The Atomic Heritage Foundation is conducting a two-day conference in Washington, D.C. that brings together scholars, researchers and informal science education professionals to explore new approaches to engage the public in issues at the interface of science and society. The conference will consider recent scholarship about the legacy of the Manhattan Project during and post WWII and address how questions about science and society raised by the development of the atomic bomb can inform and be integrated with contemporary issues. Also attending the conference will be representatives from the American Science and Energy Museum in Oak Ridge, TN, the Los Alamos Historical Society in Los Alamos, NM, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History in Albuquerque, NM, and the Columbia River Exhibition on Science, History and Technology in Richland, WA. This exploratory workshop is intended both to advance the inter-disciplinary scholarship and to generate innovative ideas and recommendations for the development of exhibits, programs and media about this topic and its relevance to the 21st Century. The focus is not about presenting the underlying science of nuclear fission or energy, for example, but speaks to the greater challenges that emerge when presenting issues raised by science in the broader context of history, society and culture. Given the goals and inter-disciplinary nature of the topic and the diversity of the expertise of participating professionals, the workshop is being supported by the Informal Science Education program in the Directorate for Education and Human Resources (EHR) and the Science, Technology and Society Program in the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE).
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Cynthia Kelly
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This conference brings together 60 people in May/June 2013 to discuss opportunities and limitations in the use of the latest in Human Computer Interactions (HCI) in museum settings, such as experiences using Kinect, Wii, multi-touch computer-based systems and voice recognition interfaces. Given that HCI is increasingly being used in museum settings, the conference will examine some of the exemplar exhibits that now exist and explore some design challenges regarding the use of HCI in museum settings. Participants at the conference include an interdisciplinary set of experts (science exhibition development experts, learning science researchers, ISE evaluators and multi-media experts) that will take a critical look at the future needs and appropriate application of HCI in museum environments. The conference will explore both the advantages and limitations of HCI use in museum environments, and will concern itself with both the nature of the hardware and the learning that can occur. A final report will be disseminated via a multi-user blog that will encourage participation/discussion and the conference leaders will encourage the development of a Community of Practice regarding the use of HCI in museum settings that builds from the existing Open Exhibits web site and Open Exhibits membership (http://openexhibits.org/).
This conference project features two gatherings of scientists, science educators, and other experts, as well as the development of a web site, list-serv, and related activities. During the gatherings, participants will explore how to build state-based programs that can engage people who are incarcerated in sustainability science programming. This work builds off of the success of the Sustainable Prisons Project, which has connected people who are incarcerated in Washington State with science through direct involvement in conservation research, and responds to calls from scientists and corrections staff interested in implementing similar programming in other states. The project will help advance the informal science education (ISE) field by potentially leading to high impact activities for a truly underserved population; building capacity among ISE professionals; and building knowledge and a replicable model of supporting non-traditional collaborations that serve the needs of people underrepresented in STEM.
The conference, Indigenous Worldviews in Informal Science Education, is designed to advance research on the integration of Native and Western science in relation to informal science learning. The goals of the conference are to integrate and synthesize research and theory, formulate a research agenda, and share the results with the STEM education community. The conference is organized around six strands: Collaboration, Policy, Holistic Education, Next Generation Youth, and Evaluation. A six-week preconference online discussion of conference issues leads into the two-day conference, held at Imiloa Astronomy Center in Hilo, Hawaii. The meeting brings together sixty participants including educators, research scientists, learning researchers, policymakers, and Native youth. The conference includes keynotes, workshops and synthesis discussion groups, which will be synthesized and presented at a policy outcome meeting held in Washington, DC that follows the conference. Conference results will be further disseminated at relevant conferences, in publications, and through online discussions. A full evaluation process will inform the detailed planning of the conference and will evaluate the effectiveness of the conference, based on responses from conference participants.
