How do we know the distance to a star? How do we know what a star is made of? How do we know how fast an object is moving? These questions are addressed in this 1,488 square foot permanent exhibit which emphasizes astronomical spectroscopy - the detailed analysis of light from astronomical objects. This interactive, bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibit will demonstrate different applications of spectroscopy that provide insight into the universe, and will provide opportunities for students, teachers, parents, and the general public to learn about the universe. Bilingual ancillary materials will be produced: pre- and post-visit materials for school visitors; a "Life at an Observatory" ten-minute orientation/information video to be shown at the visitor center. Target audiences are students in grades K-12, and general visitors.
The Field Museum will develop a 10,000 sq. ft. exhibit "Life Underground: Foundations of the Biosphere." This exhibit will introduce visitors to underground ecosystems and the importance of soil upon which we all depend. Visitors will be invited to explore the diversity of underground organisms and the vital processes in which they participate. It will consists of three main parts: 1) Underground Expedition, where things will be enlarged 100 times life-size; 2) Changes Over Time, which will highlight the dynamic nature of soil communities and forces of change, and 3) a World Tour, which will compare soil communities from a variety of ecosystems including forests, grasslands, deserts, tundra, among others. The exhibit utilizes ideas and research from all four of the museum's academic disciplines -- botany, zoology, geology and anthropology and will incorporate hundreds of specimens from the museum's botany, mycology, and zoology collections to illustrate the diversity of organisms in and around the soil. Complementary educational programming will be developed and the project is especially targeting rural and inner city residents. School and community programs will extend the exhibit into classrooms, vacant lots, and community centers. The materials developed for use in a formal education setting will be integrated with current objectives of the existing curricula. In addition, on-line access to the content of the exhibit and complementary educational materials will be provided. The scheduled opening date for the exhibit is May, 1998 and during the ten year projected life span of the exhibit and complementary programming, it is expected that more than eight million people will be introduced to "Life Underground."
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TEAM MEMBERS:
M. Frances Muraski-StotzGregory MuellerDebra Moskovits
The Cleveland Museum of Natural History will develop an exhibit that integrates earth sciences and planetary geology. Currently titled "The Hall of Earth and Planetary Exploration" this 8700 sq. ft. exhibit will consist of a series of ten sections, each one focusing on a different theme including "The Big Bang", "Plate Tectonics", "Earthquakes and Volcanoes", "Ores and Mining", and the like. The goals are to instill curiosity about the Earth and planetary sciences and their interrelationships, to invite deeper exploration into scientific information and processes, to improve general science literacy by organizing the information into comprehensible themes, and to present an exhibit that is relevant to the daily lives of the general public. Visitors leaving the exhibit should know about the uniqueness of the earth with its moving continents, liquid water and living beings. They will also have some sense of the new scientific knowledge about the universe and the solar system and have their desire piqued to explore these topics further. The exhibit will have a number of complementary components including brochures, an expanded docent program, scheduled demonstrations and lectures by museum staff, devices for physically disabled, teacher guides and workshops, and traveling kits for schools. The exhibit goals and complementary activities align with Cleveland's Urban Systemic Initiative. The exhibit is scheduled to open late in 1997.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Joseph HannibalPaul CliffordJoAnn Coburn
Explorations is an 8,200 sq. ft. permanent exhibition containing about 70 educational components that will stimulate interest in and understanding of the ways that science and technology are extending the ability to examine and understand the Earth, its oceans and the universe. The exhibit design gives equal priority to science content and learning via high-tech device components, interweaving experiences to help the public understand cutting edge technologies, the scientific principles behind them, and how technology is used to advance scientific knowledge. To ensure accessibility to the Hispanic community, graphics and multimedia programs will be presented in English and Spanish. Strategies for addressing the language needs of other non-English speaking visitors are employed. It is expected that the engineering designs and solutions developed for these exhibits will advance the informal science learning profession buy contributing significantly to one of the top challenges faced by science museum exhibit designers today - the interpretation of advanced technological tools and capabilities to a broad museum public with diverse technical literacy skills.
