Small Matters is a scientific storytelling project in response to a supplemental funding opportunity designed to pair an NSF Center for Chemical Innovation with an Informal Science Education organization. Meisa Salaita, Director for Education & Outreach for the Center for Chemical Evolution, and Ari Daniel, independent radio and multimedia producer and science journalist, collaborated on this project designed to increase chemical literacy in the general public and promote partnerships between scientists and informal science educators. In the tradition of folklore, educators have used storytelling to stimulate students’ critical thinking skills across and within disciplines, demonstrating an improvement in comprehension and logical thinking, enhancing memory, and creating a motivation and enthusiasm for learning. Within science, storytelling allows learners to experience the how of scientific inquiry, including the intellectual and human struggles of the scientists who are making discoveries. Accordingly, our project uses multimedia and live performance to engage the public in learning about chemistry through storytelling. We have developed a series audio pieces entitled Small Matters aimed at enriching public science literacy, namely within the chemical sciences. The format of these pieces includes standard public radio narrative style, short scientist-narrated nuggets, and imaginative sonic explorations of key chemistry concepts. The stories have been disseminated through a variety of broadcast media connections, including "Living on Earth" and local Atlanta public radio station WABE. In addition to the audio-based science journalism pieces that we have been producing, we have taken the stories we uncovered and brought them to live audiences, integrating chemistry, journalism, and the arts to create a human connection between our scientists and the public. The radio pieces were woven in with performances of poetry, comedy and satire in collaboration with literary performing arts group The Encyclopedia Show to create a live variety show (May 2013). In addition, scientists identified through our production of Small Matters were trained in storytelling techniques and brought together for an evening of live storytelling in Atlanta with The Story Collider (March 2014).
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TEAM MEMBERS:
NSF/NASA Center for Chemical EvolutionMeisa Salaita
'TV411 What's Cooking?' provides adults with low levels of literacy and numeracy with access to a free multi-media resource which delivers mathematics and science content in the form of an online cooking show. This series builds on a prior NSF planning grant (DRL 07-75623) and the research-based design of the TV411 educational materials while addressing biochemical, physical, and mathematical processes that occur in cooking and daily life. The project will be managed by the Education Development Center's Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA) project, in partnership with the Public Internet Channel, a New York-based Head Start Program, and formal education partners. The project's goals are to raise awareness of math and science content in daily life, overcome negative attitudes and behaviors related to science learning, and increase knowledge, vocabulary, and skills related to science and math while building capacity to use informal science education resources. Additional goals are to increase the capacity level of adult educators and informal workshop facilitators to teach basic math and science concepts. Finally, the project is designed to research strategies in which low-literacy adult learners utilize informal math and science resources in a Web 2.0 environment. Deliverables include six video segments that embed basic literacy and numeracy concepts in a cooking show format, 12 interactive web activities including games and simulations, and a reconstructed TV411 Online website with Web 2.0 features. In year 2, Spanish language videos and web lessons, customized toolkits for The Public Internet Channel, workshop materials for parents, and articles and reports for dissemination to education and informal learning networks nationwide are produced. The videos will be distributed on TV411 Online and the Public Internet Channel (pic.tv). The mixed-methods evaluation addresses four impact categories (awareness, engagement, attitudes, and behavior). An embedded evaluation approach will be used to determine knowledge gains, while behavioral and attitudinal questions will be asked separately in two web surveys given to random sample of 500 website visitors. Interviews are used to determine teacher perceptions of usability and effectiveness of materials. 'TV411 What's Cooking?' is projected to attract 1.5 million website visitors in the first year and an additional 500,000 each subsequent year. This well-researched project advances adult literacy and numeracy, while providing students participating in GED, adult basic education, and informal community-based programs with engaging STEM content.
