In this project, the Education Development Center and Campbell-Kibbler Research Associates Inc., are researching the impact of a set of after-school biology materials on under-represented middle school youth at the Boston Nature Center and two University of New Hampshire 4H Clubs. In response to a general need in the field to examine the relationship between learning in informal science programs and learning in school, this project studies the potential of informal contexts to enhance student engagement in the phases of inquiry, giving special attention to the role of visual representations in the early stages of inquiry. The research identifies how visual representations are directly involved in the ability of young people to discern patterns and externalize their own thinking and how these two abilities impact their science confidence and basic knowledge of the biology content in the units. To identify the potential impact of this strategy on in school learning, the in school learning of participating youth is compared to a similar group of children who do not participate in the program. Secondarily the project identifies how the results of this research influence the work of after-school program developers' use of visual tools. The program goal is to provide a rich foundation of out of school experiences for young people upon which they can more readily grasp concepts that are also introduced in the school context. Deliverables include a peer reviewed research paper, two extended biology units using digital and hand made visual representations, and a manual for developing similar programs. The summative evaluation measures the impact of the deliverables on the professional field. The curriculum will be used at hundreds of after school programs and the manual and research paper will impact program developers field-wide by influencing future programs they develop.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bernard ZubrowskiBryan WunarPatricia CampbellKerry Ouellet
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Self-Reliance Foundation will develop a conference that has the overarching goal of laying the groundwork for the development of strategic partnerships for involving Latino audiences in informal science learning, led by informal science institutions nationwide. Numbering over 42 million, Latinos are now the largest ethnic/racial minority group in America; in recent years, 1 of every 2 new Americans has been Latino. Educational opportunities, formal and informal, are not keeping pace. Latino students score lower on math and science achievement tests than national averages, enroll at disproportionately lower levels, and are underrepresented in undergraduate and graduate science and engineering programs. Latino families are under-represented among those who visit science centers and other like institutions. Latino students are under-enrolled in after-school programs. There is no Spanish-language NPR or PBS; there is little science available on Spanish-language media, including radio, television, and newspapers. The conference will bring together informal science institutions and science research organizations together with Hispanic organizations, media, and educational projects to review current ISE resources, identify needs and gaps, learn about best practices in designing culturally effective programs and resources, and develop new strategies and resources to enrich the informal science learning environment for Latinos.
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) will develop "Water Planet," a 5,000 square foot traveling exhibit, web site, and associated programs focusing on the new and evolving field of Earth system science. It will apply the dynamic technologies of "Science-on-a-Sphere," " Digital River Basin," and "GEO-Wall II" to engage museum visitors in the processes by which water mediates many interactions among the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryoshpere, biosphere and geosphere. Through these techniques, it will explore the potential of using large satellite and ground-based datasets, computermodeling, simulations and visualizations to increase public understanding of Earth system research. Scientific collaborators include the National Center for Earth System Dynamics (Universiy of Minnesota, Twin Cities); Center for Advanced Materials for Purifiction of Water with Systems (University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana); and Sustainability of Semi-Arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (University of Arizona, Tucson). BROADER IMPACTS: "Water Planet" will reach some three million people, with a focus on local water conservation and pollution issues and the way the entire planet functions. In addition, through collaboration with the University of Connecticut Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officers (NEMO) program, the exhibition will help educate local government officials at exhibition venues. SMM also will partner with the Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College Headwaters Science Center for educational outreach programs. These applications of scientific visualization technology and lessons from this project will be shared with the science museum at large through a web site created for this purpose and other forms of professional dissemination.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Patrick HamiltonRoberta CooksDouglas JohnstonGary WoodardPaul Morin
WGBH is producing a PBS television series, with accompanying web and outreach activities for 9- to 12-year-olds, to inspire a generation of budding engineers. Design Squad: Nate's Roadtrip (working title) will be a 10-part television series that is building on WGBH's prior award-winning work. The series goal is to engender enthusiasm and promote understanding of, and interest in, engineering and technology. Behind the fun that this lively show envisions is a serious educational purpose--to get kids to think like engineers and understand how to use science and technology to solve real-life problems. The television programs will be complemented with an extensive companion web site, as well as materials and training for engineers to mount Design Squad events in public venues and run workshops in schools, afterschool programs and libraries. The web site will create a platform for an online community where young participants will share their own projects, see what others have made, and send in questions to the host. Outreach activities will be supported by WGBH's ongoing relationships in the educational and engineering community, including the Girl Scouts, International Technology Education Association, NASA, and the Intel Computer Clubhouses. Viridian inSight will conduct summative evaluation of the project to measure project impacts including knowledge of science and engineering concepts and the design process; attitudes towards engineering; awareness of and interest in engineering career opportunities; and the extent to which kids perceive engineering as creative, rewarding, and socially relevant. Design Squad: Nate's Roadtrip Video Blog is slated to premiere February 2010 and the television show is slated to premiere in October 2010.
The Board on Science Education at the National Research Council of the National Academies will develop practitioner-focused resources based on a synthesis study on Learning Science in Informal Environments (LSIE), a comprehensive review of educational research funded through a previous NSF award. Project deliverables will consist of a publication, video and digitized web resources designed to guide the application of the research findings presented in the LSIE report. The goals of this project are to support efforts to advance science education for diverse learners, to bridge research and practice, and to provide the broader informal science education communities access to research-generated knowledge. The project will greatly extend the impact of the synthesis study by making evidence-based approaches more widely available and utilized by informal science educators and insitutions.
