Sea Studios Foundation will extend the Strange Days on Planet Earth multimedia initiative to raise public science literacy on pressing environmental issues. Based on pioneering Earth System Science research, Phase Two will be a media and outreach project focused on the ocean and water issues. The goal of the project is to increase public awareness and understanding of the scope and scale of key issues affecting the ocean. At the core of the project is a four part television documentary series for PBS primetime entitled Strange Days, Ocean. The programs will concentrate on four content areas: overexploitation of ocean resources, pollution, coastal development, climate change and the role of the ocean in Earth's system. Each episode is structured around a compelling scientific questions designed to engage the audience in a search for answers based on the most current research from the varied Earth System Science disciplines. The series focuses on explaining how scientists come to know what they know. The series will be complemented by activity-based learning supported by a national consortium of informal learning institutions, a citizen science program, training sessions for informal educators, and a project website. Collaborators include the National Geographic and three new major partners: Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Program to expand citizen science programs around invasive species; Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), dedicated to organizing college campus educational events; The Ocean Project (TOP), a network of 600 organizations; plus the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and eight other informal science institutions. Knight Williams Research Communications, and Public Knowledge and Cultural Logic will assess the impact of the series. The project will contribute to the field of informal science education by providing widely applicable communication lessons on ocean and water issues and a model methodology for creating science education media that is credible, informative, and relevant. The results of two unique adult learning case studies will be shared with the field through presentations at national meetings and workshops, and posted online.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mark ShelleyDavid EliscoTierney Thys
WNET is producing "The Human Spark," a multimedia project that includes a four-part television series (4 x 60 min) for national primetime broadcast on PBS, innovative outreach partnerships with museums, an extensive Web site and outreach activities, including a Spanish-language version and companion book. Hosted by Alan Alda, "The Human Spark" will explore the intriguing questions: What makes us human? Can the human spark be found in the differences between us and our closest genetic relative -- the great apes? Is there some place or process unique to the human brain where the human spark resides? And if we can identify it, could we transfer it to machines? The programs will explore these questions through presenting cutting-edge research in a number of scientific disciplines including evolution, genetics, cognitive neuroscience, behavioral science, anthropology, linguistics, AI, robotics and computing. The series will highlight opposing views within each field, and the interdisciplinary nature of science, including its intersection with the humanities. The series will develop a new innovative format, the "muse concept", which involves pairing the host with a different scientific expert throughout each program. The outreach plan is being developed with a consortium of four leading science museums, American Museum of Natural History in New York, Museum of Science in Boston, The Exploratorium in San Francisco, and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, paired with their respective local public television stations. An additional six museums and local broadcasters will be chosen through an RFP process to develop local initiatives around the series. Multimedia Research and Leflein Associates will conduct formative as well as summative evaluations of the series and web.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William GrantJared LipworthGraham CheddBarbara Flagg
SoundVision Productions is developing and distributing a series of ten, hour-long public radio documentaries that will explore the turbulent boundary between science and the humanities, capturing the present moment of tremendous scientific and scholarly ferment with the unique and intimate power of radio. By introducing the radio audience to the thoughts and voices of some of the world\'s most accomplished scientists, in conversations with the counterparts in the humanities, the series will look at recent developments in science including physics, molecular and cell biology, environmental science, cognitive psychology and neuroscience, and the multiple disciplines of the life sciences reflecting the increasingly subtle and widespread application of evolutionary theory. In each program, a careful account of new scientific ideas and discoveries will be placed within the context of historical and contemporary thought about the human and natural worlds. Barinetta Scott, the Executive Producer, has most recently been the Executive Producer for the highly regarded NSF funded NPR series, "The DNA Files." In developing this project, she will work closely with an advisory committee that includes: John Avise, Research Professor, Dept. of Genetics, University of Georgia Samuel Barondes, Professor and Director of the University of California San Francisco\'s Center for Neurobiology and Psychiatry Terrence Deacon, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Boston University Anne Foerst, Professor of Computer Science and Theology, St. Bonaventure University Ursula Goodenough, Dept. of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis William Irons, Professor of Anthropology, Northwestern University Gordon Kane, Professor of Physics, University of Michigan Jim Miller, Senior Program Associate for the AAAS Program of Dialogue Between Science and Religion W. Mark Richardson, Episcopal Priest, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology, General Theological Seminary Holmes Rolston, University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Colorado State University Michael Ruse, Professor of the Philosophy of Biology and Ethics, at Florida State University Mary Evelyn Tucker, Professor of Religion at Bucknell University Dorothy Wertz, Senior Scientist; Social Science, Ethics, and the Law; The Shriver Center.
