Tech. The project also includes a comprehensive evaluation plan and a research component that explores how public libraries can serve as a STEM learning center in rural, underserved communities. STAR_Net is supported through a grant from the National Science Foundation. The STAR_Net project includes two traveling library exhibits: Discover Earth: A Century of Change and Discover Tech: Engineers Make a World of Difference. The Discover Earth exhibition features interactive, multimedia displays that allow exhibit visitors to interact with digital information in a dynamic way, encouraging new perspectives on our planet. Discover Tech introduces the many extraordinary ways that engineers solve problems to help people and societies around the world. Similar to a science center experience, visitors and families will be able to explore and tinker with their own engineering solutions. A number of STEM activities and resources will be developed by project staff and by other organizations to help librarians and community partners offer a wide variety of programs for their patrons. Besides the traveling exhibits and programs, STAR_Net also includes library staff training (online and in-person) and a Community of Practice (CoP) for librarians (including non-host librarians) to interact and partner with STEM professionals and organizations. NCI's Kate Haley Goldman and staff from Evaluation and Research Associates are conducting the project's evaluation.
MacNeil Lehrer Productions, producer of the PBS NewsHour, is awarded a RAPID grant to cover the research that is ongoing as a result of the unanticipated and disastrous earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis in Japan. The team of experienced producers and correspondents will produce at least 8 segments for broadcast, along with extensive material for online. All the stories will revolve around scientists (geophysicists, oceanographers) and engineers (structural, seismic, civic, nuclear) as well as social scientists and the work they are doing in wake of the disaster. The online material will include blogs and web-only video reports that will deliver content to augment broadcast coverage. The coverage will include not only what is being learned in Japan but how that knowledge will impact earthquake, tsunami and nuclear engineering and science, as well as social impact studies, in the United States. The NewsHour will encourage user engagement through regular posting of stories on social media outlets, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, UStream and Discus. The online/on-air correspondent Hari Sreenivasan will conduct web-exclusive interviews with scientists on the forefront of the related research. The NewsHour Extra, the website that reaches 170,000 educators per month, will use the science coverage on its Daily Video Clip Tool to provide educators resources and lesson plans to help initiate discussions with students about the science, environmental and engineering issues raised by the on-going story. The reach of the PBS NewsHour is significant. PBS NewsHour is seen five nights a week on more than 315 PBS stations across the country and is also available online, via public radio in select markets and via podcast. The national daily broadcast delivers an audience of approximately 1.1 million viewers and the Online NewsHour visitors reached 5.4+ million monthly page views in January 2011. The NewsHour public radio broadcasts reach an average of 63 thousand listeners daily across the U.S. Outside the U.S., the PBS NewsHour television broadcast is available on the American Forces Television to more than 800,000 U.S. military and State Department personnel around the world. In addition, audiences across Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America tune into the service via various channels and satellite services. The deliverables produced under this award will be consolidated on the NewsHour website where they will create a permanent record of these resources.
This Full-Scale Informal Science Education award focuses on the physical and social science surrounding the extraction of natural gas from the Marcellus shale formation beneath the surface in north central and western Pennsylvania. The project targets the adult residents of the impacted or soon-to-be-impacted areas of Pennsylvania. This is a complex project involving the disciplines of geology, engineering, chemistry, social science, performance, and land management. Further, the project team includes a mix of physical scientists, educators, theater arts faculty, social scientists and engineers from Pennsylvania State University, the Pennsylvania State Cooperative Extension Service, and Juniata College. The project addresses several potential barriers to communication of science to the public. The proposal team provides four entry points for citizens of rural Pennsylvania to engage in learning about energy, its needs in the Nation, the economics behind these needs, the geology of the shale deposit and how to have productive discussions and make decisions using science-based evidence. The project will engage a multitude of communication mechanisms such as forums, community meetings, theater performances, data centers, blogs and workshops. The Pennsylvania State Extension will play a central role in working at the local level. The project is a complex effort wherein the residents of north central and western Pennsylvania will learn about the science and policies of natural gas extraction and how to derive and use scientific information for decision making. The proposal team will learn how to work and communicate with rural citizens. Further, the team will derive a variety of models from these activities that are likely to be adaptable for use in other areas of the Nation that have natural gas deposits.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael ArthurDouglas MillerJo BrasierRenae Youngs
