In this article, Ingrid M. Kanics, OTR/L, Senior Play Environment Specialist, and Heather Scrivner-Mediate, Director of Communications & Business Development, both at Center for Creative Play, discuss the theory and practice of creating play environments that support children of all abilities. The design must incorporate the Principles of Universal Design, Developmentally Appropriate Practices, and Experiential Variety, which are described in this article.
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Ingrid M. Kanics, OTR/LHeather Scrivner-Meidate
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.
The California Academy of Sciences will produce "Water is Life," a 30,383 square-foot permanent exhibit with educational programming. The exhibit is designed to engage the public with the living world of water, to foster environmental stewardship and increase science literacy. Three habitat components -- Philippine Coral Reef, California Coast and Global Rainforests -- are conceptually and experientially linked through "Water Planet," which explores water's physical properties and how they impact living organisms and lead to aquatic diversity. Each component also reinforces the importance of conserving aquatic resources. Educational programming takes "Water is Life" to local schools and community events and onto the World Wide Web, as well as provides venues for formative evaluation of exhibit design elements. The development of lending kits, plus supporting manuals and workshops, will extend the reach of "Water is Life" regionally and nationally. Similarly, instruction manuals and workshops for creating desktop, living reefs will have national impact. The compelling draw of live organisms, hands-on activities, and exhibit enrichment through educational programming provide accessibility to a large, diverse audience. The exhibit will reach over one million annual visitors, and a larger audience will experience distributed educational programs.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Margaret BurkeLinda KulikChristopher AndrewsTerrence GoslinerRobert Jenkins
The Space Science Institute (SSI) will design, develop and travel a 3,500 square foot exhibition about the outer planets of the solar system and their satellites, whose presence contributes to making Earth habitable. Designed around the theme "Living With Giants," the exhibition will feature hands-on interactive visitor experiences that describe the Solar System, engage visitors in learning about planetary exploration, focus on the planetary science of Saturn and its moons and provide access to current information from the Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn. Special attention will be given to designing "Space for Kids," an exhibit area targeted specifically for young learners and their families and caregivers. SSI will collaborate with leading scientists and educators as well as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to create education programs and a virtual exhibit website to extend the science learning of the exhibition.
The Anchorage Museum of History and Art, working with the Calista Elders Council, will develop a 5,000 sq ft traveling exhibition presenting 19th-century Yup'ik Eskimo technologies, their contemporary applications, and the underlying scientific processes. Featuring Yup'ik artifacts, it will integrate indigenous knowledge into the teaching of basic science principles as well as demonstrate the role played by science in everyday life. The exhibition will be organized around seasonal activities practiced in the past and retaining modern relevance. The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) will develop the comparative exhibits on modern science and technology, and the Imaginarium will develop complementary educational programming. Primary audiences will include rural Alaska Natives, both youth and elders, non-Native Alaska residents and visitors, as well as venues outside Alaska. By demonstrating how indigenous knowledge can be related to modern science, this exhibition provides a model for the informal science education field on how to incorporate cultural aspects of their own communities into museum exhibitions and programs. In addition, it demonstrates how artifacts and hands-on science activities can be combined effectively to create engaging educational experiences.
SCITECH will develop and deliver ten sets of twelve portable interactive exhibits and educational programs on space exploration to 220 venues in five states. The project is based on a collaborative of ten small science museums: Imaginarium (Anchorage, AK); Bluedorn Imaginarium (Waterloo, IA); Science Station (Cedar Rapids, IA); Discovery Center (Rockford, IL); Lakeview Museum (Peoria, IL); SCITECH (Aurora, IL); Evansville Museum of Arts and Science (Evansville, IN); Science Central (Fort Wayne, IN); Children's Science Museum (Terre Haute, IN); Science Works (Ashland, OR). The Exploratorium will build the exhibits and conduct a residency program of professional development for staff from the participating museums. The exhibits and programs are intended to reach some 330,000 people in rural and lower-economic areas at 220 nontraditional destinations (fairs, festivals, libraries, scouts and youth clubs). These activities are designed to increase interest in and knowledge of astronomy and space exploration. In addition, this project will provide capacity building and professional development for the small museums, as well as a model that can be used by others not participating directly in this project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David JamesRonen MirShawn CarlsonKua PattenSheldon SchaferSarah WolfMitch LumanAnn Fumarolo
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences proposal is based on current NSF-funded research, AST 0607505, "Asteroid Satellites and Spins." Finding NEO (near-Earth Objects) proposes an 18-month-long project to develop on-line and museum traveling exhibit-module deliverables that provide users with both video vignettes of amateur astronomers engaged in NEO asteroid studies and at least three interactive game-like experiences on the science content and processes, specifically the analysis of "lightcurves," i.e., changes in light reflectivity off of spinning asteroids. The staff of the Space Science Institute will create these products in partnership with four small science museums around the country (2 in CO, NY, WI). The on-line material will be user-accessed via current astronomy web sites that already are popular, for example, www.spaceweathercenter.org. The videos and software will be made freely available for download. All materials will be both in English and Spanish.