WGBH is requesting funds to produce a four-hour NOVA television special with accompanying Web and outreach activities about the pervasive role of materials in our lives. The overarching goals of the project are to: 1) enhance public engagement in and understanding of materials science, including appreciation of its effects on society; 2) promote collaboration among educators, scientists and community-based organizations to reach a broad audience; and 3) create effective methods of expanding informal science learning that can be evaluated for their lasting impact on the field. The mini-series, "STUFF: The Materials that Shape our World," will offer an appreciation of the human and scientific factors that drive innovation in materials science, from ancient breakthroughs to today's explosion of biological and nanomaterials. The four episodes, themed around "Stronger," "Smaller," "Smarter" and "Cleaner" will provide a clear focus on the interdisciplinary nature of materials science and showcase dramatic stories of past inventions and exciting new discoveries. The NOVA team in association with the Materials Research Society (MRS) will produce the series. The "STUFF" series is anticipated to be broadcast on PBS in the fall of 2008. WGBH and MRS will work with local PBS stations to train local scientists in public outreach. Multimedia Research will conduct formative evaluation of the project components, and Goodman Research Group will conduct summative evaluation of both the series and the outreach efforts.
In Terrascope Youth Radio, urban teens develop, report, write, produce and host radio programming on environmental topics. Their work is broadcast and distributed nationally and online through partnerships with the Public Radio Exchange and numerous local stations. Terrascope Youth Radio leverages the success of the rapidly growing youth radio movement, empowering teen participants while reaching thousands of their peers with relevant, interesting and scientifically accurate information. The project has major impacts on three primary audiences: Urban youth, a notoriously difficult audience for messages having to do with science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Who better than their peers to understand what will interest, inspire and excite them? Through Terrascope Youth Radio they hear stories told in voices like their own, by other young people who understand what they care about and want to hear. The program's teen participants, who emerge with greater interest in STEM subjects, greater communication skills and valuable work experience that empowers them to continue their studies. Other youth radio programs nationwide, with whom Terrascope Youth Radio collaborates, helping their participants to acquire greater appreciation and understanding of STEM topics and strengthening their ability to present these subjects to their listeners. Some Terrascope Youth Radio special projects: In collaboration with New Hampshire Public Radio and Generation PRX, created two nationally distributed, hour-long specials about teens and the environment, produced entirely by young people from around the country. Worked with Boston Children's Museum to create an audio tour of green features of the museum's new LEED-certified building. This is now the museum's only official audio tour. Partnered with Hudson River Clearwater to create a series of Clearwater Moments, broadcast weekly on Northeast Public Radio.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ari EpsteinRafael BrasIrene GoodmanMichelle Farnum
This proposal will develop and disseminate locally developed STEM-rich audio programs for the traveling public, in particular vacationing families, using emerging traveler information technologies, traveling festival kits, and an interactive website. The project is linked to the 220-mile Eastern Sierra Scenic Byway that traverses a dramatic landscape, rich in natural resources and unique contributions to scientific research. Collaborators include the Eastern Sierra Institute for Collaborative Education and the University of California at Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael CollopyBarbara AndoJacque Ewing-TaylorSusan Szewczak Clark
To address a lack of informal science education opportunities and to increase community capacity to support STEM education for their children, Washington State University's Yakima Valley/Tri Cities MESA program, the Pacific Science Center, and KDNA Educational Radio have developed a set of informal science initiatives that offer complementary learning opportunities for rural Latino families. The goal of this four-year program is to create a sustainable informal science infrastructure in southeastern Washington State to serve families, increase parental awareness, support and involvement in science education and ultimately increase the numbers of rural Latino youth pursuing STEM-related under graduate studies. This program is presented in English and Spanish languages in all of its interconnected deliverables: Two mobile exhibits, beginning with one focused on agricultural and environmental science developed by The Pacific Science (PCS) Center; Curriculum and training in agriculture, life sciences and facilitating learning; Curriculum and training for community members to provide support to parents in encouraging the academic aspirations of their children developed by PSC and MESA; 420 Youth and parents from the MESA program trained to interpret exhibits and run workshops, community festivals, family science workshops and Saturday programs throughout the community; Four annual community festivals, quarterly Family Saturday events, and Family Science Workshops reaching 20,000 people over the four-year project; Take