The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, in partnership with several universities and a science advisory committee of distinguished international researchers in physics and astronomy, is producing "The Matter of Origins," a two-part experimental program that engages the public in explorations of the nature of beginnings and the physics of the origin of matter. Act I takes place in a theater where audiences will experience a dance performance illuminated by video and a vivid soundscape. Act II takes place in an adjacent space where audiences, who will be seated with scientists, historians, philosophers, and religious leaders, can participate in facilitated dialogue about the nature of origins in an immersive environment that incorporates dance, projected images, and provocative questions. The program will be implemented around the country, initially at four universities, with possible expansion to additional venues. The goals of this EAGER project are (1) to develop an innovative model for using dance, digital media, and structured dialogue to attract and engage public audiences in science content and processes and (2) to explore how artistic practices may have broader applications with respect to science learning and research. The intention is to explore how science can be represented in the art and in the experience and not simply interpreted into abstract choreographic expression with a program note. The program elements and outcomes will be evaluated by researchers from Michigan State University who will study impacts on the public and on participating professionals - dancers, scientists, etc. Dissemination of results will be to professional communities in the sciences, arts and informal science education.
Currently, many museums present histories of science and technology, but very few are integrating scientific activity--observation, measurement, experimentation-with the time- and place-specific narratives that characterize history-learning experiences. For the Prairie Science project, Conner Prairie is combining proven science center-style activities, developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota, with family-engagement strategies developed through extensive research and testing with audiences in historical settings. The goal of this integration is to create guest experiences that are rich in both STEM and historical content and encourage family learning. One key deliverable of this project is the Create.Connect gallery, which is currently installed at Conner Prairie. Create.Connect allows the project team to evaluate and research hands-on activities, facilitation strategies and historic settings to understand how these elements combine to encourage family conversations and learning around historical narratives and STEM content. For example, in one exhibit area families can experiment with creating their own efficient wind turbine designs while learning about the innovations of the Flint & Walling windmill manufacturing company from Indiana. The activity is facilitated by a historic interpreter portraying a windmill salesman from 1900. The interpreter not only guides the family though the process of scientific inquiry, but shares his historic perspective on wind power as well. Two other exhibit areas invite hands-on exploration of electrical circuits and forces in motion as they connect to stories from Indiana history. Evaluation and research findings from the Create.Connect exhibit will be used to develop a model that can guide other history institutions that want to incorporate STEM content and thinking into their exhibits and interpretation. By partnering with the Science Museum of Minnesota, we will combine the experience of science center professionals and history museum professionals to find the best practices for incorporating science activities into historic settings. To ensure that this dissemination model is informed from many perspectives, Conner Prairie has invited the participation of four history museums: The Museum of America and the Sea, Mystic, Connecticut; the California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento, California; the Wabash County Historical Society, Wabash, Indiana; and the Oliver H. Kelley Farm, Elk River, Minnesota. Each of the four participants will install history-STEM exhibit components which will be connected to location-specific historic narratives. Drawing on the staff experience and talents of participant museums, this project will develop realistic solutions to an array of anticipated barriers. These issues and the resulting approaches will become part of a stronger, more adaptable dissemination model that will support history museums in creating STEM-based guest experiences.
This CRPA award deals with inspiring youth to science careers and specifically in space science. The Green Bank Telescope in collaboration with the Pulsar Search Collaboratory, the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, and West Virginia University will develop a documentary film describing what pulsars are, how they are identified, and how youths participate in these investigations and discoveries. Through this experience youths learn aspects of space science, mathematics, physics, and computational science. Several young students have discovered new pulsars. The film will describe the concepts behind pulsars, how they are identified, and how the students can participate. The idea here is that potential students will see that other kids are participating and they may be successful as well. In the film, several well known scientists will be interviewed including Neil degrasse Tyson, Director of the Hayden Planetarium and Dame Jocelyn Bell-Burnell, the lady in Great Britain who discovered the first pulsar. Moreover, they will interview several young scientists who discovered the most recent pulsars through this program. The objectives of this effort are to be inspirational to young people and to engage the public with the concepts of space science and pulsars.
