KCTS, the public broadcasting station in Seattle, WA, is producing and distributing15 new half-hour episodes for the children's television series, Bill Nye the Science Guy. Topics being considered for these programs include: Caves Jungles Animal Behavior Entropy Home Demo Lakes and Ponds Felines Convection Smell and Taste Life Cycles Minerals Adhesives Atoms and Molecules Organs Comets, Asteroids, and Meteors The project also will include outreach to viewers, teachers, and parents by providing the following materials: A teachers kit to be distributed to 150,000 fourth-grade teachers nationwide Fifty thousand free copies of a printed parents' guide and 15-minuted video distributed through an off-air off and community partner groups Meet a Way Cool Scientist national print contest in which children will be invited to write and illustrate a profile of a scientist in their community Nye Labs Online, a Web site with series information, science topics, hands-on experiments, and an e-mail connection to Bill Nye and the production team Conference Presentations and workshops about the project's approach to science education for PBS stations, teacher groups, and the three partnering organizations, Girls Incorporated, the National Urban League, and the National Conference of La Raza Rockman Et Al will conduct a summative evaluation to extend the understanding of the show's impact on children's attitudes toward and understanding of science. It also will examine the size and composition of the in-school audience, and will assess the use and value of the outreach materials.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elizabeth BrockJames McKennaErren GottliebWilliam Nye
SoundVision Productions is producing new programs for "The DNA Files." This highly regarded and very successful radio series is designed to further public understanding of genetic science as well as the ethical, legal and social issues emanating from genetics and biotechnology. These five, new, one-hour programs and feature segments will be on topics that have emerged in recent years as significant developments in the realm of genetic research such as pollution prevention and reduction and the patenting of gene sequences and related genetic information. Specific topics tentatively planned for the new programs include: "The Ecology of Genetic Engineering," "The Genetics of Memory and Aging," "The Genetics of X and the Genetics of WHY," and "Genetic Diseases of the Brain." The programs and features will also introduce those products and processes that, while currently viewed as only future fantasies of the biotech industry, are likely to become real in one or another within the lifetimes of the current generation of public radio listeners. The major outreach component of the project will be via a World Wide Web site. This is a particularly appropriate medium for outreach for this project since demographic studies indicate that most members of the public radio audience have computers and are able to access the web. SoundVision will upgrade the present "The DNA Files" web site to become a more active and integrated part of the project. Every program will have a dedicated section on the web site that will provide expended information and resources beyond those included in the broadcast. The web will provide a forum for public interaction with the issues by engaging the scientists, related experts, policy makers and the public. The project also will make cassette tapes and transcripts of the programs available on request. The PI is Bari Scott, who is the Executive Producer for the series; Jude Thilman will serve as Project Director. The programs are hosted by NBC Dateline reporter John Hockenberry and distributed by National Public Radio. Project advisors in the field of genetics include Elbert Branscomb, Luca Cavalli-Sforza, Troy Duster, Charles Epstein, Ted Friedman, Henry Greely, Leroy Hood, Ruth Hubbard, Sheila Jasanoff, Arthur Kaplan, Daniel Kevles, Mary Clair King, Phillip Kitcher, Julie Korenberg, Michael Malinowski, Desmond Mascarenhas, Pilar Ossario, Gerald Rubin, Lee Silver, and Sylvia Spengler.
The Shape of Life is a major new documentary series that will take viewers on a journey to explore the kingdom of animals through the blueprints or body plans that shape every species alive today. Each episode will incorporate current advances in genetics, developmental biology, and evaluation, presenting them in a manner that is accessible to the lay audience. The series has been developed by the Sea Studios Foundation and is a co-production of Sea Studios Foundation and National Geographic Television. The eight, one-hour television programs will be supported by a consortium of informal science institutions that will implement ancillary programs in partner museums, zoos, and aquaria and by outreach materials, including print and a web site. Mark Shelley, President of Sea Studios, and Nancy Burnett, CEO of the Sea Studios Foundation, will be co-Executive Producers of the series. Chuck Baxter, Professor of Biology at Stanford University, will be the Science Content Director. Science advisors include: Richard C. Brusca, Marine Biology Graduate Program, University of Charleston; Mimi Koehl, Department of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley; Jane Lubchenko, Department of Zoology, Oregon State University; Rudolf A. Raff, Indiana Molecular Biology Institute; and Dennis Willows, Director, Friday Harbor Marine Station, University of Washington.
