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resource project Public Programs
The Adler Planetarium, Johns Hopkins University, and Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville are investigating the potential of online citizen science projects to broaden the pool of volunteers who participate in analysis and investigation of digital data and to deepen volunteers' engagement in scientific inquiry. The Investigating Audience Engagement with Citizen Science project is administering surveys and conducting case studies to identify factors that lead volunteers to engage in the astronomy-focused Galaxy Zoo project and its Zooniverse extensions. The project is (1) identifying volunteers' motivations for joining and staying involved, (2) determining factors that influence volunteers' movement from lower to higher levels of involvement, and (3) designing features that influence volunteer involvement. The project's research findings will help informal science educators and scientists refine existing citizen science programs and develop new ones that maximize volunteer engagement, improve the user experience, and build a more scientifically literate public.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Karen Carney Michael Raddick Pamela Gay
resource project Public Programs
The National Science Festival Network project, also operating as the Science Festival Alliance, is designed to create a sustainable national network of science festivals that engages all facets of the general public in science learning. Science Festivals, clearly distinct from "science fairs", are community-wide activities engaging professional scientists and informal and K-12 educators targeting underrepresented segments of local communities historically underserved by formal or informal STEM educational activities. The initiative builds on previous work in other parts of the world (e.g. Europe, Australasia) and on recent efforts in the U.S. to create science festivals. The target audiences are families, children and youth ages 5-18, adults, professional scientists and educators in K-12 and informal science institutions, and underserved and underrepresented communities. Project partners include the MIT Museum in Cambridge, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, and the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. The deliverables include annual science festivals in these four cities supported by year-round related activities for K-12 and informal audiences, a partnership network, a web portal, and two national conferences. Ten science festivals will be convened in total over the 3 years of the project, each reaching 15,000 to 60,000 participants per year. STEM content includes earth and space science, oceanography, biological/biomedical science, bioinformatics, and computer, behavioral, aeronautical, nanotechnology, environmental, and nuclear science. An independent evaluator will systematically assess audience participation and perceptions, level/types of science interest stimulated in target groups, growth of partnering support at individual sites, and increasing interactions between ISE and formal K-12 education. A variety of qualitative and quantitative assessments will be designed and utilized. The project has the potential to transform public communication and understanding of science and increase the numbers of youth interested in pursuing science.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Loren Thompson Jeremy Babendure Ben Wiehe
resource project Public Programs
The primary purpose of the STARS: Strengthening Teaching, Awareness and Resources in Science project from the Challenger Learning Center of the San Joaquin Valley is to build upon the CLC's resources and partnership in order to maximize the impact of informal science education in creating a STEM pipeline for the San Joaquin Valley region.  The goals are to promote lifelong learning among the general public regarding STEM fields and NASA's contribution to American society through a series of high-profile community events, strengthen K-12 partnerships to ensure the long-term utilization of the CLC as a STEM education resource, and further develop the CLC's partnership with the University of California Merced to ensure continuity of the STEM pipeline from K-12 to higher education, integrating informal science education to inspire students to pursue STEM learning throughout this progression.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Amanda Hartman
resource project Media and Technology
The NASA Science Research Mentoring Program (NASA SRMP) is an established mentoring program that presents the wonders of space exploration and planetary sciences to underserved high school students from New York City through cutting-edge, research-based courses and authentic research opportunities, using the rich resources of the American Museum of Natural History. NASA SRMP consists of a year of Earth and Planetary Science (EPS) and Astrophysics electives offered through the Museum’s After School Program, year-long mentorship placements with Museum research scientists, and summer programming through our education partners at City College of New York and the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. The primary goals of the project are: 1) to motivate and prepare high school students, especially those underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, to pursue STEM careers related to EPS and astrophysics; 2) to develop a model and strategies that can enrich the informal education field; and 3) to engage research scientists in education and outreach programs. The program features five in-depth elective courses, offered twice per year (for a total of 250 student slots per year). Students pursue these preparatory courses during the 10th or 11th grade, and a select number of those who successfully complete three of the courses are chosen the next year to conduct research with a Museum scientist. In addition to providing courses and mentoring placements, the program has produced curricula for the elective courses, an interactive student and instructor website for each course, and teacher and mentor training outlines.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Lisa Gugenheim
resource project Exhibitions
Montana’s Big Sky Space Education: NASA ExplorationSpace at ExplorationWorks CP4SMP grant goal was to stimulate youth and adult interest in human space exploration and STEM careers in communities across Montana, through exhibits, field trips, STEM classes, and public presentations by ethnically diverse NASA women scientists and engineers.

Project partners included Dr. Dava Newman, MIT Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Gui Trotti, Trotti and Associates; Dr. Angela DesJardins of the MT Space Grant Consortium at MT State University; the Montana Girl’s STEM Collaborative; the Montana Women’s Foundation ; Boeing; and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.

