Five small science museums will form "TEAMS (Traveling Exhibits at Museums of Science) Collaborative". The partners include the Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, VT; The Catawba Science Center, Hickory, NC; Sciencenter, Ithaca, NY; Discovery Center Museum, Rockford, IL; and the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Ann Arbor, MI. Each museum partner will develop a 1500 sq. ft. (140 m2) traveling exhibit that will include ten to fifteen interactive units and supporting graphics and will circulate to all members of the partnership. The exhibition topics are: AirPlay (Montshire Museum of Science, Dirt (Catawba Science Center), You Can Count On It (Sciencenter), Amusement Park Science (Discovery Center Museum), and Eureka Labs: Science from Head to Toe (Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum). Following the circulation among the consortium members, it is anticipated that the exhibits will circulate more broadly via the Association of Science-Technology Centers Traveling Exhibit's Program. In addition to developing these exhibits, the collaboration has an additional goals 1) focusing on the family audiences by working together to enhance the family science learning through the development of resources that can be used by families that are related to exhibition topics, 2) building institutional expertise in exhibit design, family programming, and evaluation; and 3) conducting research on family learning and sharing results with the field. Complementary materials and activities for teachers will also be developed for each exhibit.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David GoudyCharles TrautmannSarah WolfMike SinclairJames FrenzaCynthia Yao
The Institute for Research on Learning is undertaking a multifaceted effort to help parents become more involved in the mathematics education of their children. This project establishes a Design Consortium; develops new materials and collaborative activity structures; provides outreach, training, and technical assistance to communities; and disseminates these products to the educational community. The design consortium creates contexts for raising parent participation in communities where it is most needed and uses these contexts to plan and construct mathematics materials based on issues parents face in everyday life. The outreach activities include planning support and workshops for schools, community organizations, and parent groups. Dissemination is done through presentations and talks and through research articles.
The Developmental Studies Center is supporting the active involvement of parents in their children's mathematical development, helping parents understand more about how their children learn mathematically and socially, and increasing the likelihood that children will discuss mathematics with an adult who is significant in their lives. The first phase of this project develops, pilot tests, and evaluates a Homeside Math resource book for each grade level, K-2, with activities teachers can send home to foster positive interaction about mathematics between parents and their children. These activities are related to exemplary school curricula, particularly those developed with NSF support. The next phase develops a limited number of additional activities to add to the Homeside Math collection to be published as Community Math. Community Math is a resource book for youth workers with activities that foster mathematical discussions between children ages 5-8 and a significant adult and can be used in a variety of community organization settings and sent home for family use. Workshops are developed for parents, teachers, and youth workers to strengthen their knowledge of child-centered instructional strategies, meaningful activities, and how children develop mathematically and socially. And facilitator workshops are developed for parents, teachers, and youth workers to enable them to lead workshops for parents.
The Education Development Center (EDC) is implementing the national expansion and institutionalization of the Playing to Win (PTW) Network. With the goal of working toward universal technology enfranchisement and prior support from the NSF Informal Science Education Program, the PTW Network currently links close to fifty agencies in a mutually supportive community of neighborhood technology learning centers serving people living in low-income areas who otherwise would have little or no access to computer-based technologies. The purposes of this phase of the project are: - to increase the number of affiliates nationally - to provide effective support for their technology programs and to do so in a planned and thoughtful manner which also is flexible and responsive to the flows, demands, and unforeseen opportunities fro community technology center development -- to move the affiliate membership toward independence and self-governance. Each year of the project, PTW will work in collaboration with the United Neighborhood Centers of America, the Alliance fro Community Media, NTIA-funded programs, FreeNets, and others in three to four target areas of the US to recruitment additional primary affiliates. The goal is to add 20 additional affiliates annually who will be supported by local coordinators and another 30 with subsidized telecommunications support. PTW plans to enrich programmatic content at the centers with special emphasis on math and science. The network will support an on-line math and science program consultant and continue to recruit and support affiliates with a math/science program emphasis. The Co-Principal Investigators for the project will be Myles Gordon, Director of EDC's Center for Learning, Teaching and Technology, and Antonia Stone, Founder of PTW and PI for the previous phases of the project.
San Francisco State University is collaborating with MESA of California to replicate the Mission Science Workshop (MSW) model for informal science education to establish 10 self-supporting interactive Community Science Workshops (CSW's) throughout California. The overriding theme for activities at the CSW's is to let children and parents "be" scientists as they explore through the use of interactive exhibits, hands-on building/tinkering activities and content workshops, while at the same time ensuring they learn correct science concepts. Content to be presented is from the areas of Engineering, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Mathematics. The target audience is primarily African-American, Latino, and Native American children in grades K-8 and their families.
