Talk of the Nation: Science Friday is a weekly two-hour science talk show hosted by science correspondent Ira Flatow. This summative evaluation implemented by Multimedia Research involved collecting information via a two-sided one-page mailed survey to minority and white scientists in virtually all of Science Friday's broadcast areas in the lower 48 states. Data were collected from September to June, 1999-2000. The main thrust of this evaluation was to explore possible differences in the way ethnic groups (white, black, Spanish-origin) respond to Science Friday. Scientists were chosen as
This article discusses the methodology, key findings, and implications of a 1998-1999 evaluation conducted by the US Holocaust Memorial Museum of its educational programming for school groups. The evaluation examined the impact of the school programs as well as guided future programming decisions.
The "Bridges to Understanding Children's Museums" publication is a seven-chapter research report of the field of children's museums. This excerpt from chapter 5 includes a policy study highlighting some of the issues museums and other nonprofits confront in questions of funding and support.
This article discusses "The Big History Lesson," an educational program at the Michigan Historical Museum in which teachers and students use the museum as their classroom for a week for a lively, in-depth study of Michigan history. This project is a model of teaching and learning that makes a real world, hands-on, personal history connection for students.
Science Under Sail: Russia's Great Voyages to America 1728-1867 opened in May 2000 at the Anchorage Museum of History and Art (AMHA) for a five-month run. Developed by Curator Barbara Sweetland Smith and designed by Presentation Design Group, Science Under Sail was a 5,340-square-foot exhibition consisting of 44 elements, including text and graphic panels, cases with artifacts and specimens, audio stations, ship models, dioramas, and interactive elements. Overhead banners separated the exhibition into five sections: Why did they sail? Where did they go? How did they get there? What did they
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Beverly SerrellAnchorage Museum of History and Art
With this planning grant, the staff of the Bucks County Historical Society will work with a group of museum professionals and community representatives to develop plans for interactive exhibits that have science and math content that will be placed in an outdoor park. They want visitors to learn about the science, history, and aesthetics of early American hand tools and technology by experiencing various hands-on activities. The planning activities will include meetings of the planning committees, front-end evaluation, and the testing of some prototype activities. At the end of the twelve month planing period they will have 1) a better understanding of their audience and their knowledge of the science and technology to be presented in the exhibit, 2) a schematic design for the activities to be included in the park, 3) plans for complementary educational activities, and 4) results of prototype testing of selected activities.
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) will develop Window on Catalhoyuk: An Archaeological Work in Progress. The project will include a 4,500 sq. ft. exhibit, a World Wide Web site, an exhibit cookbook for archaeology interactives developed for the exhibit, and a suite of related classroom activities. Catalhoyuk is currently the most important archaeological site in Turkey and among the most significant cultural heritage monuments in the world. It consists of two mounds located on either side of an ancient river channel. The larger mound has Early Neolithic age occupation levels (9000 and 7500 years ago) and represents one of the largest known Neolithic settlements, holding links to the beginnings of agriculture, animal domestication, and the rise of urban complexity. The smaller mound consists of more recent occupations (7500 to 5000 years ago). Together they may record nearly 10,000 years of human occupation. SMM has been a partner, along with the Turkish team, in the Catalhoyuk Research Project since its inception in 1993 and has the responsibility of developing public programs and for bringing the research findings before a worldwide audience. Unlike a traditional approach where the results of archaeological research appear years after the excavations, this project will focus on the process of archaeology giving visitors the opportunity of learning about the workings of contemporary archaeology and the nature of scientific inquiry, along with the important insight into the beginning of Mediterranean civilization. The exhibit will be updated annually for two years to reflect new results of ongoing fieldwork. The project addresses the National Science Education Standards, particularly those related to science as inquiry and to the history and nature of science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Donald PohlmanNatalie RuskOrrin Shane
Treasuring our Natural Heritage: Natural History and Environmental Science Education is a multifaceted project that will be developed by the Idaho Museum of Natural History. Their goal is to heighten an understanding of issues surrounding the concept of biodiversity among the general public. By using the metaphor " the economy of nature," they will present three concepts: biodiversity which will include the idea of keystone species, natural capital, and extinction debt & conservation biology. This approach and the use of this metaphor is based on pre-exhibit research work that demonstrated that rural Idahoans understand this as a system of exchange, where each species holds a different 'occupation' and a variety of occupations is critical to the health of the economy. This project will bring participants in touch with the value of scientific research through presentations by scientists whose recent research results will provide a deeper understanding of the living systems around them. Views of elders from Idaho's Native American tribes will be included to add a critical human dimension. With this award they will develop a series of three small traveling exhibits, three-part educational video series for public broadcasting, and three multimedia science kits for use by children's groups on each of the three concepts noted above. With this multifaceted design it is anticipated that this program will reach 50% of Idaho's 1.2 million people. It is anticipated that the exhibits will become generally available once they have completed their circulation in Idaho.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stefan SommerAllen JacksonAmy LaffertyAndrew GibbonsAlbert Strickland
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.