The project is based upon the established Math, Science, and Beyond (MSB) program which consists of a series of evening family science workshops (with curriculum materials developed for classroom settings) in which students and parents explore science and mathematics together through exciting, hands-on activities. Units for each grade level (K-6) focus on physical, earth, and life science. The MSB informal science project will adapt materials and bring the program to informal learning settings - 25 Boys and Girls Clubs of California, and 25 California Department of Parks and Recreation sites. These clubs will receive training, materials, and support to operate Science Clubs (after school MSB sessions), Science Camps (summer, off-track and Spring/Winter Break, week-long MSB sessions), and Science Explorers Family Workshops (1-2 hour sessions for elementary school students and their parents). In addition to the Boys and Girls Clubs, and the California Department of Parks and Recreation, the California Science Implementation Network is a key collaborator on the project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mary CavanaghEleanore TopolovacM. SusanJoseph Keating
The National Museum of Natural History is producing 3-D and 2-D versions of a large format film on natural history. With a working title of Wonders of Life, the film will explore the diversity of life on Earth and how this diversity came to be. It will examine the biological, geological, and cultural entities that interact in myriad ways to generate, shape, and sustain the enormous biological and cultural diversity of our planet. The film will be supported by outreach material designed to support further exploration of the topic of diversity in both informal and formal settings. An inexpensive family activity guide to be available at venues that show the film will feature engaging and challenging activities for families with children ages ten through 15. A teacher resource guide, distributed free to teachers attending the film with groups of students, will be developed for use in grades 5 through 8. A classroom activity poster will be developed to serve grades 2 through 5. A Wonders of Life home page will support in-depth study of the film's topics. Larry O'Reilly, Director of The Discovery Center Project at the NMNH, will be PI and Executive Producer for the film. The Senior Scientific Advisory Board will be chaired by Dr. Robert S. Hoffman, Senior Scientist and former Assistant Secretary for Science at the Smithsonian Institution. The board also includes Sir David Attenborough, Dr. Sylvia Earle, Dr. Margaret Geller, Ivan Hattingh, and Dr. Thomas Lovejoy. Dr. Kay Behrensmeyer, Curator of Paleobiology and former Associate Director for Science at the NMNH, will lead a core team of scientists who will be directly involved in production. The film will be produced by Christopher Parsons and David Douglas will be Director of Photography.
The University of Texas at Austin requests $399,341 to expand the current Universo translations of StarDate into Spanish to more culturally relevant programs for a growing Hispanic audience. Plans include creation of longer programs with a different format for Hispanic Heritage Month for 1998-2000 and creation of complimentary collateral materials for distribution to 200 Spanish- language radio stations. Programs will also be distributed to 1,650 classrooms. A teacher's guide for using Universo in the classroom will be developed in English with activities available in both English and Spanish. A parent's guide to Universo/StarDate will also be produced to encourage parents to get involved in skywatching activities.
The Space Science Institute is developing a 5,000 s.f. hands-on traveling exhibitions called MarsQuest that will be the centerpiece of a wide-ranging planetary science education program. The exhibition will feature engaging, aesthetically designed, hands-on displays that offer experiences with science concepts relevant to Mars exploration, and will address the common misconceptions about Mars and its relationship to Earth. The most exciting aspect of the exhibition is its up-to-date connection to the progress and discoveries of 8-10 spacecraft that will be launched by NASA from 1996-2005. The exhibition will be supported by educational programs, including comprehensive teacher workshops, public programs on Mars themes, a 30-minute planetarium show emphasizing exploration and discovery, visits to schools and the dissemination of comprehensive field- tested educational materials developed by Arizona State University, the Planetary Society, NASA, the Pacific Science Center, and others. All educational materials will be aligned with the National Science Education Standards and will be available on the World Wide Web.