WGBH Educational Foundation is producing Season I of Zoom, a daily half-hour television series for children aged 8 to 11. Zoom, which is based on the highly successful 1970's series of the same name, features a cast of seven children who engage in activities and examine ideas submitted by youth who watch the show. The new Zoom will have an enhanced educational concentration, an emphasis on science and math activities and projects, and a comprehensive outreach campaign. A major focus of the series will be to develop "Habits of Mind" which promote the capacity to think about the same ideas and evidence in multiple ways; collect, organize, and recognize patterns in data; identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations; and develop skills of estimation, judgment, and data literacy. Season I will have three over-arching science and math-based themes: Structures, Things That Go, and Living Things. Each program will include two or three science and math segments, as well as encouragement to try these activities at home. From time to time, the cast will provide a "challenge" for viewers by asking them to conduct an activity as home and send in their results for presentation on a later show. Field-produced segments will feature children engaged in science or math projects that they have found particularly fascinating and have done on their own. The series also will revisit projects or "challenges" over the course of a season to demonstrate that science is an on-going, evolving endeavor and that new information may change old assumptions. Zoom outreach activities will include a Zoom science guide for educators, a World Wide Web Site, museum Zoom rooms, community partnerships with three national organizations that work with underserved children. In addition, every viewer who writes, calls an 800 number, or sends an e-mail will receive a free four-page newsletter with directions needed to complete activities from the series and to tackle challenge s that the cast issues to the audience. Kate Taylor will be Executive Producer for the project. She has been co-executive producer for Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and for Degrassi Junior High. The Science and Math Director will be Candace Julyan, Senior Project Director at TERC. The Director of Outreach will be Beth Kirsch who oversees the development and implementation of national outreach campaigns for WGBH. The staff will work closely with a group of consultants and advisors with expertise in such areas as science and mathematics, informal science, outreach, and evaluation.
This project is composed of a 1,500 square foot permanent, and traveling exhibit, and a schools program focused on problem- solving, targeted primarily for children in grades 5-8. The exhibit includes a variety of classroom-tested puzzles, interactive computer programs, and hands-on challenge problems. These will enable participants to try and utilize different problem-solving strategies, and gain experience in spatial relationships, communicating mathematically, and reasoning inductively and deductively. Materials produced include: Solve It! Trunks, a problem-solving program that teachers can use as a single unit or integrate throughout the year; a publication which will enable others to reproduce the exhibits; and a Guide with suggestions about how to use the Problem-Solving Program. Other activities include Student and Family Problem-Solving Programs, and puzzle- based workshops.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
James FrenzaJohn BowditchCynthia Yao
This project, coordinated by the New Jersey Mathematics Coalition (and a major partner with the SSI) will use the recently completed New Jersey Frameworks in mathematics and science as the core of a parent education effort that will reach 300,000 parents of school age children in the state, representing 50% of the parent population and all 603 school districts. This project will be a vehicle for providing opportunities for parents to become familiar with these standards. The project will undertake a three-stage approach to parental outreach: (1) awareness activities, including the development of materials printed in both English and Spanish, public television, and a Website; (2) increasing involvement of parents through establishing a clearinghouse for information; and (3) activation activities to help parents work more effectively on mathematics and science reform efforts at the school, district, and state levels.
