Maine is a rural state with unequal access to computers and information technology. To remedy this, the Maine laptop program supplies iBooks to every seventh and eighth grade student in the state. The goal of EcoScienceWorks is to build on this program and develop, test and disseminate a middle school curriculum featuring computer modeling, simple programming and analysis of GIS data coupled with hands-on field experiences in ecology. The project will develop software, EcoBeaker: Maine Explorer, to stimulate student exploration of information technology by introducing teachers and students to simple computer modeling, applications of simulations in teaching and in science, and GIS data manipulation. This is a three-year, comprehensive project for 25 seventh and eighth grade teachers and their students. Teachers will receive 120 contact hours per year through workshops, summer sessions and classroom visits from environmental scientists. The teachers' classes will field test the EcoScienceWorks curriculum each year. The field tested project will be distributed throughout the Maine laptop program impacting 150 science teachers and 17,000 middle school students. EcoScienceWorks will provide middle school students with an understanding of how IT skills and tools can be used to identify, investigate and model possible solutions to scientific problems. EcoScienceWorks aligns with state and national science learning standards and integrates into the existing middle school ecology curriculum. An outcome of this project will be the spread of a field tested IT curriculum and EcoBeaker: Maine Explorer throughout Maine, with adapted curriculum and software available nationally.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Walter AllanEric KlopferEleanor Steinberg
The Coalition for Watershed Education, consisting of the Land Access Information Association, Great Lakes Children's Museum, Interlochen Public Radio and Northwestern Michigan College Great Lakes Studies Institute will implement a comprehensive science education project for youth and adults. The major components include: Watershed Discovery field experiences, Soundscapes radio broadcasts, Waterscapes exhibits, a project website, and the expanded Great Lakes Coalition for Watershed Education. Watershed Discovery is a field-based experience for youth ages 11-17. Teams of 6-10 youth will work with mentors who specialize in GPS, GIS, geology and geography to research and collect data on the Great Lakes watershed. These students will also use their new knowledge to produce radio segments as part of the Soundscapes component. Youth teams will be trained to interview sources, gather information and write scripts for use on the local National Public Radio affiliate. The Great Lakes Children's Museum will design a permanent, interactive watershed of 1,500 square feet, as well as a traveling exhibit of 500 square feet for visitors ages 7-12. Other deliverables include "A Community Guide to Watershed-based Science Education" (available in print and CD-ROM), a one-day regional dissemination conference, and an interactive website. Strategic impact will be realized through the development of a novel model for watershed education, its subsequent replication and summative evaluation outcomes. It is estimated that over 40,000 children will be reached by this community-wide initiative.
Norbert Wu and collaborators will create an extensive library of visual media documenting polar marine ecosystems in Antarctica. The PI will partner with the BBC to film and photograph images of marine life in Antarctica at McMurdo and the PI will also film at Palmer. Some of the video footage will contribute to the BBC Natural History Unit production, Life, to be released in 2010. The video and still imagery will also be used to extend the Underwater Field Guide to McMurdo Sound maintained by Scripps. The series of podcasts will profile women researchers at both McMurdo and Palmer. The Ocean Institute will use material as part of their polar science education curricula, "Girls in Ocean Science." Archived materials will be made available to both scientists and the public, and other interested publishing and broadcasting entities, including a number of existing IPY projects. The visual media produced during this project are designed for national and international distribution to enhance the legacy of the International Polar Year.
The National Action Council for Minorities in Engineering (NACME) is implementing a new, 41-month phase and augmentation of a national public service advertising campaign that was launched in 1995. The Math is Power campaign was developed by NACME in partnership with The Advertising Council toward the goal of creating an increase in the number of students who graduate from high school with prerequisite courses to enroll in any rigorous, math- or science-based undergraduate program. The current project is designed to reach all students but is especially targeted to groups currently underrepresented in math and science and will be anchored by highly directed television, radio, print, and outdoor advertising. The new phase will introduce a Math is Power interactive web site. The website will allow NACME to add direct services to the information packets that are sent to students and parents who respond to the public service advertising. It will include: content relevant, age appropriate math challenges, games, problems, and contests; a national registry of math opportunities where students, parents, and teachers can find mathematics resources; an on-line special events chat room; and a best practices bulletin board. NACME will coordinate their outreach efforts with services such as the Community Technology Center Network (CTCnet) in order to facilitate web access for youth and parents in disadvantaged neighborhoods. They also will work directly with 25 cities with the greatest numbers of citizens who fall in the target population. Math and Science education services in these cities will be able to localize much of the material through such means as placing a local tag on the television ads. In addition, the NACME production and distribution capabilities will be substantially expanded to meet the tremendous demand for Math Is Power materials.
