The Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA), producer of TV411 and the NSF-funded Think Math, will undertake a planning process for the development of a ten part series, TV411 Cook Smart, which will incorporate lessons in math, biochemical and physical processes into a cooking show format. The television series is geared towards low-literate adults and builds on ALMA's prior experience in producing science/math-based programming. The deliverables include a standards-based curriculum outline for the series; outreach and training plans with the project's broadcast partner, Kentucky Educational Television; development of strategic partnerships with community organizations, including Head Start programs and Neighborhood Networks National Consortium; and evaluation strategies to study the impact of the TV411 Cook Smart on adult learners.
The Please Touch Museum is requesting $684,602 for the development of educational resource materials in science and mathematics for four-year old children, and training for their parents and teachers in Head Start and other daycare programs. This 44 month project will develop, test, and produce six materials-based science and math activity kits, science training workshops for parents and daycare educators, and related family materials and events. It will culminate in a national dissemination program to promote more effective preschool science and math education through materials- based science inquiry and increased professional relations between educators in youth museums and daycare centers.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Marzy SykesRenee HenryTracey Prendergast
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Franklin Institute Science Museum is planning, implementing, evaluating and disseminating the results of a 2.5 day conference entitled "Museums and New Family. Audiences - Building Relationships." The conference will be held in Philadelphia and involve a total of 75 professionals representing 25 museum/community programs, local community partners, advisers, and community partnership funders. Growing out of several initiatives over the past decade, the primary goal of the conference is to explore how museums and other informal science education organizations can develop and maintain long-term museum/community relationships to engage underserved families in informal STEM activities. Outcomes will include stronger relationships, a set of best practices and guidelines to be disseminated to the field, and the beginnings of a network.
Adding Families to the Equation in Appalachia is a multi-state collaborative effort to improve parental involvement in science, mathematics, and technology education in a region of Central Appalachia noted for its persistent poverty and isolation from opportunities. During the planning grant period, project staff and consultants will use key stakeholder groups to generate and test preliminary project ideas and will enhance and consolidate relationships among collaborative partners in 66 counties in six state of Central Appalachia. The planning is essential to build collaboration across the six states and to develop a strategy that will be successful in a region with low educational attainment and limited science and technology resources.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Wimberly RoysterDonna HallJoanne Lang
The Minnesota Children's Museum, in collaboration with the American Library Association will develop a project to engage children ages two through seven years old and their parents in exploring mathematics through hands-on, book-based math activities in libraries and children's museums across the country. The main elements of the project are: 1. A 1200 square foot exhibit at the Minnesota Children's Museum; 2. A traveling exhibit to ten children's museums over a six month period; 3. Five smaller versions of the exhibit will travel to 75 libraries sponsored by the American Library Association. Each library that apply for the exhibit must present a plan in which 50 percent of their exhibit audience will be children and families of the under-represented, lower income groups, and racial and/or ethnic groups. 4. Programs and materials will be designed to provide parents with the means to actively participate in their children's math education. The collaboration of the Minnesota Children's Museum and the American Library Association draws together two organizations whose natural constituencies are parents with young children. Project 1,2,3 is designed to be national in scope and creates multiple formats within which families can enjoy exploring math. Its goals and objectives reflect four messages: start early, math is everywhere, parental involvement and get into books. The project Principal Investigator (PI) Ms. Jeanne W. Vergeront received her Bachelor of Arts and Masters of Science in Child and Family Studies and Environmental Design, respectively from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Currently, she serves as the Vice President, Educational Projects at the Minnesota Children's Museum in St. Paul, Minnesota.
In several primarily Hispanic, low socio-economic school districts of the southwest in partnership with local institutions of higher learning, this 48-month project will develop programs and materials to attract parents of children of all grade levels and make them active supporters of a system that promotes good mathematical learning for their children. These programs and materials will help them become aware of what is happening in their children's classroom; offer them occasions to take on leadership roles in working with teachers, administrators, and other parents; and provide them opportunities for in-depth experiences with school mathematics. The materials will be initially developed and piloted in the Sunnyside School District. After revision from the pilot project, the project will be implemented in several other school districts.