The James Agee Film Project is requesting funds to produce a four-part series of one-hour films on the environmental and social history of Appalachia. "APPALACHIA: A History of Mountains and People" will be the first series of films on the history of Appalachia and the first environmental history film ever made about a region in the United States. The project will demonstrate the dynamic interaction and inseparability of natural history and human history. By interweaving the discoveries and insights from scientific disciplines, including geology, ecology, biology and environmental science, with those of the humanities, the series will explore how the mountains have shaped human cultures and how people have shaped the mountains. "APPALACHIA: A History of Mountains and People" is made for national broadcast on PBS and is being co-sponsored by six Appalachian state PBS networks. The series is being produced in conjunction with the upcoming "Encyclopedia of Appalachia." Outreach programs include partnerships with many regional grassroots organizations, PBS stations and educational institutions to extend the film into a wide range of rural communities and schools. The Project Director/Writer of the series will be the Academy Award nominated filmmaker Ross Spears. Jamie Ross is co-producer/writer; Dr. George Constantz, the Science Writer/Content Director. Dr. Constantz is also currently the principal science and ecology editor of The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, which will be published in 2005. A distinguished group of scholars and scientists will contribute to the project. Dr. Gary Henry, Director of the Applied Research Center in Atlanta, will oversee the project evaluation.
SoundVision Productions proposes to develop five one-hour radio documentaries, five five-minute features, and a website to inform a diverse public about the important advances in genomics and related sciences. Each of the new topics represents a rapidly developing field within genomics rarely covered in depth by the media. Those topics include systems biology, neurogenetics, RNA and Immunology, and Individualizing the Genome. The DNA Files will provide public radio listeners and web site users informal education in the genomic revolution and follow-on research and technology, its scientific underpinnings, and related social, philosophical and legal issues. The project will offer audiences an awareness of the societal benefits of research and the intellectual tools to join in legal and social policy debates. A collaboration with the Exploratorium will extend the reach of the project through the development of a "DNA Workshop Kit", a series of four or five hands-on workshops for the general public that can be produced at the Exploratorium and other science museums around the country. A comprehensive outreach strategy will be implemented by 20 local public radio stations around the country in partnership with community organizations.
This comprehensive ITEST project would provide sixty middle and high school teachers with an introduction to Geographic Information System (GIS) and Global Positioning System (GPS) technologies. The project, which brings together a leadership team of educators, science researchers and experts in resource management, is based at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory, a research facility that studies stream and forest ecosystems. The program will focus on environmental applications in which teachers use probes to investigate the properties of local forest and stream ecosystems. Teachers will apply their technology experiences to creating standards based lessons aligned with local curricula. The teacher participants will be recruited from rural, underserved Appalachian communities in western Maryland and northern West Virginia. Local students will be recruited to participate in a four-day summer session that includes field-testing the proposed lessons and learning about career opportunities in information technology.
This project will research distributed, online fantasy basketball games, which are quite popular with many kinds of players, including informal science education under-represented groups, and which entail some degree of informal statistical reasoning and decision-making strategies. The game is not playing basketball per se, but taking on the role of a team owner or coach who needs to decide how best to compose a team given necessarily limited resources. The research team will provide a method for framing and researching statistical understanding and decision making of expert and novice players, then, based on the research, will develop scaffolded techniques for helping players become more reflective on and adept with the statistical knowledge and decision making strategies they use.
The University of Florida, in collaboration with the Florida Museum of Natural History and Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences Extension, National 4-H, Association of Zoos and Aquariums, Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, and the Institute for Learning Innovation will implement Call the Wild, a proof-of-concept project to investigate the educational outcomes of promoting understanding of the nature of science (NOS) through visitor engagement in outdoor exhibits that incorporate mobile technology to further focus attention and deliver unique content. The project will explore: (1) zoo visitor ownership of cell phones, use of the different cell phone features, and likelihood to access interactive content and activities through their phone; (2) the potential of wildlife viewing experiences and technology applications for engaging visitors in learning about NOS; and (3) the potential to measure visitor understanding of NOS related to zoo experiences. This project seeks to advance our understanding of the educational impacts of mobile telephony in informal learning environments such as zoos.
The Ramapo College of New Jersey requests funding to develop the "Senior Environmental Experiences (SEE)" project. The project will produce a series of interactive science experiences using Internet videoconferencing to connect seniors at community centers and extended care facilities with environmental experts at the Meadowlands Environment Center as the principal context for discussions of environmental concepts and issues. The goal of the program is to increase the interest of seniors by linking science to history and politics. "SEE" will create experiential modules related to the natural history, ecosystem structure and future of the Meadowlands. Discussion from the field using live images and feedback from the seniors would support exploration of details relevant to the specific topic at hand. The videoconferences will be recorded and made available to seniors in other locations throughout New Jersey and the US. Follow up materials will encourage further activities by the seniors. "SEE" will reach approximately 4,500 seniors in 32 centers during the three-year project.
WGBH will produce and distribute 10 new episodes of the award-winning television series "PEEP and the Big Wide World ," which is targeted to preschoolers. In addition, the project will expand the PEEP Web site, and develop and evaluate an online multimedia tutorial to help educators engage preschool children in science. The project's three intended impacts are to (1) engage preschoolers in science explorations that promote positive attitudes and inquiry skills, (2) empower parents to encourage and support their children's science activities, and (3) provide educational resources and professional development for preschool educators via a curriculum that contributes to the emerging field of preschool science education. The project's innovative deliverables include a television show that has a unique style and content, a Web site that is navigable by non-readers, and outreach activities that fulfill an important need for preschool science education. The series is produced by WGBH and broadcast on TLC and Discovery Kids. The project's collaborators, which include organizations such as Head Start, the National Education Association, Countdown to Kindergarten, American Library Association, and Boston Children's Museum, help promote the series' educational goals across different platforms, maximize resources, extend impact and reach underserved audiences. The Goodman Research Group will conduct the project summative evaluation.