The Broadening Experience for Scientific Training: Beginning Enhancement Track ("BEST-BET"), an NSF INCLUDES Design and Development Launch Pilot project, draws upon the expertise of five research-intensive institutions that have developed innovative programing in career and professional development for doctoral and postdoctoral trainees in biomedical research. The goal of the project is to expand the scope and leverage the work so as to engage students earlier in their career exploration. Specifically, the project will target undergraduates who may not be aware of the multitude of career options available to them. These include opportunities in academia, the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, science communication, science policy, and technology transfer/patent law. The effort will focus on undergraduates who come from populations generally underrepresented in STEM fields, including but not limited to ethnically, racially and socioeconomically underserved communities. The grant will support educational opportunities for students at minority-serving institutions and will assess the impact of providing new opportunities to this community. The critical contributions of a diverse and inclusive community are essential to progress in all STEM fields. By promoting diversity in education, this project aims to engage undergraduate students at a point in their professional development that could enable participation in a wide range of workforce opportunities so as to advance the progress of science and national health.
The focus of BEST BET will be to use a collective impact framework to connect the "BEST network" of institutions to partners engaged in undergraduate education of students from underrepresented communities who are interested in the life sciences. The underlying premise is that career exploration focused on opportunities that go beyond physician training will enable engagement of this community of learners in the life science workforce beyond the pre-med track and keep them engaged in degree completion. Multiple strategies will be used to attain the goals of BEST BET. They are organized in the context of two major objectives roughly divided into the scope of planned activities. The first objective focuses on "career exploration" and offers strategies to assist partner institutions to build career and skill development capacities. The second is grounded in an enhanced experience of BEST site visits whereby undergraduates will have the opportunity to envision life as a graduate student and beyond. These strategies will likely enhance persistence to complete the baccalaureate degree and move onto doctoral programs.
As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments. This Change Makers project will establish Food Justice Ambassador corps across three cities in Massachusetts where youth will install, manage and learn the science and technology underlying hydroponics. The project takes a near-peer mentoring approach that empowers high school youth to take the lead in improving ethnic minority and low-income residents' access to healthy produce and to help educate middle school youth regarding the value of fresh produce in one's diet by learning the science of hydroponics. Youth will create story maps to visualize food accessibility in their communities. High school youth will work with their communities to establish hydroponic farms in middle school after-school settings. The food that is grown will be provided to the community through farmers' markets. Youth will share their work with a larger community of urban farmers at the Massachusetts Urban Farming Conference. This project seeks to understand the contribution on youth development by the model's three components: (1) STEM learning embedded in a social justice framework, (2) near-peer mentoring, and (3) youth purpose and career development. This will enable researchers to better understand how the project enables youth to learn STEM skills; apply them to a real life problem; learn the relevance of STEM skills for addressing personal, career aspiration, and social justice issues; develop a sense of purpose and aspirations related to STEM fields; and mentor other youth through the same process. The project will use a mixed-method, multi-site longitudinal study utilizing quantitative surveys, structural equation modeling, and qualitative interviews to study the intersections of the components of the project. As such, the study will address three key questions: 1) How do youth and mentors perceive and experience their roles as participants in the pedagogy? 2) What is the impact of the intervention on youth' sense of purpose, identity, career adaptability, work volition, critical consciousness, school engagement, STEM interests, and STEM intentionality? 3) What is the contribution of relational/mentoring and psychosocial/career adaptability aspects of the youths' contexts on their capacity to benefit from this program and to develop and sustain purpose and engagement in school and STEM? Most urban youth (and adults) have little knowledge of where their food comes from and have limited opportunities to learn how to grow produce as well as develop related skills that can lead to a career in a STEM field. This is particularly disconcerting as 55% of African Americans live inside central cities (90% in metropolitan areas) and over half of all Latino/as live in central cities (United States Census Bureau, 2011). This project entails the recruitment of low-income youth from populations underrepresented in science into a program where social justice concerns (food justice, food security) are illuminated, analyzed, and acted upon through the development of STEM knowledge and skills. Specifically, this project recognizes the potential for urban youth to become deeply knowledgeable citizens who can mobilize their STEM knowledge and skills to resolve social injustices such as food deserts. If successful, this project will provide a model that should be transferable to similar contexts to help broaden participation in STEM.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
George BarnettBelle LiangDavid Blustein
There is broad consensus in the international scientific community that the world is facing a biodiversity crisis — the accelerated loss of life on Earth brought about by human activity. Threats to biodiversity have been variously classified by different authors (Diamond 1989, Laverty and Sterling 2004, Brook et al. 2008), but typically include ecosystem loss and fragmentation, unsustainable use, invasive species, pollution, and climate change. Across the globe, traditional and indigenous cultures are affected by many of the same threats affecting biological diversity, including the
The attacks of September 11 2001 and in particular, the sending of letters containing anthrax spores the following October had a profound effect on society, and at the same time on science and its communicative mechanisms. Through a quanto-qualitative analysis of articles taken from four publications: two daily newspapers, the Corriere della Sera from Italy and the New York Times from the United States and two science magazines, Science and Nature, we have shown how the aforementioned events provoked the emergence of media attention regarding bioterrorism. A closer reading of the articles
Florence's La Specola Museum stirs up strong emotions. Among its collections, the valuable anatomical wax models created between the end of 17th and the beginning of 18th century stand out owing to their marvellous and provocative nature. The aim of this essay is to analyse the communication models epitomised by some of these works by means of historical semiotics, to nourish the widespread, but often underestimated assumption that science and the means used to spread it have always been influenced by intellectual suppositions and constantly interact with contemporary culture.
