The iSaveSpecies project, created by Project Dragonfly at Miami University and a consortium of zoos and aquariums, designed and implemented a socially-networked exhibit system to engage family visitors to zoos and aquariums in inquiry and conservation. The first wave of the iSaveSpecies exhibit stations focused on Great Apes, allowing families to conduct research on captive ape populations and to help save wild apes by joining the work of experienced field conservationists. The Pittsburgh Zoo incorporated three touchscreen-based research and action kiosks in or near their gorilla exhibit.
The iSaveSpecies project, created by Project Dragonfly at Miami University and a consortium of zoos and aquariums, designed and implemented a socially-networked exhibit system to engage family visitors to zoos and aquariums in inquiry and conservation. The first wave of the iSaveSpecies exhibit stations focused on Great Apes, allowing families to conduct research on captive ape populations and to help save wild apes by joining the work of experienced field conservationists. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo incorporated three touchscreen-based research and action kiosks in or near their orangutan
The iSaveSpecies project, created by Project Dragonfly at Miami University and a consortium of zoos and aquariums, designed and implemented a socially-networked exhibit system to engage family visitors to zoos and aquariums in inquiry and conservation. The first wave of the iSaveSpecies exhibit stations focused on Great Apes, allowing families to conduct research on captive ape populations and to help save wild apes by joining the work of experienced field conservationists. The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium incorporated three touchscreen-based research and action kiosks in or near their ape and
The iSaveSpecies project, created by Project Dragonfly at Miami University and a consortium of zoos and aquariums, designed and implemented a socially-networked exhibit system to engage family visitors to zoos and aquariums in inquiry and conservation. The first wave of the iSaveSpecies exhibit stations focused on Great Apes, allowing families to conduct research on captive ape populations and to help save wild apes by joining the work of experienced field conservationists. The Atlanta Zoo incorporated three touchscreen-based research and action kiosks in or near their ape exhibit.
In
"Genetically Modified Organisms" are not a consistent category: it is impossible to discuss such a miscellaneous bunch of products, deriving from various biotech methods, as if they had a common denominator. Critics are too often pre-emptively suspicious of peculiar risks for health or the environment linked to this ill-assorted ensemble of microorganisms, plants or animals: yet, even before being unscientific, the expression "GMO(s)" has very poor semantic value. Similarly, claims that recombinant DNA technology is always safe are a misjudgement: many unsatisfactory "GMOs" have been discarded
There is growing recognition that effective science communication should not merely focus on addressing scientific literacy but must also open dialogue between scientists and the public, build trust, and increase public interest in environmental research. Citizen science BioBlitzes offer a useful approach for science communicators to address many of these key aims. We explore the BioBlitz concept, learnings and outcomes based on a case study of a BioBlitz held in Sydney, Australia. We found that participants valued learning about biodiversity on the day and importantly, all participants
Interviews were conducted with 110 marine users to elicit their salient beliefs about recording marine species in a citizen science project. The results showed that many interviewees believe participation would increase knowledge (either scientific, the community's, or their own). While almost half of the interviewees saw no negative outcomes, a small number expressed concerns about targeting of marine species by others, or restrictions on public access to marine sites. Most of the people surveyed (n = 106) emphasised the importance of well-designed technological interfaces to assist their
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Victoria MartinLeslie ChristidisDavid LloydGretta Pecl
Citizen science has proven useful in advancing scientific research, but participant learning outcomes are not often assessed. This case study describes the implementation and tailoring of an in-depth assessment of the educational impact of two citizen science projects in an undergraduate, general education course. Mixed-methods assessment of citizen science within a college classroom demonstrates that public participation in scientific research can positively alter attitudes towards science. The timing and type of assessments yielded significantly different results and qualitative assessment
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Tyler VitoneKathryn StoferM. Sedonia SteningerJiri HulcrRobert DunnAndrea Lucky
Success stories of citizen science projects widely demonstrate the value of this open science paradigm and encourage organizations to shift towards new ways of doing research. While benefits for researchers are clear, outcomes for individuals participating in these projects are not easy to assess. The wide spectrum of volunteers collaborating in citizen science projects greatly contributes to the difficulty in the evaluation of the projects' outcomes. Given the strong links between many citizen science projects and education, in this work we present an experience with hundreds of students
The purpose of this study is to quantify the use of science fiction films in academic papers as well as to analyse the patterns of use of those films indexed in international databases, using the ISI Web of Science database. Twenty films were selected from recognised sources. Films referenced in the scientific literature were detected and, with quantitative methodologies, we classified their genres, the journals of publication and the disciplines they belong to. Finally, we performed a detailed study of each paper in which selected films were found, to observe and categorise specifically the
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Luciano Guillermo LevinDaniela De Filippo
The urgent state of our global environment calls for collective action, which depends in large part on effective science communication for better understanding and awareness. Activities and institutions that provide opportunities to learn about nature all ultimately rely on scientific findings about nature. Although science produces the knowledge and information about nature, for the content to be accessible and meaningful to the general public, it needs to be processed by what I call science content design. This process is similar to the concepts of interpretation in tourism, or aesthetic
Metaphors and visualizations are important for science communication, though they may have limitations. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a novel interactive visualization, the "Dynamic Evolutionary Map"' (DEM), which communicates biological evolution using a non-standard metaphor. The DEM uses a map metaphor and interactivity to address conceptual limitations of traditional tree-based evolutionary representations. In a pilot evaluation biology novices used the DEM to answer questions about evolution. The results suggest that this visualization communicates some conceptual