Learning to Work with the Public in the Context of Local Systemic Change is a five-year Teacher Enhancement initiative to build a knowledge base and develop the necessary tools and resources for teachers and administrators to engage with their parents and public in pursuit of quality mathematics, and to prepare teacher leaders and administrators to successfully lead these efforts in their schools. The project has three major components: (1) focused and sustained work with teachers, administrators, school boards, parents and the public in strategically located current and potential NSF-supported Local Systemic Change communities; (2) the development and implementation of mathematics sessions and materials designed for parents/public and informed by the project's research/findings, and the preparation of teacher leaders and administrators to conduct these sessions within their own communities; and (3) dissemination conferences and other outreach activities. More specifically, the project will (a) engage in studies that identify the elements critical for successful intervention with parents and the public, (b) develop materials that can be used by lead teachers and other educational leaders to work with peer teachers and the broader public in their home communities, and (c) provide the professional development necessary to support implementation. The plan of work for the project is designed around the following questions: (1) What does it take to secure a public that is knowledgeable of issues in mathematics education and knowledgeable of what it means to teach important and relevant mathematics for understanding? (2) Will a knowledgeable public support and/or actively advocate for mathematics reform? If so, what is the nature of their advocacy? (3) What impact will a knowledgeable and/or proactive public have on the efforts of current and potential Local Systemic Change (LSC) projects to improve the quality of mathematics instruction in schools? (4) Are there critical times during mathematics restructuring efforts when parent engagement is essential? If so, what are those times and what is the nature of support needed? (5) What are the critical issues and caveats that need to be considered in designing and delivering successful mathematics education sessions for parents and the public? (6) What kinds of public engagement can best be accomplished by teacher leaders working within their own communities? What kinds of support do local leaders need in order to work successfully with parents and the public? (7) What kinds of public engagement can best be accomplished by national mathematics education leaders who come into a community on a limited basis? The work to be performed in the project is a carefully designed effort to develop a more practice-based understanding of the critical elements needed for productive public involvement in support of quality mathematics. Sites participating in the plan of work are Portland (OR), St. Vrain (CO), and San Francisco (CA). Resources and tools (e.g., deliverables) planned include professional development materials that can be used by teacher leaders and administrators as they work with peer teachers, as well as with parents and the public; rough-cut video tapes that are potentially useful in these professional development sessions; and a website. Cost sharing is derived from participating school districts and the Exxon and Intel Foundations.
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Ruth ParkerJaneane GolliherDominic PeressiniLisa Adajian
The Maryland Science Center requests $1,586,279 to develop "Titanic Science." The Maryland Science Center will develop an 8,000-square foot interactive traveling exhibition focusing on recent scientific and forensic investigations surrounding the Titanic tragedy of 1912. A planning grant from NSF enabled key personnel to participate in the five-week 1998 scientific expedition to the Titanic wreck site and interact with professional scientists. This expedition will target the general public and provide educational services for students in grades 6-9. The exhibition will travel to 15 host sites and be seen by over 2.5 million visitors. To help parents and educators make the most of this exhibition, a Titanic Explorers Kit and teachers guides will be developed.
Ways of Knowing, Inc. is developing "The Writing Project," two one-hour television documentary programs about the science (the archeology and written history, anthropology, and cognitive science) of writing systems and, at the same time, about "creative writing," from cuneiform tablets to e:mail. The programs will show how writing is a different thing from speech, and how it did not evolve, like speech, but had to be invented. The goal of the project is to inform a wide, general audience about the most important technological invention since the beginning of civilization, to introduce them to the science of writing systems (grammatology), and to create an original "Introduction to Writing" for colleges and high schools. During this planning phase, the staff will conduct the research needed to bring order and focus to the topic and develop a treatment for presenting the topic in the two films. The PI and his colleagues would draw upon the wisdom of numerous experts in the field of science of writing including three world renowned scholars: William Bright, University of Colorado, Professor Emeritus, UCLA, and editor of "Written Language and Literacy;" Peter Daniels, author, scholar, lecturer on grammatology, and editor of "The World's Writing Systems;" and Victor Mair, Professor of Chinese at U-Penn. On the literary side, writers to be interviewed in the planning phase include Kurt Vonnegut, Elmore Leonard, and Helen Vendler. Specific costs involved in the nine-month planning phase include travel; producer, writer, and researcher fees; fees to consultants; and mini conferences of experts.