In-Touch Science provides informal learning experiences to help children ages 8 to 11 understand the science in their everyday lives. Each science theme is introduced through a hands-on activity in one subject area and is reinforced through a second experience based in a different field of science. By linking concepts common to the paired fields, the program teaches children to make connections between what they've learned in one context and what they observe in another arena. The program targets children enrolled in special needs programs, 4-H clubs, school-age child care facilities, and home schooling. The program engages, supports and sustains community science facilitators, the majority of whom are not experienced educators. They will be trained to work with the children, using the Learning Cycle, a guided discovery strategy. Cornell developed the curricula for three paired disciplines: 1) Engineering and Plant Science, 2) Animal Science and Fiber Science, and 3) Chemistry and Environmental Science. Instructional materials for the project consist of three curricula, a facilitator-training guide, and supply kits.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Charlotte CoffmanDan BrownDaniel Tennessen
The New York Hall of Science will develop, test, and implement the "Biochemistry Discovery Lab," a 1000-sq.-ft. space designed to complement the content and design of "The Chemistry of Living Things," a 3000-sq.-ft. exhibition that will be opening in 1999. The Biochemistry Discovery Lab will engage visitors in four different types of activities: 1) guided experiments for scheduled groups, 2) self-guided experiments, 3) demonstrations, and 4) the prototyping of ancillary materials. These activities are intended to engage the target audiences -- families, students, and the general public -- in experiences leading to an understanding that chemical reactions are due to the interaction of molecules; that chemical reactions occur in both living and nonliving things; and that there are visible and measurable characteristics of chemical reactions in living and nonliving systems.
WGBH is producing four, two-hour programs on the lives of scientists. These programs will be the initial programs in a continuing series of television portraits of distinguished scientists to be broadcast as regular features in the prime-time science series NOVA. The scientists to be covered in the first four programs are Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, and Percy Julian. By illuminating the lives and scientific careers of these important figures, the programs will enhance public understanding of such basic scientific concepts as evolution, the solar system, the chemical bond and the structure of the atom. Ultimately, the programs will give viewers a new perspective on the process of scientific discovery. Ancillary educational support for the programs will include enhanced content on the web site at NOVA Online and classroom support material in the NOVA Teacher's Guide that is mailed to 60,000 teachers nationwide. WGBH also has formed an outreach partnership with the American Library Association to create informal educational resources for use by families, youths, and adults. The core of this special outreach plan is a set of Library Resource Kits that will be available to all 16,000 public libraries. Paula Apsell, Executive Producer for NOVA, will serve as PI for the project. Members of the advisory committee include: Evelyn Fox Keller, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, MIT; Kenneth R. Manning, Thomas Meloy Professor of Rhetoric and of the History of Science, MIT; Noami Oreskes, Associate Professor of History, University of California, San Diego; Daniel I. Rubenstein, Chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University; and Neil D. Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium.