Kikim Media requests $743,316 to produce four half-hour television documentaries and associated outreach programs based on Michael Pollan's best-selling book, The Botany of Desire. The project explores the reciprocal nature of people's relationship with plants. The programs focus on the connections between apples and the human desire for sweetness; tulips and the desire for beauty; marijuana and the desire for intoxication; and corn and our desire for control over nature. The project will increase public understanding of diverse subjects including genetics, evolution, cognition and biochemistry as well as biodiversity, genetic diversity and the consequences of their loss. The project will have a broad impact through a national primetime PBS broadcast, an outreach program targeting adult audiences, and an educational module delivering appropriate content (excluding intoxication) to middle and high school audiences. Knight-Williams Research Communications will conduct the evaluation for The Botany of Desire television broadcast and outreach efforts.
This project communicates to public audiences a body of research using state-of-the-art acoustic technology to monitor the long-term movement patterns of juvenile sharks in a coastal nursery. Aquarium visitors will experience an interactive live shark exhibit designed to mimic shark monitoring. Interactive animations of shark movements from the research study are integrated into the exhibit and will be explained on video monitors while a shark swimming in an exhibit tank activates detectors showing its location and movement. Designed for visitors of all ages, the exhibit demonstrates how the research project works and explains how sharks use coastal bays as nursery areas and how these areas are critical to the survival of young sharks. Dissemination is through the Mote Marine Aquarium that receives over 400,000 visitors annually, and through web cast and distance-learning elements.
IDSolutions, in partnership with the National Association of Health Education Centers (NAHEC) and eight NAHEC member organizations will develop an original project to provide informal science education experiences to children, families and the local community via visual communications' technology. This initiative includes building a technical infrastructure that will connect participating Health Education Centers. It will expand beyond the installation of a network and will focus the bulk of its energy on the technology's application -- generating inquiry-based science experiences through active engagement with content that originates from remote locations. Through the creation of an Interactive Videoconferencing Programming Collaborative (IVPC), IDSolutions, NAHEC, and NAHEC Members will produce and disseminate to our target audience of school-age children, families, community groups and teachers, a high volume of science-related programming. The core content of the initial set of programs will be extracted from one of the nation's most popular life science traveling exhibits called "Grossology." These distance-learning programs will originate from a central "studio" location and will be available during the day, after school, on weekends, during summer breaks and holidays. Supporting this effort will be Advanced Animations (designers of "Grossology" and "Experience Science!"), a science education consulting company.
The University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology will work over three years to design, develop and fabricate "Survivor, the Place of Humans in the Natural World," a 3,000 sq. ft. traveling exhibition for audiences ages nine and older which explores the process and consequences of human evolution in the context of its implications for our daily lives. Using hands-on interactive devices, flexible exhibit designs with multimedia capabilities, and interactive "Web-chats" with an open community of scholars, UPM will engage visitors with the discovery of the place of humans on the planet Earth. The exhibition, along with ancillary educational materials and programs, is scheduled to open in 2006, then subsequently travel for three years to nine widely distributed institutions, ultimately serving a national audience of several million viewers.
Project Butterfly WINGS is a three-year project targeting 4th-8th grade participants in 13 Florida counties. This project includes the use of the 4-H network as a partner to recruit participants. It builds on the development of student-scientist partnerships to create an environment where information, data and ideas can be exchanged. This project will focus on collecting data on butterflies and the environments/habitats the butterflies choose to visit. This project brings together several important elements to present an interactive, authentic, research-based SSP activity supported through an established network of ISE providers, educators and community-based organizations. Based on solid research and knowledge about ISE approaches, the project has strong content connections and a well-designed structure. An interactive web-site will provide opportunities for participants to interact with each other and with participating scientists, and to experience firsthand some of the most interesting aspects of engaging in scientific inquiry. WINGS has the potential to create a network of young people who will be more aware of issues related to biodiversity and the environment. Through its model approach and participant outcomes, "Project Butterfly WINGS" is positioned to make a difference in the ISE field and in the lives of its participants.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), the umbrella organization including the Bronx Zoo, will design, develop, fabricate, evaluate and install a long-term exhibition with ancillary public programming about the biology and conservation science of the island of Madagascar. Based in part on long-term scientific research conducted in Madagascar by the WCS, the exhibit will use immersive, interactive exhibit approaches including live plants and animals, as well as an on-line curriculum (Wild Explorations in Science), distance learning expeditions, and an interactive website to engage visitors of all ages in experiencing conservation science and specific examples of science saving wildlife. Visitors will explore unique and beautifully re-created habitats, encounter fascinating animals and learn about concepts such as endemism, island biogeography and biodiversity. The exhibit will serve about 2,000,000 visitors to the Bronx Zoo annually and millions nationwide through on-line curricula and distance learning programs.
Understanding the Science Connected to Technology (USCT) targets information technology (IT) experiences in a comprehensive training program and professional support system for students and teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Participants have opportunities to assume leadership roles as citizen volunteers within the context of science and technology in an international watershed basin. Training includes collection, analysis, interpretation and dissemination of scientific data. BROADER IMPACTS: Building on a student volunteer monitoring program called River Watch, the USCT project enables student scientists to conduct surface water quality monitoring activities, analyze data and disseminate results to enhance local decision-making capacity. The project incorporates state and national education standards and has the potential to reach 173 school jurisdictions and 270,000 students. USCT will directly impact 81 teachers, 758 students and 18 citizen volunteers. The USCT project provides direct scientist mentor linkages for each participating school. This linkage provides a lasting process for life-long learning and an understanding of how IT and STEM subject matter is applied by resource professionals. Broader impacts include accredited coursework for teachers and students, specialized training congruent with the "No Child Left Behind Act of 2001," and building partnerships with Native American schools. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: The USCT project is designed to refocus thinking from static content inside a textbook to a process of learning that includes IT and STEM content. The USCT engages students (the next generation of decision makers) in discovery of science and technology and expands education beyond current paradigms and political jurisdictions.
The "Out on a Limb -- Forest Canopies" exhibit will educate people about forest canopies, and illustrate the challenges of canopy access by scientists. A traveling rain forest diorama -- with scaled models of scientists exploring the canopy, and accompanying graphic panels and interactive activities -- will circulate to community venues in southwest Florida, increasing public awareness of how forest canopies are important to life on Earth. Canopy research provides a highly visual, exploratory approach to scientific inquiry that can be effectively communicated to the general public and school groups. Based on research funded by NSF, (DEB-0228871), this project was funded as part of the Communicating Research to Public Audiences program.
The California Science Center (CSC) proposes to develop Goosebumps!, a 5,000 sq.ft. traveling exhibition on the science behind feeling scared for the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative. The exhibition will utilize emotional engagement, as well as aspects of popular culture, to involve visitors in aspects of physiology, neurology, psychology and sociology that relate to the fear response. Exhibit experiences will evoke the fear response in a nonthreatening way and then make those responses the subject of personal exploration. The exhibition will also provide an opportunity for visitors to participate in a Caltech scientific research project based on the fear response. The Science Museum of Minnesota will collaborate with CSC in developing this exhibition. BROADER IMPACT: The exhibition will reach some five million visitors during a five-year tour to 12 other science centers, including the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, PA; the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Fort Worth, TX; the Museum of Science in Boston, MA; the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul, MN; the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, OR; and the Columbus Museum of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, OH after opening at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA. It will advance the field through offering new ways to engage the public in science through explicit focus on visitor emotional engagement.
The Ocean Institute (OI), in partnership with Scripps Institution of Oceanography (Scripps), Capistrano Valley Boys & Girls Clubs (BGC) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), is developing "SeaTech," a multi-year, Youth-based ITEST program providing 120 female and minority middle and high school students from underserved populations with 391 contact hours of information technology (IT)-intensive oceanographic research experiences. SeaTech content focuses on understanding the acoustic behaviors of whales and dolphins, specifically, sound production, noise impacts and acoustic population census in California, the Bering Sea and the Southern Ocean. SeaTech offers a two-year core program for 13 & 14 year olds consisting of a "Breadth of Exposure" phase and a "Depth of Skills" phase totaling 299 hours. The core program has three distinct elements -- after-school clubs, field explorations and summer research institutes -- and is augmented with efforts before and after: an Early Pipeline Development phase (52 hours) for youth age 12, and Internships (40 hours) for youth age 15. The three-year ITEST grant will host three cohorts of 40 participants each. Each youth participant will receive 391 total contact hours. Through efforts directed at parents, SeaTech anticipates involving 60 parents in about 80 hours of activities each year. Coordinated through and with the expertise of Capistrano Valley BGC, recruitment will include orientation and information programs, a bilingual brochure and direct efforts by BGC staff. In addition, recruitment will happen from local schools. INTELLECTUAL MERIT: IT-based studies of marine mammal bio-acoustics will 'hook' student interest in after-school clubs, field explorations and summer research institutes. SeaTech advances understanding of the role of broader pipeline development in addressing chronic recruitment and retention problems in teen-targeted IT programs. BROADER IMPACTS: SeaTech programming has been meticulously and demonstrably integrated into the afterschool programming at the BGC. The SeaTech Club provides organizational structure to the teen activities at the BGC; however, the IT curriculum is also integrated into two nationally renowned extant structures called Career Launch and Club Tech. Findings from the project's examination of recruitment, retention and parental involvement will have broad implications to the field of informal science education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Harry HellingKelly ReynoldsJohn HildebrandCandice Dickens
Cornell University, Seavoss Associates, Inc. and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) developed two citizen science projects and related research: 1) "Project Nestwatch" including "Virtual Nestwatch," an online exhibit and data collection project that enables individuals to participate in data collection from their home computers; 2) "National Nest Registry," field-based and focused on species that participants may find in their backyard or local community. The projects increased public understanding of bird biology, ecology, life cycles, environmental issues and the research process while encouraging careers in science.
National Wildlife Federation is requesting a planning grant to support the development of a six-part television mini-series called "Springwatch USA" and related educational materials. "Springwatch" will focus on phenology and engage viewers to report their findings of specific natural phenomena, via the web. The goal is to educate children, families and self-appointed citizen naturalists of all ages on the core science concepts associated with phenology and ecology and the hallmark animal and plant responses to the seasonal transition from winter to spring. A second goal is to familiarize the American public with broader, cutting-edge concepts of how longer term changes in climate may also be significantly shifting some of the accepted norms for the progression of spring in North America. The proposed planning phase will include: audience research, meetings of science and education advisors, development of episode plans, conceptual design of field identification and educational materials as well as the protocols that will serve to standardize the data and make it useful for scientific, education and interpretive purposes. National Wildlife Federation will be collaborating with Animal Planet and Painless Productions to create the "Springwatch" series