home activities, science assemblies, a website and CDs with music and science programming for community events; A large media initiative including monthly one hour call-in radio programs featuring science experts, teachers, professionals, students and parents, 60-second messages promoting science concepts and resources and a publicity campaign in print, radio and TV to promote community festivals. These venues reach 12,500-25,000 people each; A program manual that includes training, curriculum and collaborative strategies used by the project team. Overall Accesso la Ciencia connects parents and children through fun community activities to Pasco School District's current LASER science education reform effort. This project complements the school districts effort by providing a strong community support initiative in informal science education. Each activity done in the community combines topics of interest to rural Latinos (agriculture for instance) to concepts being taught in the schools, while also providing tools and support to parents that increases their awareness of opportunities for their children in STEM education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
James PrattD. Janae' LandisDonald LynchMichael Trevisan
"IPY: Engaging Antarctica" is an informal science education project designed to increase public awareness of Antarctic geological research and discovery during the International Polar Year. Submitted through NET Television, the project will produced a PBS one-hour television documentary for air on NOVA in fall 2008 (w.t. "Antarctica's Icy Secrets") complemented by a multi-faceted outreach effort. The intended impacts of "Engaging Antarctica" are to: 1) enhance the general public's awareness and understanding of scientific research conducted in Antarctica; 2) create innovative collaborations for developing and disseminating Antarctic educational materials; and 3) enhance our knowledge of how youth and adults understand Antarctic research. The documentary will illuminate geoscience research as it being accomplished throughout IPY and specifically focus on the ANDRILL project, a major focal point during the global campaign of polar education and analyses. The program will document how scientists search for evidence to resolve conflicting hypotheses regarding ice sheet history and dynamics. NOVA Online will create a companion site for the program. In addition, the outreach materials include the Flexhibit, a digital package of high resolution images and files (visual and audio) accessible via the web, at no cost to the user. These will include scientist's stories in their own words, and inquiry-based activities developed by LuAnn Dahlman, the TERC geoscience curriculum specialist. Dahlman will work with the ARISE educators who have been selected to go to Antarctica to work with the ANDRILL science team. Mini-grants will be given to youth organizations in low income communities to participate in the trial test of the Flexhibit activities and enable participation in the project. Multimedia Research will conduct front-end and formative evaluation. Summative evaluation will be conducted by Multimedia Research and Amy Spiegel, from the University of Nebraska Center for Instructional Innovation.
This project reached the underserved Hispanic audience with 200 ninety-second Earth and Sky programs in Spanish for broadcast on commercial and public radio stations, and longer programs (8-15 min.) with interviews with Hispanic scientists, teachers and writers who serve as role models for Hispanic young people. Programs were on the cieloytierra.org web site ith Spanish language science blogs, daily sky charts and links to other relevant Spanish and scientific web sites. Project partners included The Society of Mexican American Engineers and Scientists and the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.
WGBH plans to produce a special NOVA series, The Fabric of the Cosmos, based on the best selling book of the same name by physicist Brian Greene. The four 60-minute television programs will be the center piece of a multimedia project that employs multiple platforms including national primetime PBS broadcast, the PBS Web site, podcasts, and an educational outreach campaign that features "Cosmic Cafes." Project goals are to: 1) enhance the public's appreciation of physics by exploring the unfinished story of space and time; 2) find innovative ways of using animation and graphics for television, the Web and on the new media platforms to explain these concepts; 3) bring challenging and exciting ideas in science to people unlikely to encounter them elsewhere by holding public events in communities across the country; and 4) forge effective collaborative partnerships with the American Institute of Physics (AIP), American Physical Society (APS), National Society of Black Physicists (NSBP), American Library Association (ALA) and others to maximize impact of the project. Multimedia Research will conduct formative evaluation and Inverness Research Associates will conduct summative evaluation.
This project will create a series of half hour radio programs that will educate audiences about the environment and traditions of the northern Polar Region. Each radio program will be recorded in the wilds of Alaska and northern Canada during close contact with nature providing a direct authentic experience. Cultural anthropologist and author, Dr. Richard Nelson will host the programs on topics such as wildlife, ecosystems, weather and climate, glaciology, communities and land, and indigenous traditions. Distributors of the programs include the Alaska Public Radio Network, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and inserts in NPR's Living on Earth.