WGBH Educational Foundation is producing a four-hour documentary special, "Fire," to be broadcast as a NOVA special. The series will present the story of fire as an important but often overlooked key to understanding the natural world and our shared environmental history. Humans have used fire in virtually every aspect of our existence: for heat and light, as a tool and a source of power, for the private rituals of spiritual life and the monumental reshaping of entire landscapes. Fire acts as a significant agent of change in our world today, and the interaction of fire and humans is now acknowledged as a significant part of global climate change research and of biodiversity and ecosystem health studies. Fire will examine these and other powerful and fundamental scientific questions related to fire being explored today. The project will integrate fire history with an understanding of the scientific principles of fire chemistry and behavior, and it will link that knowledge with ecology, agriculture, forestry and resource management. An integrated outreach campaign will accompany the television series. It will be built around a resource kit, offered in both print and CD-ROM formats, with activities and other resources for families and youth organizations at the late elementary and early middle school level. There also will be special web pages within NOVA's award-winning web site that will include the "Fire" resource kit materials. The PI and Series Producer will be Judith Vecchione whose credits include the NSF-supported series on women scientists today, "Discovering Women." Paula Apsell, Executive Producer for NOVA, will be Executive-in-Charge. The Film Director will be Kirk Wolfinger whose prior NOVA productions include "Submarine!," "Titanic's Lost Sister," "Daredevils of the Sky," and "To the Moon." The Series Senior Advisor is Stephen J. Pyne, Professor of History at Arizona State University. Dr. Pyne is an environmental historian and author of the five-book "Cycle of Fire" suite. Other advisors include: Norman L. Christensen, Dean of the Nicholas School of Environment at Duke University; Johann Georg Goldammer, Senior Scientist and leader of the Fire Ecology and Biomass Burning Research Groups of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry; Robert Huggins, Servicewide Education Coordinator for the National Park Service; Elizabeth A. Povinelli, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago; Marcella Russell, Regional Liaison for the Massachusetts Parent Involvement Project; and Brian Stocks, Senior Fire Research Scientist at the Canadian Forest Service.
KCTS is producing Sci-Squad, a national weekly science education television series for children ages 8 to 10. The thirteen half-hour programs in the series will show a team of kids, the Sci-Squad, who use inquire and collaboration to seek the solution to a science problem. The team is led by Howzit, a young woman computer whiz. Working cooperatively the team investigates each scientific subject through a combination of first-hand experimentation, Internet surfing, field research, and visits to real-world scientists. Each of the characters models a different mode of science inquiry in search to a question the team receives at the beginning of each program. Youth who view the programs will be encouraged to follow along with the Sci-Squad and will be challenged to observe, measure, think critically, analyze results, and devise further experiments. Outreach materials to support science activities by viewers include an Explorer's Guide for youth, a Parents Guide, and a Guide for Teachers. There also will be collaborations with science and youth serving organizations such as Boys & Girls Club of America, Family Math, GEMS, Science Linkages in the Community, the National Science Teachers Association, the National PTA, and, for the Hispanic population, ASPIRA and the National Council of La Raza. Bill Jersey, President of Quest Productions, will be the Senior Producer, Director, and Co-Project Director. The creator of the project and Co-Project Director is Pierre Valette, a producer and writer of documentaries for Quest Productions and previously an Associate Producer in Children's Programming at WGBH. Elizabeth Brock will be the Executive-in-Charge of Production for KCTS. The Senior Science Consultant is Ted Ansbacher who previously was Director of Exhibits at the New York Hall of Science and Director of Education/Senior Scientist at The Chicago Museum of Science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bill JerseyPierre ValetteElizabeth BrockJeff GentesBarbara Flagg
Twin Cities Public Television (KCTA) is producing and evaluating a pilot for a new science series for children ages 8-12 to be produced in conjunction with Miami University of Ohio and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). Called Dragonfly, the pilot will be based on the children's magazine of the same name and will consist of segments presented by children that document their own science investigations and presentations by professional scientists of work in related fields. Each program will include two or more presentations by children, one or two presentations by scientists, a science challenge to be resolved within the show, one or two hands-on activities to engage viewers at home, and a presentation of children's artwork or poem in which they express their impressions of science and nature. The series would be coordinated with the Dragonfly magazine and with a parallel program, Dragonfly Quest, an Internet and youth-based activity pilot endeavor funded under another grant. The Executive Producer would be Richard Hudson, who has previously served as Executive Producer for Newton's Apple, a series also produced by KCTA. Chris Myers, of Miami University and creator of the magazine, will have primary responsibility for the science content, and Phyllis Marcuccio at the NSTA will be responsible for the coordination between the television project and the magazine, which is published by NSTA. The producers will work with an advisory committee that includes Gerald Wheeler, Lawrence Lowery, Joan McShane, Hardy Eshbaugh, Shawn Carlson, Kenneth Phillips, Milton Chen, James Steinbach, and Cheryl Gotthelf.