Nebraskans for Public Television is developing the math strand in Reading Rainbow. Under this grant, the project will "re-purpose" 30 existing Reading Rainbow program for use in mathematics learning, produce two new math-focused programs, and institute a comprehensive outreach campaign. Books currently being considered for the new programs are Mama Bear, which looks at money and its uses and examines some simple economics; and Echoes for the Eye which explores patterns in nature. The outreach will solicit and involve families served by the National Urban League; recruit school and community-based children's librarians in the math-based literature effort; and expand the local public broadcasting outreach efforts related to the math focus of the series from the eight model stations in the previous year to all interested public television stations. The target will be to involve at least 75 stations in substantive outreach to families and schools. The project also will develop and disseminate a new print piece modeled after the very successful Math is Everywhere Reading Rainbow Teachers Guide which has been used by over 3,000 teachers. Twila Liggett will continue as Executive Producer and Project Manager and LeVar Burton will remain as host and Co-Executive Producer. Cecily and Larry Truett will be Supervising Producer and Producer/Director respectively. Advisors include Herbert Ginsburg from Teachers College, Columbia University; Lucille Mahon, Math Coordinator, NYC Community School District 2; Solomon Garfunkel, Executive Director, COMAP, Inc.; and Judith Jacobs, Director of the Center for Education and Equity in Mathematics, Science, and Technology at California State Polytechnic University.
This grant provides support for Season IV of The Magic School Bus, the fully animated PBS series targeted at youth ages 6-9. Components of Season IV will include 13 new episodes, educational support for teachers and youth leaders, dissemination and presentations at major educational conferences, promotion, and summative evaluation. The new programs will bring the total number of programs to 54 making it possible to broadcast the series as a daily strip without undue repeat broadcast which might cause the series to loose its freshness. All of the current principal staff of the project will remain for the fourth season. Cheryl Gotthelf will be PI and Executive Project Director. Jane Startz will be Co-PI and Executive Producer for the series and Michael Templeton will be a Co-PI and Science Content Director. Kristin Martin will continue as Supervision Producer.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Deborah ForteCheryl GotthelfJane StartzMichael Templeton
READING RAINBOW is a 25 part PBS children's television series produced by the Great Plains National Instructional Television Library, a part of the Nebraska Educational Television Network. It addresses the national problem of more and more youngsters reading less and less. This award-winning television series has been successful in using television to stimulate children ages five through nine to read good books. The series attracts an audience of 7.8 million children with ratings equal to those of THE ELECTRIC COMPANY and MR. ROGERS' NEIGHBORHOOD. Program evaluation shows equally enthusiastic responses from parents, teachers, librarians and, most importantly, children. Support will be provided for a series of five READING RAINBOW programs which focus on scientific themes. These episodes will be integrated into the on-going series and build on young children's curiosity and interest in the world as well as demonstrating to children how science relates to all aspects of their lives. In an increasingly technological society, children need stimulation to seek out books related to science, reinforcing early curiosity and strengthening life-long interest in science. Women and minorities are well represented on READING RAINBOW staff and in the productions themselves. Great care is taken to ensure a broad representation of people including racial and cultural groups, female and male, senior citizens and people with varying physical disabilities. Community outreach organizations involved include: the National PTA, American Booksellers Association, American Library Association, National Educational Association and the International Reading Association. In connection with the science series, Reading Rainbow staff will involve the National Science Teachers Association and a special public relations effort will be organized to promote READING RAINBOW to science museums and other organizations that conduct science education program activities for children.
READING RAINBOW is a multi-part PBS children's television series that encourages children ages five through nine to read good books. The program format involves book reviews through narration and illustration with an overall program theme set by a lead book. With support from NSF they have produced and aired five half hour programs devoted to science books and science topics as part of the READING RAINBOW series. The present proposal will add an additional eight programs that focus on scientific themes over the next four seasons of the program, demonstrating to children how science is integrated into all aspects of their lives and encouraging them to read science books. The series utilizes a thorough system of book and program topic review before material is selected for each program. Scientists, educators, librarians, teachers, parents, and children evaluate candidate books for interest, appropriateness, readability, and suitability for television treatment. READING RAINBOW programs are evaluated for effectiveness after they are produced to provide feedback for future programs. The resulting programs are having a substantial effect on home, school, and library. Booksellers are reporting dramatic increases in sales of reviewed books; librarians greatly increased requests for and use of materials. Recent READING RAINBOW book reviews have led to new covers and new marketing programs for books, and teachers are using materials during the school year following summer broadcast. Publishers, seeing an increased market for books for young children, are encouraging new work by authors and illustrators. A $750,000 award over three years is recommended: $250,000 for FY 87, and additional amounts of $250,000 in FY 88 and $250,000 in FY 89.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Twila LiggettStephen LenzenJack McBride