The grant’s objectives were:

stimulating general public interest in NASA’s human exploration of Space, facilitated through exhibits about space exploration and space careers, and
supporting STEM education, especially in robotics, computer science, and electro-mechanical inventions in elementary through high school students.
Outcomes included public awareness of this NASA mission, increased awareness of the role of the ISS, and increased interest of elementary girls in technology classes. This grant also led to the procurement/development of space-themed exhibits, including the national touring Black Holes exhibit, and exhibits on the ISS and the Mars rovers created by ExplorationWorks.

Four exhibits were produced: the Knowledge Station, MarsWalker, NASA Women in Aerospace (including Newman’s Biosuit) and “Women in Space,” a national touring exhibition showcasing Dr. Dava Newman’s prototype Mars BioSuit and NASA’s ethnically-diverse women scientists and engineers.

NASA CP4SMP grant support also opened the door to:

a Boeing Corporation investment in robotics systems appropriate for 1st through 8th graders,
expansion of our after-school Girl Tech for low-income girls,
the introduction of after-school and summer Sci Girls for 4th through 6th grade girls,
an annual Girl’s STEM Round-up STEM career immersion day for 5th through 12th grade girls, showcasing young Montana STEM career women as mentors
challenges in accommodating all the children and youth who wish to enroll in our year-round robotics classes.
the introduction of Girl Scout robotics-focused (“Bots and Bling”) Overnights at ExplorationWorks. Families travel 4 to 6 hours to participate in the Overnights, made possible by an ancillary grant from the Montana Women’s Foundation.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Nikki Anderson
resource project Media and Technology
Mission to Mars engages 6th-8th grade students in the science, engineering and careers related to Mars exploration. The program is led by the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, and includes as partners Challenger Learning Centers in Woodstock, IL, Normal IL and three NASA Centers (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center, and Johnson Space Center). The project aims to:

Link, via videoconference, urban and rural middle school students from low income communities in an exploration of space science
Develop and launch programs that showcase NASA Center research
Enrich middle school curricula and promote learning about NASA’s space missions with experiences that inspire youth to pursue in NASA-related STEM careers.
Programs and products produced include:

3 videoconference program scenarios that highlight research being conducted at NASA Centers
Pre- and post-event curriculum materials designed for middle school classrooms
Teacher professional development workshops
Communication support for NASA professionals
iPad apps utilized during the program
Since the program launched five years ago, Mission to Mars has served 7,676 students. MSI seeks to provide opportunities for all learners, and works to remove barriers to participation in high-quality science learning experiences. Mission to Mars allows MSI to engage more Chicago Public Schools (where 86% of students are economically disadvantaged) in real and relevant science experiences that may lead to STEM careers.