Twin Cities Public TV is producing 13 half-hour programs of a new science show for children to be on public television. The show would be based on the children's magazine, "Dragonfly," and would present children doing science experiments that they developed and planned themselves. From time to time, the children would be joined by adult scientists who tell of their own research, their discoveries, and their love of science. The goals of the project are to foster in children a greater interest in science and the process of scientific inquiry; demonstrate the parallels between children's scientific explorations and the research conducted by professional scientists; and feature and promote science projects involving under-represented communities, particularly ethnic minorities and girls. Outreach for the project will include a monthly "Young Investigator's Field Book," a Dragonfly TV teachers' companion multi-page insert that will be integrated into the NSTA grade school and middle school journals for teachers, and a Dragonfly TV website. The project also will establish community outreach partnerships with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the 4-H National Science and Technology Network.
The Educational Broadcasting Corporation (WNET) is producing 13 half-hour animated television programs to engage youth aged 8-11 in the fun and challenge of mathematics. Cyberchase will encourage viewers to develop and sustain positive attitudes toward mathematics, help increase their mathematics knowledge and skills, and actively involve them in mathematical reasoning and problem solving. The premise of the series is that a dastardly fiend is on a mission to take over cyberspace. Three youngsters are summoned into the cyberworld to stop him. Their only weapon: BRAIN POWER! Repeatedly, the young heroes find themselves in danger and must use math and logic to escape. In addition to the television series, Cyberchase materials and outreach will continue to involve children in mathematics. Outreach components include: A web component that provides mathematical activities and content 100,000 free copies of a Cyberchase magazine An insert in the 4th grade edition of Weekly Reader - reaching 30,000 teachers and 800,000 children. Teachers guide to facilitate classroom use of the series The incorporation of Cyberchase activities into the afterschool and weekend programs of Boys & Girls Clubs, the Urban League, and the AAAS Black Church Project The PI and Co-Executive Producer for the project is Sandra Sheppard, WNET's Director of Educational Video. The Co-Content Directors are Cary Bolster, Director of PBS Mathline's K-12 projects, and Michael Templeton, former Content Director of "The Magic School Bus." The Co-Executive Producer will be Kristin Martin, formerly Executive Producer for "The Magic School Bus." Advisors to the project include Glenda Lappan, Frances Curcio, Joel Schneider, Solomon Garfunkel, Laura Jeffers, Jimmie Rios, Susan Markowitz, Virginia Thompson, Simon Graty, Cyrilla Hergenham, Kay Gilliland, and Deborah Anne Robertson.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sandra SheppardMichael TempletonBarbara Flagg
National Public Radio (NPR) has been awarded a grant of $807,335 in declining amounts over a four year period for production of Science Friday, the weekly two-hour call-in radio show that deals with science topics. Over the four year period, NPR will make an increasingly larger commitment to the total budget of $1,763,768 until they assume total budgetary responsibility for the project in FY 2001. The series' goal is to make science easily accessible to the public and to help them realize the relevance of science and technology to everyday life. The format of the programs enables the public to engage in conversations with scientists and science educators to discuss contemporary science topics. Science issues anticipated to be included in future programs include: science and mathematics education, science literacy, science risk assessment and public policy, and the future of technology. In addition to the broadcast series, NPR will develop a web site for Science Friday which will distribute the radio series on demand via the Internet, bring Science Friday to cities and rural areas where the series is not broadcast, create live Internet chat groups where listeners can meet to discuss the program, provide sound bytes and audio files of guests, and create a "Science Day Book" which will be a calendar of events loaded with science opportunities for people in their own home towns. Science Friday also has established a joint project with Kidsnet, an established computerized clearinghouse for education through the media. Ira Flatow will continue as the series host and producer. Barbara Flagg of Multimedia Research has been engaged to assess the audience impact of the project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kevin KloseWilliam BuzenbergBarbara Flagg
Public Radio International (PRI) is developing and producing a three-year technology initiative in the internationally distributed news and information radio series, "The World." The series is co-produced by PRI, the BBC World Service, and WGBH/Boston. PRI will establish a Technology Desk and assign a reporter full-time to covering technology. In addition, "The World" will benefit from the full resources of the BBC Science Unit. Technology reports will be produced in several radio formats including: At least 26 direct news reports annually (approximately four minutes each); Technology updates in daily newscasts (approximately 52 minutes per year); A weekly Lab Report highlighting emerging technologies (approximately three minutes each); Three monthly in-depth features (Approximately five minutes each); Two major annual in-depth series of five installments each (approximately six minutes each). This emphasis on the latest technology developments will provide listeners with up-to-date information about important developments in such areas as nanotechnology and micro-electrical machines, quantum cryptography and genetic manipulation of agricultural products. In depth reports would cover topics such as the Human Genome Project and the influence of technology on archaeology. PRI will work with the Exploratorium in San Francisco to design and produce outreach components for the project. A web resource will be developed to extend and deepen technology covered in broadcasts over the radio. It will include further information about topics, directions for conducting experiments, transcripts of technology reports and bibliographies of additional resources. PRI and the Exploratorium also will implement a three-year pilot project to involve children from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in the creation of online broadcasts (webcasts) on technology-related themes. This element of the project will determine whether programming derived from a news program and produced by children for children is an effective production model and whether the model is appropriate for replication.
