Oregon Public Broadcasting is requesting funds to produce three one-hour nationally broadcast television programs, a project website, community-centered outreach coordinated by AAAS in 7 U.S. cities, a seminar discussion guide and a series of 90-second programs as part of the "Earth &Sky" radio series. The subject and purpose of the project is to attract public interest in nanotechnology by examining the social, ethical, legal and environmental issuers surrounding its application. The television programs will be produced by Fred Friendly Seminars (FFS) and broadcast on PBS. Two science museums, Boston Museum of Science and the South Carolina State Museum, and the University of California, Berkeley, will host the FFS panels. The format of the Seminars is designed to produce thought provoking and nuanced discussions of contemporary issues. Collaborative partners in the project include AAAS, Lawrence Hall of Science and ICAN Productions. The outreach initiative includes outreach to "targeted stakeholders" in 7 US cities, four 90-second radio spots as part of Earth & Sky, a project web site and a Seminar discussion guide. Inverness Research Associates and Edu, Inc. will conduct both formative and summative evaluation of the project components.
The Media Working Group is producing a one-hour documentary about a group of undergraduate women at Ohio State University who are pursuing non-traditional paths of study in a variety of technology and science fields. The Gender Chip Project is designed to provide role models and encouragement for girls (ages 14-18) and young adults who wish to enter STEM careers; and to raise general public awareness about the continuing need to develop STEM education and career opportunities for young women. The broadcast documentary will be complemented by distribution of the program with additional material on DVD. The project will also design a website for Guidance Counselors and young women contemplating STEM education. Project evaluation will be conducted by Kathleen Tyner, Lead Evaluator from Hi-Beam Consulting in San Francisco.
The Queens Borough Public Library (QBPL) will develop "Science in the Stacks," an integrated, multi-sensory, self-paced informal learning environment within its forthcoming Children's Library Discovery Center. It will include 36 Discovery Exhibits developed by the Exploratorium, three Learning Carts for scripted activities by librarians, six Information Plazas, a Discovery Teens program, a web site and supporting educational activities. The theme will be multiple pathways to the world of information. QBPL will be collaborating locally with the New York Hall of Science and the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Overall, QBPL receives some 16 million visits per year; the target audience for this project is children ages 3 to 12. In addition to its public impact, "Science in the Stacks" will have professional impact on both the science center and library fields, showing how it is possible to combine their different modes of STEM learning in complementary ways. Although library-museum colaaborations are not new, this one is the first attempt to combine their respective learning resources on a large scale. It offers the potential to serve as a new model for both fields, enabling visitor (patron) entry into self-directed STEM learning through books, media, programs or hands-on activities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Nick BuronLorna Rudder-KilkennyThomas RockwellMarcia Rudy
This 20-page PDF booklet provides an introduction to informal science education and to science museum practice for nano and materials science researchers. It advises researchers on ways to collaborate with science museums to increase the impact of their education outreach activities, and includes a rich bibliography.
This formative evaluation tested 3 prototypes for the Introduction to Nanotechnology in March 2006. Of the three prototypes tested Self Assembly continued forward to a final exhibit: Creating Nanomaterials. The concepts in Colored Glass prototype informed the development of Unexpected Properties.
Four nanomedicine prototypes were testing in May and June of 2006. The results from this evaluation helped with the development of the final exhibit of Treating Disease.
TERC will develop Earth Window, a visualization system for generating photo-realistic Earth images and fly-overs that offer a new method for earth science visualization designed for non-scientific audiences. Based on front-end research to determine a baseline of visitor knowledge and misconceptions, the project team will create the Earth Window Research Lab using the GeoFusion visualization engine and WorldSat "digital earth" remote sensing database. This prototype will undergo formative evaluation with visitors to explore a variety of interfaces, navigation systems, levels of interactivity and presentation formats, along with researching the roles of metaphor, user control, false color, authenticity and changes over time to determine how best to employ this technology in ways that maximize visitor learning. BROADER IMPACTS: Based on the outcomes of the formative research, TERC will refine the visualization technology and integrate it into different types of existing exhibits at four museums: Museum of Science (MA); Montshire Museum (VT); National Air and Space Museum (DC); St. Louis Science Center (MO). "Windows on Earth" will enable some 1.8 million people to benefit from remote Earth sensing datasets, allowing them to explore the planet in ways not otherwise possible and thereby improve understanding of key issues in Earth science and their connections to daily life. In addition, the project will develop, test and refine a new visualization tool that then can be replaced and applied by the science museum community at large.
