The MIT Media Laboratory, in collaboration with six museums, will develop the "Playful Invention and Exploration (PIE) Network," with the goal of engaging a broader audience in science inquiry and engineering by enabling more people to create, invent and explore with new digital technologies. PIE museums will integrate the latest MIT technologies and educational research into their ongoing public programs. The museums will organize MindFest events, modeled after a two-day event at MIT in 1999, at which youth, educators, artists, engineers, hobbyists and researchers came together to collaborate on invention projects. The PIE Network will disseminate PIE ideas and activities to educators and families nationally.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mitchel ResnickNatalie RuskBakhtiar MikhakMike PetrichKaren Wilkinson
The Computer Museum in Boston, MA is requesting a SGER of $49,000 to support preliminary research into the use of virtual reality as a tool for informal science. Using a virtual reality environment of the human cell, they will test to determined: 1) if people gain a physical understanding of the human cell, including a sense of scale, the shape and location of elements, and the physical relationship between elements, and 2) if people gain an understanding of the concept of a system by interacting in the virtual world of the human cell. The PI will be David Greschler, Exhibit Developer at the Museum. He has developed two major exhibits at the Museum, has worked at the MIT Media Laboratory, and has taught educational software design at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Eben Gay will be co-PI and will have oversight for the software development of the virtual reality. He has been Principal Engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation since 1980 and has been building virtual realities since 1982.
This planning grant proposal would develop the logistical, programming and creative specifications for production of Magic Porthole, an innovative Web-based science game for 8-14 year olds. The content and learning will focus on the value and significance of intact coral ecosystems to human communities, encouraging young people to seek more sustainable relationships with their environment. The project will use existing video footage of coral reef life along with new live action footage, text, stills, music and flash animation. The 8-14 year olds will be engaged in a sustained mystery story that will pull them more deeply into scientific content. The organizational collaborators are environmental education and media organizations.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Janine SelendyJan PostWilliam FinneganBrett Pierce
The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) will collaborate with the Children's Museum of Houston, Miami Museum of Science and the New California Media (an association of over 500 ethnic media organizations) to provide youth ages 7-10 with standards-based science and math activities using newpapers as a vehicle. Mathematics and science challenges, already field-tested by the LHS, are presented as educational inserts using cartoons, on a weekly or monthly basis. The content to be addressed includes numbers and operations, algebra, geometry, science as inquiry and life science through engaging formats in Spanish-language newspapers. While building on the "Newspapers in Education" program, strategic impact will be realized by demonstrating the ability of a more intensive approach to reach families of underserved and underrepresented audiences through a collaboration of print media, museums, libraries, schools and community organizations. The ultimate goal is to increase exposure to informal science education activities at museums and in Spanish-language media. Deliverables include the newspaper activities (designed for families to use at home), family sessions at local libraries, science centers, after school programs and community organizations as well as a festival and website. Promotional sessions at New California Media Expos and workshops at the Asociation of Science and Technology Centers conferences will introduce the project to media and museum partners. This project will target underserved communities in California, Texas and Florida and is estimated to reach more than 450,000 families by year three.
This project will create the infrastructure to provide Hispanic media with an ongoing source of high-quality science news tailored to meet the needs and interests of Hispanics. The proposed Hispanic Science News Service website will be a downloadable internet resource site for Hispanic print, radio and internet editors, journalists and producers to access science stories, radio capsules and science information resources. This service would be promoted through partnerships with the National Association of Hispanic Publishers, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and The Hispanic Radio. Specific media deliverables will include: Exploracion, a weekly, Spanish-language newspaper column; La Ciencia en Breve: El Universo a tu Alcance (Science News Briefs); Exploracion, a daily science radio news capsule; and uploads of science content to the Univision.com website.
The Numbers Alive project will model the use of number sense and provide opportunities for its practice through the production of ten half-hour television programs for students, one program for parents and care-givers, and print materials in support of both types of programs. The targeted student audience is fifth and sixth graders. The print materials supplement the televised programs. The series emphasizes number concepts and problem solving strategies in support of the NCTM Standards.
ZOOM! is the Emmy Award-winning series for 8 to 11 year olds that ran on PBS for six years in the 1970's. WGBH, where the series was produced, is hoping to update the series and produce new programs for national broadcast. This planning grant will enable WGBH to make planning for math and science education an integral part of the piloting phase the station is about to enter. Specific activities to be conducted with the NSF support include such things as: Holding a series of science and math brainstorming sessions; Revamping the series advisory committee by adding more people with expertise in math, science, and elementary education; Hiring a science and mathematics content director; Consulting with outreach partners to develop ways to extend the series' impact beyond the television audience; Refining the science and mathematics goals; Developing methods to integrate science and math into the programs; Producing sample math/science segments, using different approaches; Testing the sample segments for audience effectiveness.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Brigid SullivanAlison BassettCandace JulyanKate Taylor
WNET is conducting planning for Wild TV, a new environmental education public television series for children ages 8-13. The planning activities consist of post-production and evaluation of a new version of the pilot episode of the series. WNET will reversion the pilot episode to address concerns raised by the reviewers to a previous proposal, as well as incorporating recommendations from the formative evaluation conducted by RMC Research Corporation. During the planning phase, the producers will work closely with Dr. Betty Faber and Mark Testa, two environmental educators with expertise in extra-curricular settings. These educators have been added to the advisory committee and Dr. Faber will serve as lead content advisor to the project. After production of the revised pilot is completed, RMC Research Corporation will conduct another evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the revisions to the project.