The University of Alaska Fairbanks will partner with the National Optical and Astronomy Observatory, the University of Alaska Museum of the North, and the University of Washington-Bothell to bring biomaterials, optics, photonics, and nanotechnology content, art infused experiences, and career awareness to art-interested girls. This full scale development project, Project STEAM, will explore the intersections between biology, physics, and art using advanced technologies at the nano to macro scale levels. Middle school girls from predominately underrepresented Alaskan Native, Native American (Tohono O'odham, Pascula Yaqui) and Hispanic groups, their families, teachers, and Girl Scout Troop Leaders in two site locations- Anchorage, Alaska and Tucson, Arizona will participate in the project. Centered on the theme "Colors of Nature," Project STEAM will engage girls in science activities designed to enhance STEM learning and visual-spatial skills. Using advanced technologies, approximately 240 girls enrolled in the Summer Academy over the project duration will work with women scientist mentors, teachers, and Girl Scout Troop Leaders to create artistic representations of natural objects observed at the nano and macro scale levels. Forty girls will participate in the Summer Academy in year one (20 girls per site- Alaska and Arizona). In consequent years, approximately180 girls will participate in the Academy (30 girls per site). Another 1,500 girls are expected to be reached through their Girl Scout Troop Leaders (n=15) who will be trained to deliver a modified version of the program using specialized curriculum kits. In addition, over 6,000 girls and their families are expected to attend Project STEAM Science Cafe events held at local informal science education institutions at each site during the academic year. In conjunction with the programmatic activities, a research investigation will be conducted to study the impact of the program on girls' science identity. Participant discourse, pre and post assessments, and observed engagement with the scientific and artistic ideas and tools presented will be examined and analyzed. A mixed methods approach will also be employed for the formative and summative evaluations, which will be conducted by The Goldstream Group. Ultimately, the project endeavors to increase STEM learning and interest through art, build capacity through professional development, advance the research base on girls' science identity and inspire and interest girls in STEM careers.
Quest, produced by KQED, is a multimedia initiative designed to raise the profile of STEM issues throughout the Northern California region and activate citizens to discuss and investigate them. Led by KQED, Quest is created and maintained by an active consortium of 16 participating informal science education organizations. Based on the successful Quest model, KQED will build on its prior collaborative work to develop regional partnerships with other public broadcasting stations and community-based organizations around the country, making possible a new and innovative partnership in science media production and informal science education. This grant will support a) a growing collaborative of science centers, museums, research institutes, and community-based organizations for editorial development, education outreach, and content creation; b) the production of at least 10 hours of television, weekly radio science news reports, and a dynamic online website that supports and extends the broadcast material; and c) educational resources and professional development workshops. STEM content will encompass research drawn from the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth sciences. Most of the stories will also incorporate content about the technology and engineering used to support scientific endeavors. The KQED Educational Network (EdNet) will administer the community and educational outreach initiatives, including creating viewer/listener guides, developing and delivering workshops, and providing information built around Quest media. Project collaborators include the Bay Institute, California Academy of Sciences, Chabot Space and Science Center, East Bay Regional Park District, Exploratorium, Girl Scouts, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Hall of Science, Museum of Paleontology, Oakland Zoo, and The Tech Museum of Innovation. In expanding the model to regional hubs, Quest will also involve the Coalition for Public Understanding of Science (COPUS), the Encyclopedia of Life, and an array of peer public broadcasting organizations. This project offers a useful and exciting model for public television and radio stations nationally in building community collaborations that advance informal science education. The detailed and informed ways in which the team works with its community partners via multiple platforms are innovative. This proposal builds on prior work in Northern California to explore additional regional partnerships with other public broadcasting stations and community-based organizations, making possible a unique partnership in science media production and informal science education. This project extends reach by developing up to ten regional "hubs" across the country. Evaluation will be conducted by Rockman et al.
