This model science teacher retention and mentoring project will involve more than 300 elementary teachers in "Lesson Study" of inquiry science around school gardens. Drawing on the rich resources of the University of California Botanical Garden and the science educators at the Lawrence Hall of Science this project will develop Teacher Leaders and provide science content professional development to colleagues in four urban school districts. Using the rich and authentic contexts of gardens to engage students and teachers in scientific inquiry opens the opportunity to invite parents to become actively involved with their children in the learning process. As teachers improve their classroom practices of teaching science through inquiry with the help of school-based mentoring they are able to connect the teaching of science to mathematics and literacy and will be able to apply the lesson study approach in their teaching of other innovative projects. Teacher leaders and mentors will have on-going learning opportunities as well as engage participating teachers in lesson study and reflection aimed toward improving science content understanding and the quality of science learning in summer garden learning experiences and having context rich science inquiry experiences throughout the school year.
Twin Cities Public Television will produce six new episodes for the Dragonfly TV GPS (Going Places in Science) series in order to inform a mass audience of children, adults and educators about the revolutionary advances taking place in nanoscience and nanotechnology. The new programs will shine the DragonflyTV GPS spotlight on the network of science museums in the NISE Network, showcasing the new nanoscience programs and exhibits that are currently being developed. DragonflyTV, a weekly science television series targeted at children ages 8-12, presents children engaged in inquiry-based investigations, on-location in science centers across America. Each investigation will demonstrate the direct connection between learning experiences in science centers and the application of those lessons in everyday life. Each Nanoworld episode will apply the Dragonfly "Real Kids . . . Real Science" model, communicating both the scientific process and basic concepts in nanoscience. The DragonflyTV GPS will involve collaboration with the NISE Network, led by the Museum of Science in Boston, the Exploratorium, and the Science Museum of Minnesota. The episodes will be distributed by PBS Plus. Ancillary products will include an Educator's Guide, a Nanoworld poster, and a website featured on pbskids.org/go. Multimedia Research and will conduct formative and summative evaluations of the television production. Inverness Research will evaluate the collaborative process between TPT and the museum partners, and identify specific lessons learned by each group.
The X-Tech program will bring together the Exploratorium and staff at five Beacon Centers to create an innovative technology program using STEM and IT activities previously tested at the Exploratorium. At each X-Tech Club, two Beacon Center staff and two Exploratorium Youth Facilitators will work with 20 middle school students each year for a total of 300 participants. Youth Facilitators are alumni of the Exploratorium's successful Explainer program and will receive 120 hours of training in preparation for peer mentoring. Each site will use the X-Tech hands-on curriculum that will focus on small technological devices to explore natural phenomenon, in addition to digital imaging, visual perception and the physiology of eyes. Parental involvement will be fostered through opportunities to participate in lectures, field trips and open houses, while staff at Beacon Centers will participate in 20 hours of professional development each year.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Vivian AltmannDarlene LibreroVirginia WittMichael Funk
The Miami Museum of Science and Planetarium (MMS) received funding from the National Science Foundation in 2004 to develop and implement After-school Programs Exploring (APEX Science). APEX Science is a three-year project designed to enhance the capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) to deliver quality science after-school programming for children ages 5-10. This report provides the results of the summative evaluation which focused on the extent to which: 1) APEX Science curriculum increases CBO activity leaders' interest, awareness, and appreciation of science and level of comfort
To help guide the development of Season 7 (Do The Math!), this formative evaluation gathered feedback from third graders in response to three different materials: (1) a web-based game concept; (2) a web-based storymaker concept; and (3) The Misadventures of Buzz & Delete short videos. Cyberchase is the Emmy Award-winning mathematics series and website on PBS KIDS GO! using broadcast, web, new media and educational outreach to impact millions nationwide. Designed for children ages 8 to 11 and packed with mystery, humor, and action, Cyberchase's mission is to improve kids' problem-solving and
Impact of GLC On Teachers Over the four years of the project, GLC worked with 171 teachers and 7schools. The program had a dramatically positive impact on the teachers involved. The GLC staff did an excellent job of establishing relationships with participating teachers, teaching them to use Lesson Study techniques and how to use the school garden as a resource for learning and creativity. As a result, teachers' overall attitudes towards teaching improved. Lessons became more flexible and useful across the curriculum. The teachers involved were seen by GLC staff to have made observable
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Minda BorunUniversity of California Botanical Garden
Each class K-8 has chosen a species of local animal to study and collect NatureMapping data. K-spiders, 1st-butterflies and moths, 2nd- birds, 3rd-insects, 4th-reptiles, 5th-wildflowers and weeds, 6th-fossorial mammals. We have produce a native plant garden, a field guide that we add to each year, a school mural. We study on the schoolgrounds, at a local creek area, in a local canyon and on a local mountain so the students can compare common animals and plants from 4 different areas.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Karen Dvornich
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Boston Children's Museum will collaborate with Action for Boston Community Head Start Programs and Evergreene Research and Evaluation on an integrated research-to-practice project whose focus is science learning by pre-school age children. It will produce the following deliverables: a research-based Adult-Child Interaction Inventory (ACII) cataloging a spectrum of nonverbal and verbal interactions that occur during science engagement between parents, grandparents, or caregivers and young children; an ACII User Guide for museum professionals detailing how the inventory can be used for exhibit and professional development; a 2,800 sq ft Peep's World permanent exhibition informed by the ACII research; and a best practices survey highlighting effective strategies for eliciting positive adult-child interactions derived from a Community of Practice established by this project. The project will apply the research findings on nonverbal adult-child behavior to designing exhibits eliciting interactions supporting early childhood STEM learning. Project outcomes will benefit museum exhibit and program developers, preshool educators and families with children ages 3 to 5.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Gail RingelTimothy PorterAnn Marie StephanLorrie Beaumont