The California State University, Los Angeles (CSLA) ACCESS Center [consortium] requests $216,949 to pilot a collaborative with the Los Angeles County Department of Community and Senior Services Community Centers and several community-based organizations to provide informal science experiences to underserved 11-14 years old youth and their families. The pilot will engage families in hands-on science activities, participate in community-based science clubs, and provide opportunities for leadership roles by enhancing their interest and knowledge in science, mathematics and technology. California State University Los Angeles (CSLA) School of Natural and Social Sciences, Charter School of Education, School of Health and Human Services' Social Work Department, and ACCESS Center's partners for this pilot project include he following organizations: Girls, Incorporated, of Los Angeles (Girls, Inc) Con Los Padres Grandma's House Los Angeles Unified Districts Division of Adult and Career Education The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) The California Science Center
"The Connecticut Museum Collaborative for Science Education" is teacher enhancement program that will serve approximately 5,000 middle school teachers (and their students) from throughout Connecticut over a three-year program period. The proposed program has been developed cooperatively by four of Connecticut's Science Museums and Centers (The Discovery Museum, The Maritime Center at Norwalk, Mystic Marinelife Aquarium, and Talcott Mountain Science Center), in consultation with the school districts they serve and the Connecticut Academy for Education in Mathematics, Science, and Technology, the State's leadership organization solely devoted to enhancing education in mathematics, science, and technology. The Collaborative seeks to enliven and enhance the teaching of science, mathematics, and technology by drawing upon the resources of Connecticut's science-rich institutions and related businesses and industry. The proposed project will provide direct services to a core group of 72 middle school teachers and their students in eight urban and suburban school districts at the four participating museums and in their classrooms, as well as teacher training, curriculum development, and networking activities. Larger numbers of teachers and their students will be served through a planned series of interactive video teleconferences. A theme-based approach will be followed in which the unifying theme of "Earth Resource Monitoring" will serve to connect the activities at the four cooperating museums. The central concept of the project is collaboration among museums throughout the state to provide a bridge between science-rich institutions and the schools for teacher enhancement, curriculum improvement, and student enrichment. Special program components involve the participation of business and industry through "Video Field Trips", and parents through a "Family Science" activity. The involvement of the Connecticut Academy for Education in Mathematics, Science and Technolo gy as a member of the "Connecticut Collaborative" provides a direct link for integration of project activities into Connecticut's NSF-funded Statewide Systemic Initiative.
This project is a collaboration between the Miami Museum of Science and the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Greater Miami (BBBS) to empower single-parent families to become actively engaged in the science, mathematics, and technology education (SMT) of their children. It will involve, over the course of the project, parents, mentors, and community elements to create and expand a resource network and support primarily father-absent homes. The design of the project is focused on providing resources and advocacy critical to the success of young children in SMT education. It is a project designed to get parents actively involved with their children's science, mathematics, and technology education. The program will serve Dade County, Florida families. Museum staff and volunteers of BBBS will work closely in the development of mentor materials to be nationally distributed. The strategies that are used and refined will be packaged in a Tripod Toolkit and Mentor Handbook that can be used by other community groups to aid and assist parents in becoming more active in the science, mathematics, and technology education of their children. In addition to the toolkit materials, a set of Science/math Matters activities will be included designed to promoted science learning in the home with parents and their children. These materials will be produced in both English and Spanish to meet the needs of a diverse and multicultural American society.
The Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education initiated the Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellowship program in 1990. This program provides outstanding secondary mathematics and science teachers with an opportunity to serve in the national public policy arena. NSF funding will support an Einstein Fellow in the Informal Science Education (ISE) program. The Fellow will bring practical insight derived from being a classroom teacher to ISE and contribute to the program development and management. The ISE program supports large regional and national projects targeting informal learners that include linkages to formal education. The Einstein Fellow can contribute feasible suggestions on how those linkages can occur, while learning about the proposal development, submission, peer review and award process. The 11-month experience will enable the educator to learn about the field of informal science education from a national perspective through direct interaction with practitioners and participation in professional development. Collegial exchange occurs monthly as Fellows serving in other Federal agencies meet to discuss their experiences. Additionally, participants are required to submit three written reports to document their experiences.
The Association of Science-Technology Centers, in partnership with the Franklin Institute Science Museum, requests $360,523 from the National Science Foundation in support of a major hands-on traveling exhibition about global climate change. The 3,500-square-foot exhibition will provide a broad public with accurate, balanced scientific information about global warming and insight into its economic and social context. In so doing, it will help to spark interest in science and mathematics among the many young museum visitors who are concerned about the future of our environment. Approximately 2,000,000 citizens will visit the exhibition during its two-year tour of 11 U.S. science museums. Workshops conducted at each site before the exhibition arrives and educational materials to supplement program planning will assist host museums in broadening the exhibition's impact. ASTC and the Franklin Institute have a history of highly successful collaborative traveling exhibition projects. We will be assisted by a group of eminent advisors, a leading developer of hands-on science exhibits, and the Museum's experienced team of exhibit evaluators. The exhibition may serve as a model for other museums that are now developing permanent exhibitions about environmental issues and other topic issues in science.
Math in the Garden is a collaborative project between the University of California's Botanic Garden and 17 organizations around the nation that work with underserved urban youth, as well as rural communities. The project will create a series of five (5) guidebooks with activities that bring adults and children together in the garden to learn the mathematics inherent in the nature of gardening. The materials and activities will teach mathematical concepts and skills, feature plants, flowers, and fruits as math manipulatives, promote active learning, and support NCTM and National Science Standards. The guides will organize activities into clusters for various times of the year and contain appropriate activities for elementary through middle school-aged youth. Partner organizations will coordinate a trial test. Afterwards, the formative evaluation will guide the revision and finally, national distribution of the guides will be in conjunction with Dale Seymour Publishers. A national Advisory Committee of mathematicians, botanists, science educators, math educators, botanical garden staff, and leaders working in community gardens has been established. The entire project will be evaluated at every stage of development for its ability to increase math skills, garden knowledge, and to encourage young people to engage in active, inquiry learning.