Engineering is arguably one of the most critical skills in any society, from building bridges and homes, to designing cell phones and life-saving medical devices. Yet many Americans do not consider engineering to be essential or relevant to their everyday lives, and may even question its positive impact on society. While there have been gains in the number of women and underrepresented minorities in STEM professions over the past few decades, their numbers in the field remain disproportionately low. The Built World integrated multimedia and research project therefore aims to expand access to engineering content through the lens of “inclusive engineering,” which highlights how problem-solvers of all ages, genders, backgrounds, and perspectives approach and overcome challenges to innovate. The project applies this concept through the creation of Built World, a three-hour documentary series for broadcast on PBS stations nationwide, and a complementary interactive escape game streamed live on Twitch, where individuals of all ages and backgrounds can play and solve engineering challenges together. There is a need for effective remote and virtual interaction to support informal STEM learning, and live streaming game platforms present a promising approach to filling this need. Built World is poised to advance the field through: (1) content - creating high-quality inclusive engineering content across multiple platforms to reach a wide audience (Built World documentary, digital reporting and short form videos, community outreach campaign); (2) applied research - designing and studying how live-streaming, collaborative platforms can serve as safe and inclusive spaces for engineering learning; and (3) best practices - exploring how audiences engage with inclusive engineering on different platforms—a traditional documentary format (Built World) versus an interactive, collaborative space (Twitch game)—and identifying what learning outcomes might be expected on each.
A three-phase research design aims to understand what motivates users to engage with STEM content on Twitch; how to define and measure learning outcomes associated with the platform; and how to mitigate the risk of toxic environments in online communities by fostering safe spaces for a diversity of gamers. Phase 1 informs the initial design of the Twitch game and audience interaction strategies and seeks to answer: What is the best way to measure informal learning on Twitch? What is the best way to design a Twitch channel to create an inclusive space while optimizing learner engagement? Phase 2 is the core focus of the research and uses a semi-experimental design to answer questions such as: Is there evidence of learning on Twitch, and what type of learning is happening? What is the digital culture that emerges? Phase 3 assesses the pairing of the documentary series with the Twitch game to maximize informal STEM learning and is guided by questions such as: How does inclusive engineering content presented on two platforms (Twitch game and Built World series) mediate learning outcomes? How does inclusive engineering content presented on two platforms shape learners’ experiences of inclusivity and belonging? Knowledge generated through the Built World project will offer tools and best practices to other STEM media producers so that they may also leverage live streaming platforms for learning.
The Lineage project was a collaboration between Twin Cities Public Television and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. The project included creation of a feature-length video program, a Virtual Reality game, and a set of hands-on activities designed for use by multigenerational audiences—all of which were incorporated as part of a series of seven Fossil Festival events at museums and other sites around the United States. This report presents findings from a set of external evaluation studies that examined impacts on families who participated in Fossil Festival events as well
From a strategic communication perspective, for any communication to be effective, it must be audience-centered, with content and delivery channels that are relevant to its intended target. When trying to reach culturally specific communities or other groups that are not otherwise connected with science research, it is crucial to partner with community members to co-create content through media that is appealing and culturally competent. This commentary considers some examples including storytelling through ‘fotonovelas’ and radio stories, community drama and serious games.
This NOVA multiplatform media initiative consisted of a 2-hour nationally broadcast PBS documentary, Polar Extremes; a 10-part original digital series, Antarctic Extremes; an interactive game, Polar Lab; accompanying polar-themed digital shorts, radio stories, text reporting, and social media content; a collection of educational resources on PBS LearningMedia; and community screening events and virtual field trips for science classrooms. Across multiple media platforms the project’s video content had nearly 13 million views.
The research explored the potential for informal STEM learning
The Exploratorium’s livestream of the August 2017 Total Solar Eclipse reached over 63 million people. Live programs in English and Spanish provided an informal learning experience outside the museum. Over 2.75 million people viewed on-demand videos on eclipse science. Sixty major media providers rebroadcast the livestream telescope feed.
