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.
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
The Experiential Science Education Research Collaborative (XSci) at the University of Colorado Denver has established a museum educator/theater network of eight museums around the country, pairing larger with smaller institutions. The Association of Science-Technology Centers, the NASA Astrobiology Institute, and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific and several other organizations also are collaborators. The primary audience is informal science educators; secondary audiences are museum and science center visitors. The Science Theater Education Programming System (STEPS) is a technology the allows educators to create their own media-enhanced live theatrical presentations of science programs that include dynamic content, interactive virtual characters, and multiple plot-lines and endings to shows. The initial set of theater programs focus on astrobiology, along with a suite of training programs and communication formats for educators. The STEPS technology allows these programs to be delivered both on site and via outreach, depending on the goals of each organization. An in-depth research component is examining the impact of the project\'s designed community of practice structure utilizing team leadership theory in terms of professional identity construction for participating informal educators. Deliverables include: the museum partnership network, the STEPS system and programs, professional development tutorials and workshops, evaluation of the programs, and research products, among others.
Evaluation findings demonstrate that the Engaging New Americans program at the Harvard Art Museum provides experiences that are of great value to local immigrant populations. Interviewees highly valued opportunities to look at original works of art, learn about the works of art in a meaningful and relevant context, and discuss and share their thoughts and opinions with others. These three program elements—opportunities for authentic close-looking, relevance and meaning-making, and sharing—proved to be highly successful aspects of the program. Includes interview protocols in English and Spanish
There is a movement afoot to turn the acronym STEM—which stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics—into STEAM by adding the arts. Science educators have finally begun to realize that the skills required by innovative STEM professionals include arts and crafts thinking. Visual thinking; recognizing and forming patterns; modeling; getting a "feel" for systems; and the manipulative skills learned by using tools, pens, and brushes are all demonstrably valuable for developing STEM abilities. And the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts have gotten
How can you carve out a museum space that’s less authoritative? And how you can make work that is smaller, more intimate in that same space? Kio Stark and Mark Allen discuss Machine Project, the Echo Park, Los Angeles exhibiting space that doubles as an interactive setting, an alternative performance venue, and an active agent in creating events around the local area, including in museums such as the Hammer.
A three-day art project in an afterschool program with no specific arts component illustrates the potential—and the challenges—of engaging children in creating art using recycled materials.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Angela EckhoffAmy HallenbeckMindy Spearman
The Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre (doing business as the Learning World Institute), in collaboration with informal science education venues, universities, and corporations in Chicago, San Diego, and Washington, D.C., is organizing a set of three professional conferences and a web site to encourage stronger national and local communities of practice around the application of arts-based learning (ABL) to informal science education. Arts-based learning is the instrumental use of artistic skills, processes, and experiences to foster learning in non-artistic disciplines. The goal is to apply ABL to informal science education in ways that can foster the acquisition of STEM skills that are important in today's workforce. The set of conferences, with a total attendance of 750, will focus on an understanding of current and potential ABL applications to workforce skill development, opportunities to practice ABL directly, and creation of a research agenda on the impact of ABL on science education. The web site (funded through other sources) will help conference attendees prepare for the workshops, provide opportunities for networking, aggregate resources, and host the research agenda.
Funded jointly by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the MacArthur Foundation, in partnership with the and Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) and Urban Libraries Council (ULC), Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums supports the planning and design of 24 learning labs in libraries and museums nationwide. The inaugural cohort of 12 sites ran from January 2012 to June 2013, and a second cohort of 12 additional sites began in January 2013 and will extend through June 2014. In addition to the primary awardees, most grants included additional institutional partners, resulting in a rich community including over 100 professionals from approximately 50 participating organizations (libraries, museums, universities, and community-based organizations). The labs are intended to engage middle- and high-school youth in mentor-led, interest-based, youth-centered, collaborative learning using digital and traditional media. Inspired by YOUmedia, an innovative digital space for teens at the Chicago Public Library, as well as innovations in science and technology centers, projects participating in Learning Labs are expected to provide prototypes for the field based on current research about digital media and youth learning, and build a "community of practice" among the grantee institutions and practitioners interested in developing similar spaces.
This report presents findings from a joint study carried out by the Museum of Science, Boston Research and Evaluation Department (MOS) and Art Beyond Sight (ABS, formerly Art Education for the Blind) with museum visitors who are blind or have low vision. The purpose of this study was to gather information that can inform the development of pilot museum programs that meet the needs and interests of visitors who are blind or have low vision and to provide professional development for museum professionals. Focus groups were used as the primary data collection method, as they enable idea sharing
The Civilians, Inc., a theatre company in Brooklyn, NY, is producing The Great Immensity, a touring play with songs and video that explores our relationship to the environment, with a focus on critical issues of climate change and biodiversity conservation. The play has been created with a network of partners including the Princeton Environmental Institute and Princeton Atelier Program/Lewis Arts Center, which will maintain an ongoing relationship with the project. The play uses real places and stories drawn from interviews conducted by the artists to create an experience that is part investigative journalism and part inventive theater. Attendance at the performances is projected to be about 75,000. A major goal of the project is to help the public better appreciate how science studies the Earth's biosphere and to promote an inquisitive curiosity about our place in the natural world. The initiative also intends to create and evaluate a new model for how theater can increase public awareness, knowledge, and engagement with important science-related societal issues. Project deliverables include the development and testing of online content, podcasts, and videos as well as special community education and outreach efforts in each community where the play is staged. Performances will be accompanied by post-performance panel discussions with the artists, local scientists and policy makers. After the completion of the initial tour, the play will be published, licensed, and made available to other theaters to produce independently.
The youth-based ITEST proposal, Invention, Design, Engineering and Art Cooperative (IDEA), will provide 100 students in grades 8-12 from the East Side of St. Paul, Minnesota with IT experiences in engineering and design. The content focus is mechanical and electrical engineering, such as product design, electronics, and robotics with an emphasis on 21st century job skills, including skills in advanced areas of microcontrollers, sensors, 3-D modeling software, and web software development for sharing iterative engineering product design ideas and maintaining progress on student product development. These technologies are practical and specific to careers in engineering and standards for technological literacy. During the three-year project period, a scaffolding process will be used to move students from exploratory activities in Design Teams in the 8th and 9th grades to paid employment experiences in grades 10-12 as part of Invention Crews. All design and product invention work will be directly connected to solving problems for local communities, including families and local businesses. For grades 8 and 9, students will receive 170 total contact hours per year and for grades 10-12, 280 contact hours per year. The participant target goal is 75% participation by girls, and African-American and Latino youth. Students participating in this project are situated within the country's most diverse urban districts with students speaking more than 103 languages and dialects. The schools targeted by this project average 84% of students receiving free or reduced price lunches, and have a population with 81% falling below proficiency in the Grade 8/11 Math MCA-II Test. To achieve the project goals of recruiting underrepresented students, and supporting academic transitions from middle and high school to college and university, the project team aggregated an impressive group of project partners that include schools, colleges, universities, and highly experienced youth and community groups, technology businesses that will provide mentoring of students and extensive involvement by parent and family services. Every partner committed to the project has a longstanding and abiding commitment to serving students from economically challenged areas.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Anika WardKristen MurrayRachel GatesDavid Gundale