This award continues funding of a Center to conduct research and education on the interactions of nanomaterials with living systems and with the abiotic environment. The goals of this Center are to develop a predictive understanding of biological and ecological toxicology for nanomaterials, and of their transport and transformation in the environment. This Center engages a highly interdisciplinary, multi-institutional team in an integrated research program to determine how the physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials determine their environmental impacts from the cellular scale to that of entire ecosystems. The research approach promises to be transformative to the science of ecotoxicology by combining high throughput screening assays with computational and physiological modeling to predict impacts at higher levels of biological organization. The Center will unite the fields of engineering, chemistry, physics, materials science, cell biology, ecology, toxicology, computer modeling, and risk assessment to establish the foundations of a new scientific discipline: environmental nanotoxicology. Research on nanomaterials and development of nanotechnology is expanding rapidly and producing discoveries that promise to benefit the nation?s economy, and improve our ability to live sustainably on earth. There is now a critical need to reduce uncertainty about the possible negative consequences of nanomaterials in the environment, while at the same time providing guidelines for their safe design to prevent environmental and toxicological hazards. This Center addresses this societal need by developing a scientific framework of risk prediction that is paradigm-shifting in its potential to keep pace with the commercial expansion of nanotechnology. Another impact of the Center will be development of human resources for the academic community, industry and government by training the next generation of nano-scale scientists, engineers, and regulators to anticipate and mitigate potential future environmental hazards of nanotechnology. Partnerships with other centers will act as powerful portals for the dissemination and integration of research findings to the scientific, educational, and industrial communities, both nationally and internationally. This Center will contribute to a network of nanotechnology centers that serve the national needs and expand representation and access to this research and knowledge network through programs directed at California colleges serving underrepresented groups. Outreach activities, including a journalist-scientist communication program, will serve to inform both experts and the public at large about the safety issues surrounding nanotechnology and how to safely produce, use, and dispose of nanomaterials.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Andre NelYoram CohenHilary GodwinArturo KellerPatricia Holden
This article discusses a 1988-1990 study that analyzed the effectiveness of a collaborative effort between a museum and a school system to build an integrated curriculum package. The partners included the York County School System (VA) and the Yorktown Victory Center (operated by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation). The theme of the curriculum was 18th Century Medicine and the unit was designed to enhance the science, math, and social studies instruction of fourth graders.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ronald GieseJudy Davis-DorseyJoseph Gutierrez
The Museum of Science, Boston will develop an exhibit about Aging. It will be a 6000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit that will open in Boston during April, 2000 coinciding with the United Nations' International Year of Older Persons. The exhibit will provide visitors with an engaging and interactive environment in which to explore scientific, personal, and social aspects of aging. This exhibit will put a spotlight on the remarkable change that has been occurring as a result of in the increased survival rates for people of all ages contributing, among other things, to an increase in the number of older adults. This exhibit will be organized around four themes that will engage visitors in the exploration of the basic scientific research and impact of this change in demographics. The themes are: 1) the biological research that is seeking to understand how and why all living things age, 2) the impact of the physiological and psychological effects of the aging process of humans, 3) the influence of personal, social, and cultural factors on an individual's aging process and 4) the demographic, economic and public policy aspects of aging. There will be a number of complementary programs developed which will be packaged in a tool kit format that will permit museums borrowing the exhibit to develop those components that are allowed by their resources. These programs include a museum theater production that will invite visitors to think about aging in the context of their own society/culture; a world-wide-web resource to assist teachers and other community educators; and a series of multigenerational one-day programs to encourage interactions between different generations within a family or participating group. The exhibit will provide an opportunity for linkage with the needs of the formal education community. Its content addresses important parts of the formal science education curriculum as identified in the National Science Education Standards, Science for All Americans, and Benchmarks for Science Literacy.