This project creates and implements a national parent engagement and education campaign. It provides a framework for all parents to explore existing and alternative forms of assessment within the context of changes in current classroom math curriculum and practices. The campaign also provides a mechanism for enhancing communication between teachers, schools and parents in order to ensure support for math strategies and practices by all members of learning communities nationwide. Project products include: * A thirty-minute documentary on mathematics reform and assessment, to be broadcast by public television stations, that will also include a viewer's guide and local publicity materials. * A Community Education Kit containing a Leader's Guide, Parent's Handbook, and short videotapes. Project materials and activities are designed for parents of elementary-age children, with a specific emphasis for materials on grades 3-5.
Reading Rainbow is a long running, highly acclaimed children's television series designed to engage children in reading. Over the years, the series has incorporated both a science strand and a mathematics strand. Nebraskans for Public Television is now producing two additional math-focused programs and one integrated math/science program. These programs will further integrate math-oriented books into the series, will heighten the visibility of quality children's math-oriented books, and will model how children can understand and enjoy mathematics and science in the world around them. Outreach will be coordinated with libraries and museums nationwide. The project also will expand the "Math for Families Workshops," which were previously developed, from 50 public broadcasting stations to 100 stations. The workshops also will be integrated into the PBS "Ready To Learn" endeavor.
Living On Earth is a weekly, impartial news journal devoted exclusively to coverage of ecology that is carried on 274 NPR stations in the United States. It has had previous support from the Informal Science Education Program for initial series production and to help expand the series from a half hour formation to an hour-long show. This grant will enable the World Media Foundation to deepen and strengthen the reporting of the science and technology of environmental change by employing a staff science reporter and a staff researcher with a Ph.D. in biology. The science reporter will enable the project to respond more quickly to emerging issues, as well as providing more consistent and better prepared science coverage. The research will help the producers better interpret new developments and studies, help identify new topics, and improve accuracy and balance. The series also will add the topic of marine environments to their major areas of concern. There currently is little media coverage of the rapid loss of healthy coral reefs, the collapse of commercial fisheries, and the changing ocean chemistry. The project will continue to covers such major topics as biological diversity, climate change, environmental toxicology, and agricultural science. Steve Curwood, the Executive producer and host of Living on Earth, will continue as the PI for the project. The science producer/editor will be Dan Grossman. He has a B.S. in physics and a Ph.D. in political science and has taught science journalism at Boston University. The project advisory committee consists of Arjun Makhijani, Greg Watson, Theo Colborn, Catherine Vandermoer, William Moomaw, George Woodwell, Michael McElroy, Jane Lubechenco, Carl Safina, Sylvia Earle, and Jerry Schubel. The series is produced by the World Media Foundation in cooperation with WBUR, National Public Radio, and Harvard University.
The Educational Broadcasting Corporation (WNET in New York) is developing and producing a new public television project exploring cutting-edge technology. The project consists of an eight-part hourly broadcast component; six 60-second "mini-programs;" a World Wide Web component; and extensive educational outreach targeted to adults aged 25-39 and older. The topics for the eight programs in season one are: Replacements - prosthetic devices and biologically electronic artificial body parts In Search of Eve - the race to decode the human genome Light of the 21st Century - Fiber Optics Nanotechnology - molecular manipulation of materials Technospy - technologies used to gain information Sports Technology - the pursuit of better equipment and training regimes Artificial Intelligence - efforts to create computers the mimic human intelligence Appropriate Technologies - technologies that use local, inexpensive material Beth Hoppe, WNET's Director of Science Programs will serve as Executive Producer for the series. Each of the programs would be produced by an independent producer selected by WNET. Content advisors include: Angela Christiano, Departments of Dermatology, Genetics and Development, Columbia University; Sheila Sen Jasanoff, Harvard University JFK School of Government; Horace Freeland Judson, Center for History of Recent Science, George Washington University; Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, CUNY and host, Explorations radio series; Wilfred Pinfold, Microprocessor Research Labs, Intel Corp.; and Barbara Wilson, chief technologist, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Beth HoppeTamara RobinsonWilliam GrantBarbara Flagg