As MSI’s CP4SMP grant comes to an end, the Museum has committed to continued delivery of the program through 2 Mission to Mars Learning Labs, offered to 6-8th grade school groups visiting on field trips. Live videoconferencing with JPL and Johnson will occur during roughly half of the sessions. Our Challenger Learning Center partners will integrate Mission to Mars activities, materials and iPad apps into their own Mars-themed programs. Together these efforts extend the transformative hands-on science experiences developed under the Mission to Mars grant to a whole new audience of middle school students and teachers.
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TEAM MEMBERS: David Mosena
resource project Media and Technology
The Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) CP4SMP program, Methods of Increasing Awareness of Comparative Planetology and Climate Science with Science On a Sphere in Museum Settings, intended to educate our audiences about planetary exploration missions, illuminate climate science through comparative planetology, and produce new educational materials, interpretation techniques, and knowledge that facilitate more effective informal education on these themes nationally. DMNS was the lead organization on this program, but collaborated closely with other institutions involved in the Science on a Sphere® (SOS) user community. This program achieved its intentions to: (1) boost literacy in climate science, (2) build awareness of NASA’s space science missions and the relevance of NASA Earth observing satellites to contemporary issues of global change, and (3) evaluate the effectiveness of different modes of employing the SOS system with diverse audiences. We capitalized on our unique combination of scientific expertise in planetary science and spacecraft exploration, our considerable experience in digital media development, informal science education, exhibit design, educational research, and museum evaluation. Over the duration of the project we: (1) developed visually exciting and compelling SOS programming on comparative planetology and climate science using NASA mission data; (2) tested different modes of presentation of SOS to determine how this technology can be best utilized in informal science contexts; (3) investigated how visitors perceive and understand scientific data presented on SOS; and (4) created teacher professional development workshops to reach K-12 formal educators both locally and nationally. The DMNS CP4SMP NASA grant created opportunities to positively impact climate literacy for millions of DMNS visitors over the five-year period.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Scott Sampson Steve Lee Ka Chun Yu Eddie Goldstein Andrea Giron
resource project Media and Technology
The MyDome project will bring 3D virtual worlds for group interaction into planetaria and portable domes. Advances in computing have evolved the planetarium dome experience from a star field and pointer presentation to a high-resolution movie covering the entire hemispherical screen. The project will further transform the dome theater experience into an interactive immersive adventure. MyDome will develop scenarios in which the audience can explore along three lines of inquiry: (1) the past with archeological reconstructions, (2) the present in a living forest, and (3) the future in a space station or colony on Mars. These scenarios will push the limits of technology in rendering believable environments of differing complexity and will also provide research data on human-centered computing as it applies to inquiry and group interactions while exploring virtual environments. The project proposes to engage a large portion of the population, with a special emphasis on the underserved and under-engaged but very tech-savvy teenage learner. Research questions addressed are: 1. What are the most engaging and educational environments to explore in full-dome? 2. What on-screen tools and presentation techniques will facilitate interactions? 3. What are the limitations for this experience using a single computer, single projector mirror projection system as found in the portable Discovery Dome? 4. Which audiences are best served by exploration of virtual hemispherical environments? 5. How large can the audience be and still be effective for the individual learner? What techniques can be used to provide more people with a level of control of the experience and does the group interaction enhance or diminish the engagement of different individuals? 6. What kind of engagement can be developed in producing scientific and climate awareness? Does experiencing past civilizations lead to more interest in other cultures? Does supported learning in the virtual forest lead to greater connection to and understanding of the real forest? Does the virtual model space experience excite students and citizens about space exploration or increase the understanding of the Earth's biosphere? The broader impacts of the project are (1) benefits to society from increasing public awareness and understanding of human relationships with the environment in past civilizations, today?s forests and climate change, and potential future civilizations in space and on Mars; (2) increasing the appeal of informal science museums to the tech-savvy teenage audience, and (3) significant gains in awareness of young people in school courses and careers in science and engineering. The partners represent a geographically diverse audience and underserved populations that include rural (University of New Hampshire), minority students (Houston Museum of Natural Science) and economically-distressed neighborhoods (Carnegie Museum of Natural History). Robust evaluation will inform each program as it is produced and refined, and will provide the needed data on the potential for learning in the interactive dome environment and on the optimal audience size for each different type of inquiry.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Annette Schloss Kerry Handron Carolyn Sumners
resource project Media and Technology
This project will develop a comprehensive Space Weather Outreach program to reach students, educators, and other members of the public, and share with them the discoveries from this scientific discipline. The Space Science Institute will capitalize on its prior successes and the success of other education programs to develop a comprehensive and integrated program that has the following five components: (1) the Space Weather Center website that includes online educational games; (2) Small Exhibits for Libraries, Shopping Malls, and Science Centers; (3) After-School Programs; (4) Professional Development Workshops for Educators, and (5) an innovative Evaluation and Education Research project. Its overarching goal is to inspire, engage, and educate a broad spectrum of the public and make strategic and innovative connections between informal and K-12 education communities. Partners include UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory; the American Library Association; Macerich: a mall developer with nationwide impact; and the Math, Engineering, Science Achievement program. The project brings together a creative collaboration between exhibit designers, graphic artists, formal/informal educators, and research scientists. The project spans a full spectrum of science communication strategies (formal, informal, and public outreach). The evaluation part of the project will examine how well the project elements work together and a pilot research study will explore the efficacy of online digital games for communicating complex space weather content. Results will be published and the findings presented at professional meetings and online. The three-year project is expected to impact well over two million people, including exhibit and website visitors and outreach visitors at various venues such as libraries and malls.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Paul Dusenbery James Harold Lisa Curtis Brad McLain
resource project Public Programs
Founded in 1999, the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures are non-technical illustrated public lectures, presented on six Wednesday evenings during each school year at Foothill College, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley. Speakers over the years have included a Nobel-prize winner, members of the National Academy of Sciences, the first woman in history to discover a planet, an astrophysicist who is an award-winning science fiction writer, and many other well-known scientists explaining astronomical developments in everyday language. The series is jointly sponsored by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the SETI Institute, NASA's Ames Research Center, and the Foothill College Astronomy Program. In-kind funding and staff time is contributed by the sponsoring organizations. The lectures are held and videotaped in the 950-seat Smithwick Theater in Los Altos Hills. Thanks to a generous grant from an anonymous local donor, each lecture is now video and audio taped, professionally edited, and made available free of charge on a number of web sites. Videotaped lectures include: * Frank Drake discussing his modern view of the Drake Equation, * Sandra Faber on how galaxies were "cooked" from the primordial soup, * Michael Brown explaining how his discovery of Eris led to the demotion of Pluto, * Alex Filippenko talking about the latest ideas and observations of black holes, * Natalie Batalha sharing the latest planet discoveries from the Kepler mission, * Anthony Aguirre discussing how it is possible to have multiple universes, and * Chris McKay updating the Cassini discoveries about Saturn's moon Titan.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Andrew Fraknoi
resource project Public Programs
We have a wide spectrum of informal programs that include museum-based programs, afterschool programs, an NSF AISL project on science identity formation in girls, observatory visitor center programs, night-based programs, programs for Native American groups, undergraduate student-based outreach programs,and professional development for informal educations.
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TEAM MEMBERS: Stephen Pompea