Through the Scientists for Tomorrow pathways project, The Science Institute at Columbia College in Chicago will test a model for preparing non-science major, pre-service elementary school teachers to deliver three ten-week informal science education modules to youth in after school programs. The initiative will bring engineering concepts, environmental science, and technology to approximately 240 urban Chicago youth (ages 10-14 years old) and their families. The Science Institute will partner with eight minority serving community based organizations and the Museum of Science and Industry, the Field Museum, and the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance to develop and implement all aspects of the program. The goals of the program are two-fold. First, the project will develop and implement a high-quality STEM based afterschool program for under-represented youth in STEM. Second, the professional development and experience implementing the curriculum with youth in the local communities and within informal science education (ISE) institutions will extend and enrich the pre-service teachers\' STEM content and pedagogical knowledge base and better prepare them to teach science in formal and informal settings. Thirty teachers will receive specialized professional development through a seminar, course, and other support mechanisms in order to best support the implementation of the modules, while building their STEM content expertise, confidence, and pedagogical knowledge. Each module has a different STEM content focus: alternative energy (fall), the physics and mathematics of sound and music (winter), and environmental science (spring). At the end of each module, a culminating youth-led presentation will be held at one of the partnering Chicago museums. Youth will be encouraged to participate in all three modules. The formative evaluation will be conducted by the Co-Principal Investigators. Pre and post assessments, artifact reviews, and interviews will be used for the summative evaluation, which will be conducted by an external evaluator at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The project deliverables include: (a) a teacher training program, (b) an after school curriculum, and (c) media tools - DVDs, website. Over the grant period, the project intends to reach 120 youth each year, over 100 family and community members, and 30 teachers. The larger impact of this project will be the development of a scalable model for bringing relevant STEM content and experiences to youth, their families, and non-science major pre-service teachers. As a result of this project, a cadre of pre-service teachers will have: (a) increased their STEM content knowledge, (b) gained experience presenting STEM content in informal settings, (c) learned effective approaches to deliver hands-on STEM content, and (d) learned to use museum and other ISE resources in their teaching. In fact, after the grant period nearly half of the teachers will continue to work at the centers as part-time instructors, fully supported by the partnering community centers.
This Broad Implementation media project (building upon prior NSF award 0639001) will address science literacy among Latinos via mass media, increasing the amount of Spanish-language science content available in the U.S., increasing the representation of Latino scientists in mainstream media, and expanding the knowledge base about Latino's interest and engagement in science. The STEM content will be based on the research conducted by the Hispanic scientists being interviewed and therefore includes a wide range of topics including astronomy, biology, physics, earth sciences, and engineering. The criteria for selecting the Hispanic researchers and the content is based on the importance of the research, how it is immediately relevant to a Latino audience, and how it draws on the indigenous knowledge system or ethnic pride for U.S. Latinos. Project deliverables include 150 audio-video interviews with Hispanic scientists distributed on both commercial Hispanic radio and TV stations, as well as public broadcasting and online. In addition to the broadcasts, social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter will be used to reach out and engage Hispanics. It is estimated that 300 Spanish-language radio stations will air the programs, resulting in 3 million radio impressions for each daily 60-second broadcast. Television broadcasts are estimated to result in another 2 million impressions per program. Project partners include the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS); V-Me, a national Hispanic educational channel; KLRN, the San Antonio, Texas public television station that will provide the national PBS distribution; and DaGama Web Studio that will develop and implement the social media marketing plan to attract and engage Latinos online. Comprehensive evaluations of project deliverables and impact will be conducted by Informal Learning Solutions (video-audio formative evaluations), and Knight-Williams Research (summative evaluation of project impact). The Summative Evaluation Plan will focus on the programs\' overall appeal, clarity, and effectiveness in meeting the two key audience objectives in the proposal: (1) increasing familiarity with and understanding of science concepts among U.S. Latinos, and (2) demonstrating engagement activities such as talking with friends/family about the presented topics, and/or seeking out additional information. It will furthermore assess the extent to which listeners and viewers find the Hispanic researchers featured in the programs to be effective communicators and the importance they assign to hearing from Hispanic researchers themselves. It will look at whether and how the programs are effective selecting topics with immediate relevance to listeners'/viewers' everyday lives. Finally, the evaluation will gather information about listeners'/viewers' demographic and background characteristics, including their country of origin, degree of fluency in Spanish, reasons for preferring Spanish media, number of generations in the U.S., reasons for tuning into the programming, efforts to recommend the programs to others, and the likelihood of continuing to listen to or view the programs in the future.