The National Academy of Sciences is proposing a three-day Sackler Colloquium on the Science of Science Communication to be held in September 2013. This conference, which will build upon the themes of the colloquium held in 2012, will bring together communication researchers, scientists, and science communication practitioners to foster interdisciplinary discussion and promote the understanding and use of research in confronting science communication challenges of national import. Prominent communication researchers will cover subjects such as "Belief and Attitude Formation about Science Topics," "Communicating Uncertainty," "Influences of Social Networks", and "Narratives in Science Communication" during the first two days of the conference. Concurrent workshops on four topics of national interest will comprise Day Three. The meeting will be held at the National Academy of Sciences, and will be webcast live as well as archived. The proceedings of Days 1 and 2 will be published in a special issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. In addition, written summaries of the research results and communication recommendations from the workshop on Day 3 will be distributed free on the National Academies website to highlight the importance of the role of research in effective science communication. Goals of the colloquium are to generate an appreciation of the power of social science research to guide more effective communication of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) to help identify the gaps in communication research, and to promote sustained STEM communication programs. The colloquium will highlight the importance of the role of research in effective science communication, and strengthen understanding, appreciation, and collaboration between disciplines. It will also further strengthen the bridge between communication research and practice with the goal of improving the science of science communication.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barbara Kline Pope
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This four year project led by The American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) will continue fostering interactions among projects funded by the Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education (GK-12)through a series of meetings that include one annual meeting and two special focus meetings every year. The annual meeting will be broad and will target all different GK-12 participants (PIs, Fellows, Teachers, Project Coordinators, Evaluators and Faculty Members). The special focus meetings will target a specific GK-12 group or will explore a theme or issue of special interest to the GK-12 program or GK-12 projects. AAAS also will update the current website and revise and expand its content to provide a resource to the GK-12 community. Some of the additions to the website will be: an e-newsletter, alumni directory, evaluation instruments, ready access to STEM activities and statistical data on projects.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Betty CalingerDaryl Chubin
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This guide provides effective practices for anyone — university faculty member, K–12 teacher, or administrator — who wants to create a project that partners science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) graduate students (Fellows) with K–12 teachers on a sustained basis. These recommendations come from the community of faculty members, graduate students, K–12 teachers, program managers, and evaluators who participated in the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate STEM Fellows in K–12 Education (GK–12) Program from its start in 1999 through 2012. The guide was written to
The University of Massachusetts Lowell conducted 1.5-day conference in the fall of 2011, titled "Learning on the Go: Using Out-of-Home Media to Communicate Climate Science." The conference, held at the Lowell Inn and Conference Center, brought together approximately 125 professionals and students in climate science, communications, out-of-home media, social science, informal and formal science education, and educational psychology with the goal of exploring opportunities for applying out-of-home media to communicating science to the public, with a particular emphasis on climate change science. "Out-of-home media" is defined as any type of communication that reaches individuals while they are out of the home, including mobile media, billboards, mass transit placards, posters, etc. The intent was to consider how informal science education and its impacts on learning can be expanded via the adaptation of such media to the goals of ISE. Conference proceedings and podcasts of keynote sessions will be made available on a conference Web site. Conference evaluation will be conducted by Arbor Consulting Partners.
Native Universe: Indigenous Voice in Museums, a collaboration between the Indigenous Education Institute, University of California-Berkeley, and the University of Hawaii at Hilo, builds on the successful NSF-funded Cosmic Serpent collaborative (DRL 07-14631/DRL 07-14629). The Cosmic Serpent professional development project explores commonalities between native and western science, enabling participants to use STEM as an entry point for museum programs and exhibits. Native Universe endeavors to move to the next level by creating a professional development program which fosters systemic institutional change through the infusion of indigenous voice in programs and exhibits focusing on environmental change. Topics to be explored include species distribution, environmental vulnerability, adaptation of human systems, and science and policy issues on the local, regional, and global levels. This project is designed to assess how cultural background and exposure to indigenous knowledge systems integrated with western science influence these perspectives; develop sustainable institutional competence in presenting multiple perspectives on environmental change; and create models for inclusion while building an enduring community of practice. The project design relies upon a conceptual framework grounded in the literature on indigenous voice and traditional ecological knowledge, as well as current models for institutional change. Front-end, summative, and process evaluation will address questions related to how science museums facilitate engagement and inclusion of indigenous voice in the presentation of environmental change content, stages of readiness, and the emergence of models for this process. Methods for data collection include reflective logs, pre-post questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews at multiple points to measure the degree and nature of change within museums, as well as how change was initiated, supported, and sustained by staff. Project deliverables include three museum case studies developed during 9-month residencies, public experiences for visitors, a culminating virtual conference, and a dynamic community of practice among museums committed to indigenous voice in informal science education. The museum residencies will take place at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, and the Museum of the North in Alaska. Intensive case studies will be conducted at each site following the Diné Strategic Planning Process (consisting of initiation, growth, implementation, and renewal) and featuring the Ìmiloa Astronomy Institute as a model for institutional change. Exhibits and programs have been identified at each site that will be developed or expanded to integrate environmental change content and native perspectives. Dissemination of the project findings will be accomplished through publications, conference presentations, videos, webinars (four per year), and the virtual conference. It is anticipated that this project will impact over 1.2 million visitors at the collaborating institutions, in addition to the professional audience of museum staff. Native Universe may provide valuable interpretive tools for the field to understand and address the challenges associated with integrating cultural perspectives and science content. The museum case studies will contribute knowledge about the cultural process of science learning, and may transform the way science is presented in museums by leveraging indigenous voice to enhance public awareness and understanding of environmental change from a culturally-grounded perspective. The overall benefit is increased participation of indigenous individuals in STEM and increased public science literacy in the area of environmental change.