The mission of the New Mexico Informal Science Education Network (NM ISE Net) is to provide opportunities and resources for informal educators to work together to impact science teaching, science learning, and science awareness throughout the state of New Mexico. The NM Museum of Natural History and Science leads NM ISE Net with support from NM EPSCoR.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
New Mexico Museum of Natural HistorySelena ConnealyCharlie Walter
In this article, we describe a preliminary study that integrates research on engineering design activities for K-12 students with work on microworlds as learning tools. Here, we extend these bodies of research by exploring whether - and how - authentic recreations of engineering practices can help students develop conceptual understanding of physics. We focus on the design-build-test (DBT) cycle used by professional engineers in simulation-based rapid modeling. In this experiment, middle-school students worked for 10 hr during a single weekend to solve engineering design challenges using
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net) is a national program led by the Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL). STAR stands for Science-Technology Activities and Resources (www.starnetlibraries.org). Core partners include the American Library Association, Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the National Girls Collaborative Project. Other partners include the National Academy of Engineering, Engineers Without Borders-USA, IEEE-USA, the National Renewable Energy Lab, American Geophysical
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SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE/National Center for Interactive LearningPaul Dusenbery
This is an overview of audience research and evaluation pertaining to the exhibition "Living With Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond". The process of investigating the perceptions of audiences and visitors was mostly designed to inform the interpretive planning process. Then, after the exhibit opened to the public in late October 2010, the intent was to describe and assess the experiences of visitors. Ten audience/visitor studies were conducted over a seven-year period, five of which were designed to inform the planning process and five of which were conducted after the exhibition opened to
The research presented in this report was the tenth and final study in a multi-phase evaluation plan for “Living With Hurricanes: Katrina and Beyond,” an exhibition created by the Louisiana State Museum and installed at the Presbytere building. The exhibition opened in October 2010; a remedial evaluation was conducted in November 2010; the summative evaluation was conducted in the spring and summer of 2011; preparations for this longitudinal study began in the fall of 2011, the telephone interviews were conducted in the spring of 2013. Results from this analysis indicate that “Living With
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Louisiana State MuseumJeff HaywardJolene Hart
The purpose of this Summative Evaluation was to assess visitors’ use and perceptions of ‘Living with Hurricanes: Katrina & Beyond’ at the Louisiana State Museum (LSM) as an informal science experience. The exhibition is distinctive in that it is presented in a museum which has been primarily focused on history. The overall experience, affective impact and learning were evaluated for visitors leaving the exhibition. More specific questions of science learning were evaluated in mini-studies in Room 3. This report also examines the degree to which emotion affects informal learning in the museum
Young people’s participation in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) is a matter of international concern. Studies and careers that require physical sciences and advanced mathematics are most affected by the problem and women in particular are under‐represented in many STEM fields. This article views international research about young people’s relationships to, and participation in, STEM subjects and careers through the lens of an expectancy‐value model of achievement‐related choices. In addition it draws on sociological theories of late‐modernity and identity, which situate
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Maria Vetleseter BoeEllen Karoline HenriksenTerry LyonsCamilla Schreiner
STEMtastic: NASA in Our Community is a two-year project designed to educate and inspire teachers, students and life-long learners to embrace NASA STEM content. The project will increase awareness of NASA activities, while educating and inspiring students to train for careers that are critical to future economic growth of the country in general, and NASA’s future missions in particular. The Virginia Air & Space Center (VASC) will partner with the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. to accomplish this project. VASC will deliver NASA STEM content through (1) STEMtastic Teacher Institutes and Education Modules: (a) a series of two five-day professional development institutes for educators which will result in the (b) development and dissemination of new education modules for grades 4-9; and (2) STEMtastic Exhibits and Demonstrations: new interactive exhibits to used for live demonstrations at VASC; those demonstrations will also be delivered to traditionally underserved schools in the region. All classroom and teaching materials—educator institutes, education modules, exhibit software and demonstration modules—will be developed using NASA content and shared with other institutions to promote the expansion of knowledge about best practices in providing STEM education in both formal and informal education settings. STEMevals, a robust evaluation plan, will be implemented to assess success in each project area. Adjustments will be made along the pipeline to increase effectiveness in reaching the target audience. The project has the potential to reach countless educators, students and museum visitors throughout the U.S."