The Rochester Institute of Technology's National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) and Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation (CCRG) will collaborate on a CRPA project designed to develop a dance-based performance to educate deaf and hard of hearing students on astrophysics concepts. This project seeks to address the following goals: 1) provide all audience members with access to scientific information in an inherently engaging and stimulating manner; 2) facilitate the acquisition of scientific knowledge in all audience members, including deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, with special reference to general information and basic concepts from the fields of gravitational physics and astrophysics; and 3) stimulate general interest in STEM fields within all audience members. An extensive team of physicists, arts faculty, computer scientists, performance experts, and evaluators have assembled to translate original research on gravity-based astrophysics, including collision events between black-holes and neutron-stars, entire galaxies, and the central black-hole engine that powers active galactic nuclei, into novel educational presentations. The original science to be presented was generated in part by the scientists at the Center for Computational Relativity and Gravitation. Project deliverables include live performances and a project website with educational materials and a virtual tour of the recorded performance. The live performances will include dance and computer generated visualizations of space phenomena, supplemented with discussion and interactive components to engage audiences both before and after the presentation. The mixed-method evaluation will provide insights into how the medium of dance can be used to engage audiences in STEM fields and increase the understanding of STEM content areas which have had little previous investigation, but may be highly relevant to the engagement of underserved audiences. Performances are planned for select sites in New York, Ohio, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Washington, DC, Pennsylvania and Maryland. It is estimated that the project will directly impact 7,000 individuals, approximately half of whom will be deaf or hard or hearing. Deaf and hard of hearing populations are greatly underserved in science education. This project is an effort to bridge that gap by providing creative models for communicating to the public on contemporary science concepts. Learning outcomes for the target audience include increasing awareness and interest in STEM, acquisition of information and basic concepts from the fields of gravitational physics and astrophysics, and enhancing awareness of relationships among science and the arts. Project activities will be disseminated through the website hosted by the Rochester Institute of Technology, as well as social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. The project will also be promoted through science festivals and media events.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Manuela CampanelliHans-Peter BischofJacob Noel-Storr
'Be a Scientist!' is a full-scale development project that examines the impact of a scalable, STEM afterschool program which trains engineers to develop and teach inquiry-based Family Science Workshops (FSWs) in underserved communities. This project builds on three years of FSWs which demonstrate improvements in participants' science interest, knowledge, and self-efficacy and tests the model for scale, breadth, and depth. The project partners include the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California, the Albert Nerken Engineering Department at the Cooper Union, the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, and the New York Hall of Science. The content emphasis is physics and engineering and includes topics such as aerodynamics, animal locomotion, automotive engineering, biomechanics, computer architecture, optics, sensors, and transformers. The project targets underserved youth in grades 1-5 in Los Angeles and New York, their parents, and engineering professionals. The design is grounded in motivation theory and is intended to foster participants' intrinsic motivation and self-direction while the comprehensive design takes into account the cultural, social, and intellectual needs of diverse families. The science activities are provided in a series of Family Science Workshops which take place in afterschool programs in eight partner schools in Los Angeles and at the New York Hall of Science in New York City. The FSWs are taught by undergraduate and graduate engineering students with support from practicing engineers who serve as mentors. The primary project deliverable is a five-year longitudinal evaluation designed to assess (1) the impact of intensive training for engineering professionals who deliver family science activities in community settings and (2) families' interest in and understanding of science. Additional project deliverables include a 16-week training program for