Edu, Inc. conducted a summative evaluation of the NASA-funded project. The study reveals that the Exploratorium successfully disseminated eclipse science and STEM content through media channels and a mobile app, delivering a museum experience to online
In March of 2016, a total solar eclipse occurred in the southwestern pacific; and in August of 2017, a total solar eclipse occurred across a broad swath of the United States. The Exploratorium launched a 2.5 year public education program—Navigating the Path of Totality—that used these two total solar eclipses as platforms for sparking public engagement and learning about the Sun, heliophysics, and the STEM content related to both. These sequential eclipses provided an unprecedented opportunity to build and scaffold public engagement and education. Our strategy was to start the public engagement process with the 2016 eclipse, nurture that engagement with resources, activities and outreach during the 17 months between the eclipses, so that audiences (especially in the U.S., where totality was visible in multiple areas across the country) would be excited, actively interested, and prepared for deeper engagement during the 2017 eclipse. For the August 2017 eclipse, the Exploratorium produced live telescope and program feeds from Madras, OR and Casper, WY. The Exploratorium worked with NASA to leverage what was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for millions to bring heliophysics information and research to students, educators, and the public at large through a variety of learning experiences and platforms.
The core of this project was live broadcasts/webcasts of each eclipse. To accomplish these objectives, the Exploratorium produced and disseminate live feeds of telescope-only images (no commentary) of each eclipse originating them from remote locations; produce and disseminate from the field live hosted broadcasts/webcasts of each eclipse using these telescope images; design and launch websites, apps, videos, educator resources, and shareable online materials for each eclipse; design and deliver eclipse themed video installations for our Webcast studio and Observatory gallery in the months that lead up to each eclipse and a public program during each eclipse; and conduct a formative and summative evaluation of the project.
These broadcasts/webcasts and pre-produced videos provide the backbone upon which complementary educational resources and activities can be built and delivered. Programs and videos were produced in English and Spanish languages. As a freely available resource, the broadcasts/webcasts also provide the baseline content for hundreds if not thousands of educational efforts provided by other science-rich institutions, schools, community-based organizations, and venues. Platforms such as NASA TV and NASA website, broadcast and online media outlets such as ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and PBS, as well as hundreds of science institutions and thousands of classrooms streamed the Exploratorium eclipse broadcasts as part of their own educational programming, reaching 63M people. These live broadcasts were relied upon educational infrastructure during total solar eclipses for institutions and individuals on the path and off the path alike.
Polar Extremes: Enhancing Experiential Digital Learning is an integrated media and research project produced by the PBS science series, NOVA, that will bring polar science to informal learners through traditional storytelling and experiential, digital learning environments. Stark, cold, and seemingly frozen in time, the top and bottom of the Earth feel other-worldly, completely removed from our everyday existence. Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. The Arctic and Antarctic exert profound influence over our entire planet. Disturbances in these icy realms can send transformative ripples around the globe, altering the circulation of the atmosphere and oceans, and affecting every form of life. And although the poles might seem constant and everlasting, they--like our planet--are always changing, with a deep and complex past. NOVA will provide informal science learners access to specialized research happening at the ends of the earth, introducing them to today's scientists exploring the major drivers of the climate, uncovering the deep history of past paleoclimates, or perfecting climate and weather models. The project includes: a 2-hour nationally broadcast PBS documentary (working title Polar Extremes); a NOVA Polar Lab, an experiential interactive learning platform on polar science; and a Polar Exploration Initiative consisting of a 10-part YouTube series, a collection of 360 videos, virtual field trips, and social media reporting "on location" from Antarctica, along with other polar-themed video, radio and digital journalism. It also includes a research program conducted in collaboration with the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) to study how narrative-driven and experiential learning can foster informal learning in polar science across a diverse array of audiences. NOVA, the most popular science program on television, with a robust digital presence, will bring current polar science to millions. NOVA will use a range of media to transport viewers to remote polar locations, to interact with polar scientists, manipulate polar data, or vicariously explore the frozen tundra--using a mix of learning approaches. This project will develop and test the impact of two forms of informal learning: traditional narrative-driven storytelling and active, experiential learning. Both components will be developed through audience research, formative evaluation or pilot testing, and experiments. The overarching goal is to determine the best way to combine and leverage traditional and interactive media technologies to educate the public about polar science. How can these modes enhance learning outcomes? The study uses the Informal Science Learning "strand framework" developed by the National Research Council in Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits (2009). Because different age groups and socioeconomic backgrounds may engage differently with different types of learning materials and platforms, the project components are designed to test a variety of different learning approaches, with different audiences. This study will be one of the first to address the relative efficacy of various forms of experiential education and whether active versus vicarious experiential learning depends on the characteristics of the learners. As engagement technologies continue to evolve, this project will help inform how to best design and apply them effectively. The project will apply these new lessons specifically to present polar research to the public and to offer audiences an opportunity to explore and learn about these remote regions in new ways that bring them to life, make them relevant, and enhance learning outcomes. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning experiences, advancing innovative research on and assessment of STEM learning in informal environments, and developing understandings of deeper learning by participants. The project has co-funding support from the Office of Polar Programs (OPP).