KQED is requesting funds to produce weekly radio science news reports, a weekly television magazine program, a dynamic online website that supports and extends the broadcast material and to create and maintain an active consortium of 13 participating STEM organizations. The project's working title is "Quest: Exploring Our Natural World." Quest's goals are to raise the profile of STEM issues that affect or occur throughout the Northern California region and activate citizens to discuss and investigate STEM issues. STEM content will include research fields that include Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Earth Sciences. Most of the stories will include content about the technology and engineering used to support scientific endeavors. The KQED Educational Network EdNet will administer the community and educational outreach initiatives, including creating viewer/listener guides, developing and delivering workshops, and providing information built around Quest media. The project design involves innovative use of multiple platforms and collaborative partnerships with local informal educational institutions. The project's collaborators include the Bay Institute, California Academy of Sciences, Chabot Space and Science Center, East Bay Regional Park District, Exploratorium, Girl Scouts, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Hall of Science, Oakland Zoo and The Tech Museum of Innovation. Rockman Et Al will conduct the evaluation of the Quest initiative.
Over three years, Science Central is producing 624 television segments that will present current, ongoing research through local newscasts on ABC and NBC stations nationwide. In addition to the regular research segments, ScienCentral will produce six "sweeps" series per year focusing on important new fields of research including: nanotechnology, genetics/genomics, ocean science, global climate change and brain sciences. An advisory board of scientists, teachers, science journalists and public information officers help inform the producers about individual stories and evolving fields of research, and they provide access to scientists and field research. They also provide scientific input and check the stories for accuracy. To facilitate production and to assure that research is covered on an international basis, ScienCentral will establish a footage consortium to exchange science news video with major Canadian and European newscasters. They also will provide the news stories to science centers for use in their interactive exhibits and web sites.
This is a collaborative planning project led by PIs at the Advanced Imaging and Visualization Laboratory of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM). The work will develop and test several new technical methods both of acquiring underwater and terrestrial scientific image material by WHOI staff and of applying it to the needs of the research community and of digital projection theaters in the informal education world, specifically to HD, 3D, and digital planetarium environments. The planning efforts are intended to feed into the eventual production of shows by SMM and by the new Minnesota Planetarium, and then to similar theaters around the country.
A permanent exhibition entitled "Search for Extraterrestrial Life" will engage visitors at the New York Hall of Science in applying the fundamental biology of life on Earth to understanding the search for life elsewhere. The 4,000 sq. ft. exhibition and accompanying programs will engage visitors in learning more about the wide range of conditions that support life on Earth, and how these life requirements shape the search on Mars and other planetary objects for any existing life forms. In addition, the technologies and strategies that scientists are developing to detect any life elsewhere will be highlighted. It is expected that 500,000 visitors each year will participate with the exhibit and its associated programs. Another dissemination plan for the project will be posting fabrication drawings and scripts in readily accessible formats on the Internet. Copies of all computer interactives on electronic media will be available to science-technology centers, museums and other informal learning institutions.
The Hugh Moore Historical Park and Museum will develop an integrated framework of exhibits on the science and technology of canals and inland waterways at the National Canal Museum (NCM) in Easton, PA., which will serve as a model for interdisciplinary public education and exhibit programs at other canal history organizations in more than 28 states, primarily east of the Mississippi River. Representatives from major waterway and industrial history sites and museums across the nation will work with NCM staff and a national advisory panel of leading informal science educators to develop, design and disseminate a series of interactive science exhibits that can travel or be replicated in museums, parks and organizations that interpret inland waterways and related industrial sites
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Edward MooneyRobert RuddKelly Austin