The Chabot Observatory and Science Center (COSC) in Oakland California will develop and present Bringing the Universe Down to Earth: Demystifying the Process that shapes the Solar System. This exhibition will utilize thirteen interactive works by Ned Kahn, a nationally recognized artist. The exhibition will consist of twenty-six exhibits: two per theme, one for Chabot, and one for the traveling component. The exhibition will be incorporated into the structure and network of COSC. It will invite visitors to draw on their general knowledge of this world by focusing on familiar earthly phenomena, such as volcanoes, whirlwinds, wind storms, avalanches, and to consider them in a broader context. Also, the project will take advantage of Chabot's well developed, online connection with schools and community groups in the area to create new opportunities for individualized inquiry. A direct product of this work will be a series of curricular outlines designed to help teachers make full use of the exhibition. This effort can be used to foster a strong collaboration between the informal and formal science education programs. An important feature of this exhibition is that it will travel to nine sites around the country under the auspices of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC). It is projected that over one million people at the nine sites will see this traveling exhibition. Educational and marketing materials, as well as workshops materials prepared for the COSC exhibition will accompany the traveling exhibit.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael ReynoldsMargaret HaubenNed Kahn
The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum proposes to develop a 10,395 square foot permanent exhibition. Five major exhibit areas - The Milky Way; Billions and Billions; The Life Cycle of Stars; Properties of Stars; and The Dynamic Galaxy -will orient visitors to the Milky Way, and explore in detail the fascinating objects found within. Each gallery will represent different content areas, but there are several underlying connecting themes. 1. Science does not distract from the appreciation, beauty, and mystery of the Universe, but rather deepens it; 2. The universe is a vast, dynamic, evolving, and fascinating place, where we are always learning about new things; 3. We can organize our picture of the Universe in ways that help us understand its structure, and our place in it; 4. We can begin to understand the Universe through observation and interpretation; 5. Based on the fundamental laws of nature, there are some concepts that will help us to explain the phenomenons of the universe. The Adler's new exhibits and programs will reflect the principles and pedagogy articulated in the new National Science Education Standards. It will also be reflected in the national and local reform efforts such as the Urban Systemic Initiative. The Adler staff will collaborate with the Chicago Systemic Initiative of the Chicago Public Schools. The CSI teachers, parents, and students will be involved the program development and evaluation process through focus groups, working teams, and pilot testing activities on-site at the museum The project Principal Investigator (PI) Dr. Evalyn L. Gates received her Doctorate in Physics from Case Western Reserve University in 1990. Currently, she serves as Chair of the Astronomy Department at the Adler Planetarium and Astronomy Museum. Dr. Gates is a Research Scientist on the faculty in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at The University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to the project team, a broad-based advisory comm ittee will serve as counsel to the project. Serving on the project advisory committee are: Minda Borun; Director of Research and Evaluation, The Franklin Institute Science Museum; Richard G. Kron, Ph.D., Director, Yerkes Observatory and on the faculty at The University of Chicago; Catherine A. Pilachowski, Ph.D., Kitt Peak National Observatory; Phillip M. Sadler, Ed.D. Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; James W. Thuran, Ph. D., The University of Chicago ; Melanie Wojtulewicz, M.A., the Chicago Public Schools; and Fahrad Y. Zadeh, Ph.D. Northwestern University.
The Earth & Sky radio series reaches over 2.8 million individuals in the United States each week. This grant, which will diminish each year over a four-year period, will enable the project to accomplish the following goals: * Continue production and distribution of the Earth & Sky radio series * Distribute a bi-annual booklet for teachers, Earth In the Classroom * Establish a partnership between the Earth & Sky Young Producers Contest and National Science and Technology Week. * Increase the visual content of Earth & Sky Online * Launch an * Earth & Sky Classroom Project to provide teachers and students with a guided "Internet Experience" simulated on a CD and, therefore, not requiring an Internet connection. * Produce and test a 156 segment "trial run" of a Kids' Earth & Sky radio series designed for the emerging Radio Disney network. Earth & Sky is produced and hosted by Deborah Byrd and Joel Block. They work with a team of producer/writers and interact on a regular basis with members of a team of over 90 science advisors.
During the 3 years of this project, 72 high school and middle school teachers and 36 students will work as members of atmospheric research teams studying each of ten airshed around the Portland, OR metropolitan area. Each summer's activities include a 4-week atmospheric interaction research course and a one-week air quality measurement campaign during a pollution episode. Transfer to the classroom is anticipated through action research projects during the academic year. An interactive webpage will enable all partners to access data, real time models of the atmosphere, and descriptions of the action research projects. A lead high school will serve as the Horizons-Air site for an airshed zone and will work collaboratively with four other middle/high schools, the Horizons-Met sites.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Linda GeorgeDaniel JohnsonWilliam Becker