Award-winning Scholastic Productions, Inc. proposes to produce 39 fully animated, half hour television programs, based on the successful children's science book series, The Magic School Bus. We are seeking funding for the initial three seasons (13 episodes per season) which will be produced over a four year period. Designed as an informal science education series for PBS, it is targeted primarily for 6-9 year-olds, with special attention given to reaching girls and minority children. The series has clear science pedagogical goals: 1) to motivate children to further science study, 2) to present science facts, concepts and systems, and 3) to inspire positive attitudes towards science and education for students and teachers. Throughout the production, audience research and field testing will ensure that the programming is effectively meeting these goals. The series features a remarkable teacher, Ms. Frizzle, who takes her class on equally remarkable field trips. While other teachers may go to a museum, Ms. Frizzle leads her class onto a yellow school bus that shrinks (along with its students) to the size of a cell to journey through the human body, rocket into outer space, or travel into the eye of a hurricane. Thus, the series makes science tangible and relatable for an audience of children who are still concrete thinkers. We will create a broad outreach program, utilizing the publishing and distribution resources of Scholastic Productions' parent company, Scholastic Inc., (the largest publisher of children's materials in the English-speaking world), and other targeted organizations. Through viewer guides, series publicity and promotion, magazine editorials, community and after-school programs, we expect to reach a large and culturally diverse audience, including minorities frequently not served by PBS.
Reading Rainbow is an eighty (80) part PBS children's series (15 of which are science programs) that entices children five to eight years old to read good books, thus addressing the national tragedy of more and more young Americans reading less and less. The Emmy award winning series employs television to sell the joy of science and reading to young viewers. This proposal seeks funding for five additional Reading Rainbow programs which will focus on scientific themes. These programs will be added to the previously funded science programs (22) to become part of the on-going series in demonstrating to children how science is integrated into all aspects of our lives. The Reading Rainbow series premiered in the summer of l983 to phenomenal critical and popular acclaim. In the fall of 1990, Reading Rainbow expanded ta a year round, daily schedule-- after having spent seven years as a summer series. According to formal studies, the science shows are of great interest to children and pique children's interest in related science topics and books. The series is no in its tenth season and its popularity has grown among young viewers as well as with parents.
Nebraskans for Public Television are producing three programs in the "Reading Rainbow" series that focus on mathematics and developing and implementing a special math outreach effort aimed at parents with a secondary audience of teachers. The programs will take a literature-based approach to mathematics which helps make it possible ". . . for children to have the same authentic experiences with math that they are coming to have with language, social studies, science and the arts." (Read Any good Math Lately? by Whitin and Wilde). The goal of the project is to expand the impact of the "Reading Rainbow" series by: - integrating quality math-oriented books with science and literary selections into the series, and - making quality children's math-oriented books more visible to parents, public librarians, and teachers and to engage children's interest in reading about and exploring math in the real world. The outreach effort will develop a special math effort directed to parents, children, and teachers. A special publication for parents and a teacher guide will be created for the new math-focused programs. The producers will work with the Family Math Project at the Lawrence Hall of Science in training parents and children and will also direct community outreach efforts towards economically and socially disadvantaged families. This effort will engage these families in math related activities through partnerships with community-based organizations and local public television stations involved in PBS's Ready to Learn Project. Partnership organizations include the National Council for Teachers of Math, Girls Inc, The Connecticut Academy for Education in Mathematics, Science and Technology, EQUALS Family Math Project, and the Weekly Reader Corporation. "Reading Rainbow" partnerships also have been established between three SSI's -- Louisiana, Michigan, and Ohio -- and PBS stations in those states.
Reading Rainbow is a long running, highly acclaimed children's television series designed to engage children in reading. Over the years, the series has incorporated both a science strand and a mathematics strand. Nebraskans for Public Television is now producing two additional math-focused programs and one integrated math/science program. These programs will further integrate math-oriented books into the series, will heighten the visibility of quality children's math-oriented books, and will model how children can understand and enjoy mathematics and science in the world around them. Outreach will be coordinated with libraries and museums nationwide. The project also will expand the "Math for Families Workshops," which were previously developed, from 50 public broadcasting stations to 100 stations. The workshops also will be integrated into the PBS "Ready To Learn" endeavor.