DATE:
-
TEAM MEMBERS:
Paula ApsellLisa LeombruniJulia CortHunter Gehlbach
Lineage is a comprehensive educational media and outreach initiative that will engage individuals and families in learning about deep time and evolution, helping audiences come to newfound understandings of the connections between the past, present, and future of life on Earth. The project is a partnership between Twin Cities PBS (TPT) and the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and is linked to the opening of that museum's new Deep Time Fossil Hall in June 2019. The project includes a two-hour film for national broadcast on PBS, and a 20-minute short version for exhibition in science centers. The documentaries will show how scientists, using paleontology, genetics, earth science and other disciplines, can reconstruct in detail the origins of living animals like birds and elephants, revealing their ancient past as well as evidence of ecological change that can inform our understanding of Earth today. Extensive educational outreach will include the creation of "Bone Hunter," an innovative VR (Virtual Reality) game designed for family co-play that engages multiple players in the process of paleontology as they piece together a fossil in a digital lab. Bone Hunter and other collaborative educational activities will be deployed at Family Fossil Festivals that will attract multi-generational learners. One such Festival will take place at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., while others will be based at geographically diverse institutions that serve underserved rural as well as urban communities. Lineage is a collaboration between national media producers, noted learning institutions and researchers, including Twin Cities Public Television, the Smithsonian Institution / National Museum of Natural History, Schell Games, the Institute for Learning Innovation (ILI), and Rockman et al. One of the project's primary innovations is its exploration of new learning designs for families that use cutting-edge technologies (e.g. the Bone Hunter virtual reality game) and collaborative multi-generational learning experiences that advance science knowledge and inquiry-based learning. An external research study conducted by ILI will investigate how intergenerational co-play with physical artifacts compared to virtual artifacts influences STEM (Science Technology Engineering Mathematics) learning and engagement. The findings will lead to critical strategic impacts for the field, building knowledge about ongoing innovation in the free choice learning space. The project's external evaluation will be conducted by Rockman et al and evaluative findings, as well as the educational materials derived from the project, will be widely disseminated through partnerships with professional and educator groups. Clips from the Lineage film and related learning resources will be hosted on PBS LearningMedia, so educators can incorporate these resources into their classrooms, and students and lifelong learners can explore and discover on their own. The project outcomes will have broad impact on public audiences, deepening and advancing knowledge and understanding about important scientific concepts, and promoting continued, family-based collaborative learning experiences to expand and deepen STEM knowledge. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program, which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This includes providing multiple pathways for broadening access to and engagement in STEM learning.
The prevalent lack of research on the interrelations between science, research and popular culture led to the organization of the first International Conference on Science and Research in Popular Culture #POPSCI2015, which took place at Alpen-Adria-Universität in Klagenfurt, Austria, from 17--18 September 2015. The aim of the conference was to bring together not only science communication researchers with an interest in popular culture, but also other scholars, scientists and researchers, artists, media professionals and members from the general public. In this issue of JCOM we present four
In this paper I use the concepts “understanding of science” and “appreciation of science” to analyze selected case studies of current science communication in Denmark. The Danish science communication system has many similarities with science communication in other countries: the increasing political and scientific interest in science communication, the co-existence of many different kinds of science communication, and the multiple uses of the concepts of understanding vs. appreciation of science. I stress the international aspects of science communication, the national politico-scientific
COSI, in partnership with WOSU @ COSI, will be going forward with a project in which enhancements and other changes may be made to the WOSU exhibition space, entrance area, and adjacent hallway. This project may include, but is not limited to, introducing more elements of the PBS Kids brand, such as Sesame Street and Sid the Science Kid, into the exhibition space, introducing interactive elements regarding TV Production to the site, and adding loose parts to the Chroma Key exhibit. To inform decisions about the type and nature of enhancements most needed in the exhibit area, COSI desires to