The Massachusetts SSI (Project PALMS) will conduct this project in partnership with MITS (the Museum Institute for Teaching Science, Inc.) and will develop, demonstrate the effectiveness of, and disseminate a locally-driven model for parental involvement in mathematics, science, and technology education. The model builds on the SSI structure by starting with parents who are active in PALMS District Leadership Teams for Systemic Change (approximately 2900 parents). These parents will have opportunities for additional training with materials such as Project PRISM, EQUALS, AAAS, etc. These support the new State frameworks and assessments developed through he SSI, and are also in support of the high quality curriculum materials recommended for implementation in schools. Parents will then develop local plans for engaging other parents in their communities. Materials will be developed, including a manual on How to Build Coalitions to Engage Community Members in Mathematics, Science, and Technology Reform. In addition, materials will be developed and outreach activities will be conducted to include activities for parents and children (estimated to reach an additional 21,000 parents) held in nontraditional environments such as subways, laundromats, health clinics, and malls. Products will include a manual on building coalitions to engage communities in supporting mathematics and science reform, and a collection of field-tested prototype outreach activities. Findings will be disseminated through the Eisenhower Consortia, National PTA, Urban League, and National Council of La Raza.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Thomas NoonanMary Jane SchmittPendred Noyce
The Self Reliance Foundation in association with the Hispanic Radio Network over a five year period will produce and distribute a variety of daily Spanish-language radio programs on science education topics and follow-up outreach services to network listeners on science education and career opportunities. The applicants will add two science related episodes each week to Buscando La Belleza, the four-minute daily radio series for families that focuses on social issues, work issues, women's rights, and educational and career opportunities. It is carried on 100 stations with a weekly cumulative audience of 2,567,000 listeners. The new episodes will include: 52 role model interviews with Hispanic men and women who have careers in science, mathematics, and technology from technical positions not requiring a college degree to Ph.D.'s engaged in cutting edge research; 26 family involvement episodes with suggestions for parents to build their confidence in helping their children with homework, doing simple science activities with their children at home, encouraging their older children in their studies, and working with schools and community organizations; and 26 academic and career resource/success stories highlighting Hispanic students who have been successful in their pursuit of careers in science, mathematics, and technology. The second series included under the grant is Salvemos Nuestro Planeta, a two-and-a-half minute series that focuses on environmental issues. It currently is carried on 89 radio stations twice a week with a total weekly cumulative audience of 2,494,300. The producers will expand the series to seven original episodes per week with five episodes focusing on science, mathematics, and technology themes: general science literacy, environmental management and technology, computers and information technology, environmental activities for youth, and SMET career opportunities. Outreach will consist of a national Spanish language toll free phone number that will refer listeners to resources related to opportunities for scholarships in science and engineering, activities and resources for parents and children in science education, etc., and in some cases, connect callers to the subject of that days interview. The PI will be Roberto Salazar who has been chief assistant to Vicente Llamas at the Comprehensive Regional Center for Minorities. He has been involved in numerous science education project for Hispanics and has a background in radio. The Executive Producer will be Jeff Kline. Major science consultants will be Vicente Llamas, Director of the Comprehensive Regional Center for Minorities, and Estrella Triana, Hispanic Science Education Director for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Roberto SalazarGilbert SanchezRobert Russell
NACME will produce a three year public service advertising campaign designed to shape the educational choices children make in junior high and high school with respect to mathematics and science. The ads, featuring actor/director Spike Lee, will aim to increase the number of children in grades three through eight who understand the relevance and value of mathematics and science to life in the adult world. The campaign also will be directed towards parents with the goal of helping them recognize the importance of learning mathematics and science to their children's future. The components of the project will be: For each of the three years of the project, development and distribution of one 60, one 30, and one 10 second television spot; For each of the three years of the project, development and distribution of three 60, three 30, and three 10 second radio spots; Annual development of print ads and marketing materials to be delivered to selected consumer magazines, educator's publications, in-school magazines, newspaper "kid pages," comic book companies, and bus shelter and transit card carriers; Annual development and distribution of 100,000 full-color student brochures to reinforce the concepts outlined in the campaign; Annual development and distribution of 100,000 brochures for parents to engage them in their children's science and mathematics education; Establishment of a toll-free 800 number for students to call to request information. Each caller will be sent both the student and the parent brochure; Development of promotional materials including buttons, games, science experiments, math puzzles, T-shirts, etc.; Annual public relations campaigns including press conferences, media tours, in-school demonstrations, and personal appearances; Annual evaluation of the project including monthly reports of fulfillment of requests received via the 800 number. Development, production, and distribution of the campaign will be the responsibility of a task force consisting of: Ronni Denes, NACME's vice president for communications and public affairs; George Campbell Jr., President of NACME; Lea E. Williams, executive vice President of NACME and formerly served as vice president, educational services, of the United Negro College Fund; Catherine Morrison, director of research; and Ismael Diaz, director of precollege programs. The ad agency for the NACME/Ad Council campaign is Tracy-Locke. Rob Britton, manager of Advertising and Direct Marketing for American Airlines will serve as campaign director.
The award winning, computer animated, broadcast quality videotapes on a number of mathematics topics developed at California Institute of Technology under two previous NSF grants are the basis of this project that produces interactive multimedia lessons distributed on CD-ROM. The videotapes use live action footage to relate mathematics to the real world and the interactive, multimedia version moves these materials more firmly into the hands of students.