"Il ciclotrone" is the weekly science programme of "Radio Popolare - Popolare Network". During the last 12 years, once or twice a month listeners have been able to directly ask questions to the guest scientists in the studios, or to express their point of view on some controversial scientific issue. Phone-ins at Radio Popolare are not filtered; regular and occasional listeners are used to communicate with or through the radio, and in doing so they contribute to the sense of spontaneity which characterise the programmes.
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Matteo MerzagoraSylvie Coyaud
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This book describes the similarities and differences between scientific inquiry in education and scientific inquiry in other fields and disciplines and provides a number of examples to illustrate these ideas. Its main argument is that all scientific endeavors share a common set of principles, and that each field including education research develops a specialization that accounts for the particulars of what is being studied. The book also provides suggestions for how the federal government can best support high-quality scientific research in education.
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National Research CouncilRich ShavelsonLisa Towne
The National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED) is a Science and Technology Center focused on understanding the processes that shape the Earth's surface, and on communicating that understanding with a broad range of stakeholders. NCED's work will support a larger, community-based effort to develop a suite of quantitative models of the Earth's surface: a Community Sediment Model (CSM). Results of the NCED-CSM collaboration will be used for both short-term prediction of surface response to natural and anthropogenic change and long-term interpretation of how past conditions are recorded in landscapes and sedimentary strata. This will in turn help solve pressing societal problems such as estimation and mitigation of landscape-related risk; responsible management of landscape resources including forests, agricultural, and recreational areas; forecasting landscape response to possible climatic and other changes; and wise development of resources like groundwater and hydrocarbons that are hosted in buried sediments. NCED education and knowledge transfer programs include exhibits and educational programs at the Science Museum of Minnesota, internships and programs for students from tribal colleges and other underrepresented populations, and research opportunities for participants from outside core NCED institutions. The Earth's surface is the dynamic interface among the lithosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and atmosphere. It is intimately interwoven with the life that inhabits it. Surface processes span environments ranging from high mountains to the deep ocean and time scales from fractions of a second to millions of years. Because of this range in forms, processes, and scales, the study of surface dynamics has involved many disciplines and approaches. A major goal of NCED is to foster the development of a unified, quantitative science of Earth-surface dynamics that combines efforts in geomorphology, civil engineering, biology, sedimentary geology, oceanography, and geophysics. Our research program has four major themes: (1) landscape evolution, (2) basin evolution, (3) biological sediment dynamics, and (4) integration of morphodynamic processes across environments and scales. Each theme area provides opportunities for exchange of information and ideas with a wide range of stakeholders, including teachers and learners at all levels; researchers, managers, and policy makers in both the commercial and public sectors; and the general public.
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Efi Foufoula-GeorgiouChristopher PaolaGary Parker
A real-time, online checklist program, eBird has revolutionized the way that the birding community reports and accesses information about birds. eBird provides rich data sources for basic information on bird abundance and distribution at a variety of spatial and temporal scales. By maximizing the utility and accessibility of bird observations made each year by recreational and professional bird watchers, eBird is amassing one of the largest and fastest growing biodiversity data resources in existence. The observations of each participant join those of others in an international network of eBird users. eBird then shares these observations with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. eBird documents the presence or absence of species, as well as bird abundance through checklist data. A birder simply enters when, where, and how they went birding, then fills out a checklist of all the birds seen and heard during the outing. Local experts review unusual records that are flagged by the filters. eBird data are stored in a secure facility and archived daily, and are accessible to anyone via the eBird web site and other applications developed by the global biodiversity information community.
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Cornell UniversityNational Audubon SocietyChris Wood
ScienceQuest is an innovative program created by the Education Development Center that fosters an interest in science and technology among adolescents ages 10-14. This program builds on the successful "ThinkQuest" model, in which small teams of 2-3 students work with adult coaches to research subjects of interest and share their knowledge through the creation of websites. "ScienceQuest" teams focus on science topics and are housed in HUD Neighborhood Network technology centers, located in communities with HUD-assisted or insured housing residents. Participants include individuals with and without disabilities from low-income urban areas. Students select a science topic and research it using online resources, hands-on experiments and visits to museums and science centers. Coaches such as scientists, teachers, museum staff and other role models, as well as on-line scientists, provide assistance by setting goals, devising an action plan and identifying appropriate resources. The "I-Search" model, a four-step strategy used to direct student inquiry, is used to guide investigations and aid in content acquisition. Once completed, websites are mounted on the "ThinkQuest" server. Parental participation is encouraged throughout the process. "ScienceQuest" will be piloted in the greater Boston area in year one, and disseminated to 75 Neighborhood Network sites throughout the country in years two and three of the grant. Each site may have one or more teams. With more than 500 Neighborhood Networks in place, "ScienceQuest" has the potential for widespread dissemination.
The planning project, "Is Global Warming Just a Lot of Hot Air?," is a consortium of twenty (20) research institutions, science centers and environmental organizations which will plan exhibits and outreach programs to address climate change and its affect on communities and ecosystems of northern New England. Research scientists will work with informal science educators to develop innovative approaches to presenting what is known about climate change. The planning project will investigate strategies for helping the 1.85 million visitors in the region understand the issues in relation to the landscape and social environment. There is a wide-ranging group of advisors drawn from science, research, classrooms and informal learning centers to guide the 18-month planning project.