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Rhode Island Information Technology Experiences for Students and Teachers (RI-ITEST) is a comprehensive ITEST project for high school students and teachers. The goal of RI-ITEST is to prepare students from diverse backgrounds for careers in information technologies by engaging them in exciting, inquiry-based learning activities that use sophisticated computational models in support of a revolutionary science curriculum. It advances science education by enhancing the Physics First initiative in Rhode Island through the use of NSF funded student materials based on molecular modeling and promotes IT education by teaching modeling skills and providing students with career and vocational information on the use of computational models. The project provides over 120 hours of credit-bearing activities for 100 teachers and full support for classroom implementation. RI-ITEST is developing an optimal placement of the interactive materials from CC's Science of Atoms and Molecules project in the Physics First courses in Rhode Island; developing IT materials that are coordinated with the student materials that emphasize modeling skills and the career and vocational dimensions of computational modeling; preparing100 diverse Rhode Island science teachers in two cohorts to offer a course in the Physics-Chemistry-Biology sequence; developing materials and supports for using molecular dynamics and related IT materials for teachers in Rhode Island and elsewhere who are not ITEST participants; generating evidence for the effectiveness of the IT-enhanced project materials for increasing student learning and changing student attitudes about science, mathematics, and technology careers; reaching parents, guidance counselors, school administrators, and business partners with information about the project, student productions, and evidence for effectiveness; disseminating materials and findings to other teachers, programs, and districts nationwide.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Daniel DamelinGerald KowaiczykJames Magyar
The Minnesota Zoo and Eduweb will design and develop "WolfQuest," an online, 3-D, multiplayer videogame based upon the behavior, biology and social structure of the gray wolf. This dynamic interactive experience will allow learners to become a virtual wolf (avatar) to explore gray wolves within an authentic virtual replication of wolf habitat and social structure. The scientifically accurate graphic representations of the virtual environment will afford rich and robust learning of wolf behavior, biology and habitat ecology. Participants are intended to emerge from the learning experience with a clear understanding of wolf conservation issues in the real world. "WolfQuest" is supported by a website that will function as a self-sustaining community of learners who will participate in discussion forums with wolf experts, and receive ongoing gameplay information and interaction with other participants. Additionally, the project website will provide educational guides for parents and teachers, interpretive materials, incentives to reward participants' achievements acquired through "WolfQuest" gameplay and provide a link to informal environmental organizations throughout the country. The national informal education network will afford regional customization of "WolfQuest," as well as provide social interaction among participants and organizations. The national participant network will disseminate and promote the "WolfQuest" game and wolf-related science programs. Two kiosk installations will be deployed at the Minnesota Zoo and the International Wolf Center for extended learning opportunities at those sites. Project assessment will aggregate data on learners' content acquisition, attitudinal change, game engagement and will yield guidelines for the field on effective practices in development of science education games, along with appropriate methodologies for evaluating game-based learning.
This collaboration between the Franklin Institute and the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation identifies the role of crucial intermediaries in the science learning of children and points to the opportunities offered through a museum and library partnership to provide engaging science resources in under-resourced communities where many adults lack science expertise and confidence. Through an emphasis on literacy and science, LEAP into Science builds the capacity of after school leaders, teens and parents to be competent science learners and facilitators and to connect science centers, parents and libraries in support of the science learning and achievement of children. Project features include a workshop model for families with K-4 children, enrichment sessions for after school students, family events at the museum, professional development for library and after school youth staff, and a national expansion conference. The conference introduces the project to potential national implementation sites. Case studies of sites from this conference inform a research study investigating the obstacles, modifications and necessary support to initiate and sustain the program model. The formative and summative evaluation measure the impact of this program on children, parents, librarians, and teen workers at the libraries. Fifty-three Philadelphia libraries in addition to libraries in three cities selected from the implementation conference have a direct program impact on 10,000 people nationally, including 300 after school facilitators and children's librarians.
WGBH Educational Foundation will produce and distribute 10 new episodes of the award-winning TV series PEEP and the Big Wide World, launching a new initiative "Anywhere Math". In addition, funds will help launch an expanded PEEP Web site, and develop and evaluate an outreach plan targeted to Native American preschoolers. PEEP'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 promote the ideas of "science play", and (3) provide educational resources and professional development for preschool educators via a curriculum that contributes to the emerging field of preschool science and math education. Project partners include Head Start, Science Olympiad, Countdown to Kindergarten, and the Boston Children's Museum. The series is produced by WGBH and broadcast on TLC and Discovery Kids. This upcoming season the show will also be broadcast on public television via APT. Goodman Research Group will conduct formative and summative evaluations to assess project impact.