This planning effort, a collaboration of teams at the University of Maryland, Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University and the Sciencenter of Ithaca, deals with the development and testing of a unique methodology for educating youth in computer programming. Through a mobile robot that is cleverly disguised as a small animal, participants will learn to manipulate the system by physically moving it as well as setting variables via electronic buttons thereby learning programming and design. The eventual use of this system and methodology is in museum exhibits so preliminary survey data will be gathered from various venues that presently use less capable devices. Iterative testing will be done at the Sciencenter in its exhibits.
Dr. Lenore Blum and associates at Mills College plan to explore the use of an interactive videodisc environment for elementary education in mathematics using existing materials from SQUARE ONE TV. The project will use a prototype interactive computer learning system that uses icons embedded within an exploratory environment to allow learners to select their own activities. The system allows videodisc materials to be easily combined within an interactive computer environment and includes browsing, lesson selection, open exploration, practice problems, and extended activities keyed to the SQUARE ONE TV material. They will produce a videodisc with source materials provided by Children's Television Workshop, design the interactive environment, and evaluate its effectiveness with trial groups of teachers, students, and others in formal and informal settings. This modest proposal will extend the range of utilization of SQUARE ONE TV and provide valuable information on its potential use in non-broadcast settings.
The Franklin Institute Science Museum will develop, install and evaluate a museum-wide Interactive Computer Information System (ICIS) designed to enhance visitors' exhibit learning through museum-wide visitor information access and connectivity. ICIS will provide educational experiences for 1.2 million people per year, tailoring its information presentations to individual visitor needs and levels of knowledge. Exhibit based units will add advanced presentation functions beyond the usual graphics and text labels. ICIS will include 67 touchscreen-operated computer stations and six min- computers linking 27 exhibit areas in The Franklin Institute. This project is a collaboration between The Franklin Institute and the Unisys Corporation, which will provide over a five year period systems engineering, hardware, installation, maintenance and training of museum personnel valued at $2.4 million. An extensive evaluation plan will include studies of visitor-computer interaction, the economics and management of system maintenance, collaboration between museum and corporation and effectiveness of computer-based exhibit interpretation techniques. Project results will be disseminated through conference presentations, seminars and published articles.
Red Hills Studios proposes to design and develop BioArcade, a suite of online biology games for youth ages 9 to 13. Unique to the field of educational games is the specialized and innovative modding feature that Red Hills Studio will develop. Modding will allow learners to create their own customized versions of BioArcade games for dissemination to other learners. BioArcade games are intended to encourage extended game play and motivation for learning key biology concepts through exciting interactive game modules developed by a leading group of game developers and science content experts. The underlying educational and scientific framework for BioArcade will be developed collaboratively with Co-PI, Dr. Janis Cannon-Bowers at the University of Central Florida and Roger Bybee at the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), along with the projects Scientific and Design Advisory Boards. The project will rigorously evaluate modding as a potential new approach in game design. The modding innovation will be studied in a three-condition randomized controlled trial to determine its effectiveness in promoting deep exploration of scientific concepts and increased knowledge gain. Results of the study will be disseminated to the informal learning community through peer-reviewed educational journals, papers, and presentations at science education and game conferences. Extensive formative and summative evaluations, conducted by Knight Williams Research Communications, will provide valuable insight and assessment of the game design approach for science content learning in informal venues. BioArcade will be widely disseminated daily to millions of young learners online through PBSKids: www.pbskids.org/
Glaciers: A Chronology of Climate Change is a CRPA project that seeks to explain the historical cycling of glaciers in the context of climate change. By using chemical isotopes (Beryllium 10), the age of rocks that have been covered with glacier ice and exposed to sunlight later can be determined fairly accurately. Through this method, the glaciation cycles have been determined for the last 70,000 years. In collaboration between the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), this project is designed to impact adult audiences, youth in grades 6th-12th, and teachers writ large. The research results shall be expressed via an eight-minute high definition film for large screen viewing in the \"Science Bulletins\" section of the AMNH and the affiliated museums. A rigorous front-end evaluation will be used to inform the presentation and assess audience impact. Subsequent formative evaluations are designed to measure the learning impact of the film and the retention of longer term concepts. It is anticipated that more than 700,000 individuals will have access to current, scientifically accurate data and related information on glaciation cycles and climate change through the educational film and website. Materials will be easily accessible to teachers and the film will be closed captioned in both English and Spanish.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Joerg SchaeferGeorge DentonMichael Kaplan