The Golden Gate Bridge Highway Transportation District (GGBHTD), in collaboration with the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE), and in partnership with Princeton University, Stanford University, San Jose State University, the Sciencenter (Ithaca, NY), the Exploratorium (San Francisco), Eyethink, West Wind Laboratory, EHDD Architects, the American Public Works Association, and the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, is conducting a multi-faceted project about the science and engineering of the Golden Gate Bridge and about how public works facilities around the country can potentially become sites for public understanding of and engagement with science and engineering. GGBHTD, which operates and maintains the bridge, ferries and buses, hosts over 10-million visitors annually to their current visitor center at the south end of the bridge (San Francisco), serves an additional 2-million users of their ferries, and hosts a popular Web site (http://goldengatebridge.org/). The project deliverables are scheduled to coincide in 2012 with the 75th anniversary of the 1937 opening of the bridge. Educational products include: outdoor exhibits at the Golden Gate Bridge; exhibits about the bridge on the District's ferries; indoor exhibits at the Exploratorium; an expanded Web site with educational material about the bridge; an international conference in San Francisco around the time of the anniversary about public works as sites for informal science education; educational documents and a professional development program for public works staff from around the country; and a suite of publications for the public and professionals on public works research. The project involves a coordinated evaluation effort. Front-end and formative evaluation activities are being conducted by Inverness Research Associates. Summative evaluation will be conducted by David Heil & Associates.
This collaboration between the Franklin Institute and the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation identifies the role of crucial intermediaries in the science learning of children and points to the opportunities offered through a museum and library partnership to provide engaging science resources in under-resourced communities where many adults lack science expertise and confidence. Through an emphasis on literacy and science, LEAP into Science builds the capacity of after school leaders, teens and parents to be competent science learners and facilitators and to connect science centers, parents and libraries in support of the science learning and achievement of children. Project features include a workshop model for families with K-4 children, enrichment sessions for after school students, family events at the museum, professional development for library and after school youth staff, and a national expansion conference. The conference introduces the project to potential national implementation sites. Case studies of sites from this conference inform a research study investigating the obstacles, modifications and necessary support to initiate and sustain the program model. The formative and summative evaluation measure the impact of this program on children, parents, librarians, and teen workers at the libraries. Fifty-three Philadelphia libraries in addition to libraries in three cities selected from the implementation conference have a direct program impact on 10,000 people nationally, including 300 after school facilitators and children's librarians.
The Department of Education of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, with broad participatory support from free-standing, university-based and regional natural history museums across the nation will conduct a 3-day national conference on informal science learning in natural history settings. The goal of this conference will be to develop and disseminate a sustained, collaborative learning research agenda that begins to address the role of natural history museums in natural history learning and establish an infrastructure for communication and collaboration to pursue the research agenda. The conference builds on recent meetings among museums and informal learning professionals to this topic. Executive and Leadership Committees will implement a scaffolded project design involving a sweep of evaluation reports and audience research from the field, a foundational literature review, Committee workshops to review the field, conference planning and call for participation, and pre-conference dialogue through professional organizations and activities. The conference, to be held in Washington, DC in Spring-Summer 2012, will be followed by broad post-conference dissemination of findings and a call to action around the conference-generated research agenda. The conference will be evaluated by Oberg Research, an external audience research and evaluation firm. Oberg will develop an evaluation process that measures the quality, relevance, and impact of pre-conference, conference, and post-conference activities using an ethnographic fieldwork methodology involving in-depth interviews and participant observation of conference activities. The intended outcomes and impacts of this national conference are to develop, initiate, and disseminate a collaborative and sustained learning research agenda about how the 800 natural history museums in the United States can best use their resources for STEM learning. Among the topics to be considered by the Conference are new models for interaction among educators, curators, collection managers, exhibit professionals and museum leadership; audience research to more fully understand audiences and their needs; new technologies for discovery and learning regarding rapid response and current science; public participation in scientific research (citizen science); and collaboration in learning research across the Natural History field.