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences proposal is based on Cindy Van Dover's NSF-funded research, OCE 0350554, Biogeography and community structure in mussel beds at Pacific hydrothermal vents. The primary deliverable is a traveling science and art exhibit that focuses on the PI's deep sea research of hydrothermal vents and the organisms living in those environments. On several of these expeditions, the PI was accompanied by nature watercolorist/scientific illustrator, Karen Jacobsen. Jacobsen's work, along with animated sculptures of tubeworms by sculptor, Chuck Pell, and displays of dive artifacts will form the body of the exhibition, which will travel to both marine and art museums. Major partners are the North Carolina Maritime Museum and the Muscarelle Museum of the College of William & Mary. Muscarelle will manage the tour. Additional learning products will include an exhibition catalog with essays by Van Dover and others, a naturalist's guide to the exhibition, educational materials for children, video podcasts, docent training materials, and website content
This project will develop a comprehensive Space Weather Outreach program to reach students, educators, and other members of the public, and share with them the discoveries from this scientific discipline. The Space Science Institute will capitalize on its prior successes and the success of other education programs to develop a comprehensive and integrated program that has the following five components: (1) the Space Weather Center website that includes online educational games; (2) Small Exhibits for Libraries, Shopping Malls, and Science Centers; (3) After-School Programs; (4) Professional Development Workshops for Educators, and (5) an innovative Evaluation and Education Research project. Its overarching goal is to inspire, engage, and educate a broad spectrum of the public and make strategic and innovative connections between informal and K-12 education communities. Partners include UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory; the American Library Association; Macerich: a mall developer with nationwide impact; and the Math, Engineering, Science Achievement program. The project brings together a creative collaboration between exhibit designers, graphic artists, formal/informal educators, and research scientists. The project spans a full spectrum of science communication strategies (formal, informal, and public outreach). The evaluation part of the project will examine how well the project elements work together and a pilot research study will explore the efficacy of online digital games for communicating complex space weather content. Results will be published and the findings presented at professional meetings and online. The three-year project is expected to impact well over two million people, including exhibit and website visitors and outreach visitors at various venues such as libraries and malls.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), in collaboration with the Small Museum Research Collaborative (SMRC), proposes to create four small bilingual exhibitions in English and Spanish for a national tour to small museums. The exhibitions will focus on current clinical research in nutrition and physical activity and its applications to personal and family wellness. We propose to build four, 700-square-foot traveling exhibitions: two identical exhibitions with a focus on nutrition, and two identical exhibitions with a focus on physical activity. OMSI's SMRC partners bring the experiences and resources of five geographically and thematically diverse small museums to this project. As the lead institution, OMSI brings over 19 years of experience in creating and touring national exhibitions and in collaborative projects with other museums. Front-end, formative, remedial, and summative evaluation will be conducted with family audiences at OMSI and SMRC sites. To extend the visitor experience, OMSI and SMRC will produce related educational materials and programs including a Web site, teachers' guides, small museum staff training, distance-learning programs, and interactive presentations. An SMRC distance-learning network will be created for program dissemination. The project will be developed with the support of local research scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University's (OHSU) General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and other experts in nutrition and fitness research, health care, and education. The project's audience is family and K-5 school group visitors to small science and children's museums in rural and small urban communities nationwide. Latino families are also a priority audience for the project. Each of the four traveling exhibitions will tour to three venues a year for a minimum of eight years. We conservatively estimate that over two million people will visit the exhibitions during their national tours. This project presents a powerful opportunity to reach museum visitors in rural and underserved communities, to invite families to pursue healthy nutrition and physical activity together, and to present and interpret clinical research findings for diverse audiences.
Goals: 1) Increase the number of Alaskans from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly Alaska Natives, who pursue careers in health sciences and health professions and 2) Inform the Alaskan public about health science research and the clinical trial process so that they are better equipped to make healthier lifestyle choices and better understand the aims and benefits of clinical research. Objectives: 1) Pre-med Summer Enrichment program (U-DOC) at UAA (pipeline into college), 2) Statewide Alaska Student Scientist Corps for U-DOC, 3) students (pipeline into college), 4) Facility-based Student Science Guide program at Imaginarium Science Discovery Center, 5) Job Shadowing/Mentorship Program for U-DOC students and biomedical researchers, 6) Research-based and student-led exhibit, demonstration, and multi-media presentations, 7) Professional Development for educators, 8) North Star Website.
The Great Lakes Science Center, in collaboration with Case Western Reserve University (CASE), proposes to develop a permanent exhibition and related programs on biomedical engineering. The successful implementation of this project would allow CASE and GLSC to inform a broad constituency about select biomedical research advancements, applied technologies, and their relevance to society. When the project is completed, we will be able to expose many thousands of visitors each year to the updated exhibition - increasing their interest in and understanding of important science concepts underlying advancements in biomedical technology. The exhibition would encompass approximately 2000 square feet and feature approximately 20 exhibits, most of which would be interactive. The major audiences for the exhibition include families, school groups, and general museum visitors. The BioMedTech exhibition is located on the Science Center's main floor, which places an emphasis on the science and technology of particular importance to Northeast Ohio. The exhibition will be accompanied by educational programming, public programs, and wide dissemination around the region and within the Science Center world. When fully implemented, the project could reach many hundreds of thousands of visitors and garner national attention through dissemination efforts. Visitors to the exhibition and participants in related programs will come to a better understanding of the connections between biology and technology while learning of science and engineering's role in improving the quality of life in our society.