The idea that there are models in existence for electricity and how to improve its generation and utilization is an important quest in light of our resources. This CRPA project will stimulate the target audience\'s thinking by describing the relationships between electricity, nanoscience, and superconductivity. An audience of 4th-8th graders, parents, and teachers will come away from watching the video with a new sense of science and its possibilities. This project is a collaboration between physics faculty, educators at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum, a communications professional, and the Bazillion Pictures of Kansas City, Missouri along with independent evaluators. An animated video of 8-10 minutes is intended to engage, entertain, and provoke thought on how electricity works and how it could be used/generated in nano-molecules to derive superconductivity. Most individuals turn on the electrical switch and use the result without the slightest understanding of how electricity arrived at the switch, how it was generated and what resources are needed for it to be there at the "flip of a switch." Further, most do not consider or have sufficient background knowledge to understand how the efficiency and use of this resource might be improved. This project could bridge this gap which if successful would be highly transformative in the public understanding of science.
SciGirls is a multimedia project designed to encourage and empower more girls to pursue careers in STEM. It is a bold and unique experiment--the first television series on PBS designed specifically for girls aged 8-13. The approach is based on the findings of prior gender research. The television show and the Web site are integrally linked. Episodes are available for distribution on many of the newest digital platforms, e.g., Vimeo and iTunes for downloads, free of charge. SciGirls launched in February 2010 and reaches over 80% of the country. This project will support further research and development to advance SciGirls' online and outreach activities. Specifically, the deliverables include: (1) enhancement of the SciGirls website on pbs.org; (2) maintenance of the SciGirls Educator Networks and outreach to new partners; and (3) R&D on other media platforms. The project's two strategic partners are the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP) in Seattle and The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The NGCP links SciGirls with its network of 500 community-based science programs for girls, and The Franklin Institute coordinates an affiliate network of science museums to implement SciGirls' outreach activities. The project will also work with the Girl Scouts of America's new "Girl Scout Leadership Experience" program, which emphasizes STEM learning. The most significant web component is a social networking feature that allows girls who are interested in science to connect with peers across the nation. To date, there have been over 300,000 unique visitors and 20,000 registered "SciGirls."
This CRPA project seeks to inform Tennessee residents about STEM research that is occurring at Vanderbilt University and the scientists that are undertaking this exciting work. Tennessee Explorers is a two-part television series which uses an interview format to present scientists, both as real people and as research professionals. Questions for the scientists include where they grew up, what they did as children, and how they progressed to the stage of being an accomplished scientist. Moreover, each scientist or engineer will discuss their research and associated processes, conveying the exploratory nature of science. Two 30-minute programs will air on Nashville Public Television (NPT) featuring 3 NSF-funded scientists on each show. The programs will be broadcast 10 times throughout the state and will be available online for subsequent use by teachers and the general public. This is a unique collaboration between the Emmy-award winning staff at NPT and university research faculty. It is a true partnership with each contributing their expertise to inform the public about cutting-edge scientific research. Obvious in all of the ideas, there is the undercurrent that youth encouragement will be generated in terms of models and careers to become future scientists. While the intended audience is the Nashville area, affiliated PBS stations will broadcast the interviews across the state reaching an estimated 100,000 individuals in the first year. The television series and subsequent explorer interviews will be made available through the new Tennessee Digital Learning Library, while DVDs will be distributed to schools and science museums upon request. If successful as judged by the extensive evaluation studies, this program will likely be expanded as a national model.
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Keivan StassunCharles ChappellElizabeth Curley