This funding is for a planning phase of the Genome Radio Project, a multifaceted project that will produce 17 1/2 hours of radio programming, plus a variety of printed and electronic ancillary materials, exploring the science and social implications of human genetic research. The planning grant will enable the project team to develop further five key areas: o To work with advisors to define their process of editorial oversight and their involvement in the program ppoduction process; o To produce a half-hour documentary pilot program; o To use the pilot program to solidify distribution agreement with networks and major market stations; o To develop ancillary materials to accompany the pilot program and to determine mechanisms for the distribution of these materials; and o To conduct focus group evaluation of the pilot program and to define specific evaluation plans for the broader series.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barinetta ScottMatt BinderJudith Thilman
The Museum of Science and Industry will develop "Genetics: Decoding Life," a 4325 sq. ft. permanent exhibit about the basic principles of genetics, the Human Genome Project, new tools and technology to study life, and the biomedical and biotech applications resulting from genetic information. As a result of interacting with this exhibit, visitors will understand the basic principles of genetics, they will become familiar with the role of genes in the development of life, they will learn something about how and why scientists used genetic tools, and visitors will become aware of applications of these principles and the potential social, ethical, medical and economic outcomes. In addition to the exhibit there will be a number of complementary outreach programs. An electronic web site will be created, software used in the exhibit will be modified into a format suitable for use in schools, computers loaded with genetic programs will be loaned to Chicago public school groups, churches and other community agencies, and the content of the exhibit will be used to enhance special Lamaze and prenatal classes held at the museum. Special consideration will be given to developing the relationship between the project personnel and the staff of the Chicago Systemic Initiative. They will work together to produce a school program about genetics that will be suitable for grades 5 to 8. School materials will include a teacher's guide for the exhibit, a program of classroom activities, and materials to be used before and after a trip to the museum to see the exhibit.
The Genome Radio Project, through the Pacifica Foundation, will produce nine one-hour radio documentaries and a live two-hour Town Hall on current genome research. The goals of the project are: o to provide background information on the theories and techniques of human genetic science, o to raise the social, ethical, and legal issues and concerns associated with human genetic research, and o to provide an opportunity for the public to interact with the scientific experts and policy makers. The specific programs include: o DNA and Behavior: Is Our Fate in Our Genes? o Prenatal Genetic Testing: Better Babies Through Science? o Gene Testing; Do You Really Want to Know Your Future? o Gene Therapy: Medicine For Your Genes. o DNA and the Law o The Commercialization of Genetic Information o Eugenics, Past and Present o Race, Evolution, and Philosophy in the Age of Genetics o The Human Genome Project: Roadmap to the Human Body The radio programs will be supplemented by a variety of printed and electronic ancillary materials exploring the science, ethics, and social impact of human genetic research. The project will be under the Bari Scott who will serve as PI. She has most recently been Executive Producer for The Telecommunication Radio Project. The Co-PI's will be Mat Binder, an Independent radio producer and instructor at the University of California, and Jude Thilman, the Project Director/Host of The communications Revolution, the nationally syndicated, live series on new telecommunications technologies. The principal consultants responsible for the science content of the project will be Sylvia Spengler, Deputy Director of The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Human Genome Center and Lane Conn, Coordinator of the Human Genome Education program at the Stanford University Human Genome Center. The science consultants and production staff will work closely with approximately thirty genome scientists nationwide who have formally agreed to advise the project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barinetta ScottJudith ThilmanMatt Binder
A new, permanent exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Man will reflect the great scientific strides made in unraveling the mysteries of our uniquely human biology. The exhibit of 7,000 sq. ft. will take visitors on a 65-million year journey through time and even go beyond the present with glimpses of current technologies which will shape the future of human evolution. The exhibit development is being guided by a team of renowned scholars, museum professionals and community members in order to insure that the material is scientifically accurate, current and comprehensive. Evaluation and community input combined with engaging exhibitry will further enhance the informal science learner's experience. The exhibit will be about time, genetics and the environment. Dioramas, casts, artifacts and engaging interactives will convey the storyline. As a result of the development of culture, technology is refined and becomes intertwined with the human evolution. The exhibit will unify and draw together other halls in the museum. Further hands-on discovery will be encouraged in an outdoor archaeological site. Associated programming, which will foster the integration of research and education, will include a lecture series, on-line chats and guidebooks, as well as resources for teachers and students.