engineering professionals, 20 physics-based workshops and lesson plans, Family Science Workshops (40 in LA and 5 in NY), a Parent Leadership Program and social networking site, and 5 science training videos. This project will reach nearly one thousand students, parents, and student engineers. The multi-method evaluation will be conducted by the Center for Children and Technology at the Education Development Center. The evaluation questions are as follows: Are activities such as recruitment, training, and FSWs aligned with the project's goals? What is the impact on families' interest in and understanding of science? What is the impact on engineers' communication skills and perspectives about their work? Is the project scalable and able to produce effective technology tools and develop long-term partnerships with schools? Stage 1 begins with the creation of a logic model by stakeholders and the collection of baseline data on families' STEM experiences and knowledge. Stage 2 includes the collection of formative evaluation data over four years on recruitment, training, co-teaching by informal educators, curriculum development, FSWs, and Parent Leadership Program implementation. Finally, a summative evaluation addresses how well the project met the goals associated with improving families' understanding of science, family involvement, social networking, longitudinal impact, and scalability. A comprehensive dissemination plan extends the project's broader impacts in the museum, engineering, evaluation, and education professional communities through publications, conference presentations, as well as web 2.0 tools such as blogs, YouTube, an online social networking forum for parents, and websites. 'Be a Scientist!' advances the field through the development and evaluation of a model for sustained STEM learning experiences that helps informal science education organizations broaden participation, foster collaborations between universities and informal science education organizations, increase STEM-based social capital in underserved communities, identify factors that develop sustained interest in STEM, and empower parents to co-invest and sustain a STEM program in their communities.
In partnership with the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education, The Franklin Institute Science Museum will develop, test, and pilot an exportable and replicable cyberlearning exhibit using two cutting edge technologies: Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR). The exhibit's conceptualization is anchored in the learning research vision of the NSF-funded workshop Cyberinfrastructure for Education and Learning for the Future (Computing Research Association, 2005). The incorporation of VR and AR technologies into the Franklin Institute's electricity and Earth science exhibits is an innovation of traditional approaches to hands-on learning and will improve the quality of the learning experience for the primary audience of families with children and elementary school groups. The project has implications for future exhibit development and more broadly, will provide new research on learning on how to incorporate cyberlearning efforts into traditional exhibits. Fifteen participating exhibit developers across the ISE field will assist in the evaluation of the new exhibit; receive training on the design and development of VR and AR exhibits for their institutions; and receive full access to the exhibit's new software for implementation at their informal learning sites. The technology applications will be developed by Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center--leaders in the field in Virtual Reality design and development. Front-end and formative evaluation will be overseen internally by the Franklin Institute. The Institute for Learning Innovation will conduct the summative evaluation. Research will be conducted by the University of Pennsylvania's Graduate School of Education on the effects of AR and VR technologies on exhibit learning.
This is a recording of a NISE Network online brown-bag conversation held in December 2014 about the International Year of Light. In 2013, the United Nations proclaimed 2015 as the International Year of Light (IYL). More than 100 organizations from more than 85 countries are participating in IYL. During this conversation we discussed scientific organizations that would make great partners for IYL events, shared light-related activities and videos developed by the NISE Network, and talked about the science behind some of those activities.
The NISE Network has developed numerous activities and programs suggestions for the International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies (IYL 2015). The International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies (IYL 2015) is a global initiative that will highlight to the citizens of the world the importance of light and optical technologies in their lives, for their futures, and for the development of society. It is an unique opportunity to inspire, educate, and connect on a global scale.