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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Mitchel ResnickNatalie RuskBakhtiar MikhakMike PetrichKaren Wilkinson
Oregon State University will expand its successful Master Science Educators program and create a national model for the delivery of natural science education to elementary and middle school youth. Master Science Educators are volunteers who undergo a rigorous 30-hour training and commit to 50 hours of service to a community site, such as a community center, housing project or school. Volunteers work in teams of two so that each site receives 100 hours of service devoted to the research and development of a natural science project. Volunteers and on-site and off-site scientists who act as virtual volunteers, guide youth ages K-8, in the design, development and evaluation of their project. Wildlife habitat projects provide a means for participants to learn inquiry and are tailored to address local science standards. A trainer's guide, a volunteer handbook, a guide for community sites and promotional and training videos will be produced, as well as a web-based science course. It is anticipated that 240 volunteers will be trained to work with over 12,000 youth during the course of the project. Dissemination will occur through the 4-H Extension service, impacting both urban and rural populations.
During the 3 years of this project, 72 high school and middle school teachers and 36 students will work as members of atmospheric research teams studying each of ten airshed around the Portland, OR metropolitan area. Each summer's activities include a 4-week atmospheric interaction research course and a one-week air quality measurement campaign during a pollution episode. Transfer to the classroom is anticipated through action research projects during the academic year. An interactive webpage will enable all partners to access data, real time models of the atmosphere, and descriptions of the action research projects. A lead high school will serve as the Horizons-Air site for an airshed zone and will work collaboratively with four other middle/high schools, the Horizons-Met sites.
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Linda GeorgeDaniel JohnsonWilliam Becker
This Phase I SEPA proposal supports a consortium of science and education partners that will develop System Dynamics (SD) computer models to illustrate basic health science concepts. The consortium includes Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU), Portland Public Schools (PPS), Saturday Academy, and the Portland VA Medical Center. SD is a computer modeling technique in which diagrams illustrate system structure and simulations illustrate system behavior. Desktop computers and commercial software packages allow SD to be applied with considerable success in K-12 education. NSF grants to Portland Public Schools have trained over 225 high school teachers in Portland and surrounding areas. Two magnet programs have been established with an emphasis on systems and at least five other schools offer significant systems curriculum. Major components of this project include (1) Annual summer research internships at OHSU for high school teachers and high school students, (2) Development of SD models relevant to each research project, (3) Ongoing interactions between high school science programs and OHSU research laboratories, (4) Development of curriculum materials to augment the use of the SD model in the high school classroom or laboratory setting, and (5) Development of video materials to support the classroom teacher. Content will focus on four fundamental models: linear input/exponential output, bi-molecular binding (association/dissociation), population dynamics, and homeostasis. Each of these models is very rich and may be extended to a broad variety of research problems. In addition these models may be combined, for example to illustrate the effect of drugs (binding model) on blood pressure (homeostasis model). System Dynamics is an exemplary tool for the development of materials consistent with National Science Education Standards. SD was specifically developed to emphasize interactions among system structure, organization, and behavior. Students use these material as part of inquiry-based science programs in which the teacher serves as a guide and facilitator rather than the primary source of all content information; technical writing by students is also encouraged. Finally, these SD materials will provide a coherent body of work to guide the ongoing professional development of the classroom science teacher.
The Children's Museum of Houston (CMH) and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) collaborated to create and travel a museum exhibit on children's environmental health for a target audience of children 5-10, their parents, caregivers, and teachers. My Home Planet Earth (MHPE) is based on the NIH-funded, interdisciplinary My Health My World educational program developed at BCM and disseminated nationally through Carolina Biological Supply. The aims of the project are to: (1) expand understanding by children (ages 5-10) and their caregivers of the health consequences of human induced changes in the environment and increase their abilities to make healthful decisions through informal self-directed activities in a museum setting; (2) encourage linkages between formal and informal education settings by providing a model for connecting classroom-based curricula to museum-based exhibits and informal learning programs, based on the My Health My World educational materials and the My Home Planet Earth exhibit and support programs; (3) help parents provide additional environmental health-related informal learning experiences for their children, and promote awareness of science and health careers; and (4) partner scientists and educators in the creation of a model environmental health sciences exhibit and support program for the field of family-centered informal learning. The exhibit and support programs are in the process of touring 18 youth museums, science centers and health museums over six years of travel (2002-2008). An estimated 1.5 million visitors will participate in the project by the end of the tour in 2008. In addition to these visitors, 1,000 families will participate in MHPE Family Learning Events, 9,000 teachers will be introduced to the My Health My World curriculum-360 of whom will participate in a day long MHMW workshop, 36 scientists will partner with host museums to enhance the learning and community impact of the project, and 180,000 children will visit the xhibit during a school field experience.
The New York Hall of Science, partnering with biomedical researchers, educators and the Association of Science-Technology Centers, is planning to develop, test, (Phase I) and nationally disseminate (Phase II) a new exhibition titled Molecules and Health. This exhibition will engage middle and high-school students and the general public in inquiry-based learning on the role of molecules in health illness and prevention. The proposed project will be a national model for conveying the molecular basis for health-related sciences, which will be increasing central to research and public understanding in the coming decades. The exhibition will be based upon Marvelous Molecules-the Secret of Life, a permanent exhibition at the Hall of Science, and will include an extensive array of biomedical and health-related exhibits. We will develop pre- and post-visit materials for teachers' use, a family guide through the exhibition, and two Explainer-run demonstrations, as well as a web site to support classroom learning. This exhibition will travel to science centers within the United States through the Association of Science and Technology Centers touring program. We anticipate that 1,000,000 science museum visitors throughout the country will see the Molecules and Health exhibition during the four year dissemination phase. We will share the results of our evaluation and the process of developing this exhibition to the science education field.