WGBH is producing a two-hour NOVA special that will examine the scientific undertaking to decipher all three billion letters of the human genetic code. The program will take viewers inside the labs where this effort is going on and will examine the difficult decisions that are arising from our growing understanding of the human genome. The central narrative thread in "The Human Blueprint" is the extraordinary race now going on between two teams striving to be the first to read, or "sequence," the human genome. On one side is the official Human Genome Project, funded by the federal government and coordinated by the National Human Genome Research Institute; on the other side is private industry, in the form of a well-financed company run by a biologist with a long track record of finding quicker, cheaper ways to plumb the secrets of the genetic code. To support the extended use of the series, "The Human Blueprint" will be featured in the NOVA teachers guide and will be the subject of an enhanced Web sit at NOVA Online. The Executive Producer for the programs will be Paula Apsell, Executive Producer for NOVA, and the series will be produced by Elizabeth Arledge who has produced science programming for WGBH, WNET and CBS News. Dr. Joseph Levine will serve as science consultant to "The Human Blueprint" and will work with the producer to plan program research, suggest sequence possibilities, review program treatments and critique the film at early stages. Dr. Levine has a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University and served as the science editor for the WGBH series "The Secret of Life." Advisors to the series include: W. French Anderson, Professor of Biochemistry and Pediatrics and the Director of Gene Therapy Laboratories at the University of Southern California School of Medicine; David Baltimore, President of the California Institute of Technology and Chairman of the NIH AIDS Vaccine Research Committee; Paul Berg, Director of the Beckman Center for Molecular and Genetic Research at Stanford University; Robin Blatt, Founder of the Genetic Resource at the Massachusetts Health Research Institute; David Blumenthal, Director of the Institute for Health Policy and Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital Robert Cook-Deegan, Director of the National Cancer Policy Board, Institute of Medicine and the Commission on Life Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences; Ronald G. Crystal, Director of the Gene Therapy Core facility at Cornell University Medical College; Georgia M. Dunston, Professor of Microbiology and Acting Director of the National Human Genome Center at Howard University; Philip R. Reilly, Executive Director of the Shriver Center for Mental Retardation; Lydia Villa-Komaroff, Vice President of Research and Professor of Neurology at Northwestern University.
The Self Reliance Foundation in association with the Hispanic Radio Network over a five year period will produce and distribute a variety of daily Spanish-language radio programs on science education topics and follow-up outreach services to network listeners on science education and career opportunities. The applicants will add two science related episodes each week to Buscando La Belleza, the four-minute daily radio series for families that focuses on social issues, work issues, women's rights, and educational and career opportunities. It is carried on 100 stations with a weekly cumulative audience of 2,567,000 listeners. The new episodes will include: 52 role model interviews with Hispanic men and women who have careers in science, mathematics, and technology from technical positions not requiring a college degree to Ph.D.'s engaged in cutting edge research; 26 family involvement episodes with suggestions for parents to build their confidence in helping their children with homework, doing simple science activities with their children at home, encouraging their older children in their studies, and working with schools and community organizations; and 26 academic and career resource/success stories highlighting Hispanic students who have been successful in their pursuit of careers in science, mathematics, and technology. The second series included under the grant is Salvemos Nuestro Planeta, a two-and-a-half minute series that focuses on environmental issues. It currently is carried on 89 radio stations twice a week with a total weekly cumulative audience of 2,494,300. The producers will expand the series to seven original episodes per week with five episodes focusing on science, mathematics, and technology themes: general science literacy, environmental management and technology, computers and information technology, environmental activities for youth, and SMET career opportunities. Outreach will consist of a national Spanish language toll free phone number that will refer listeners to resources related to opportunities for scholarships in science and engineering, activities and resources for parents and children in science education, etc., and in some cases, connect callers to the subject of that days interview. The PI will be Roberto Salazar who has been chief assistant to Vicente Llamas at the Comprehensive Regional Center for Minorities. He has been involved in numerous science education project for Hispanics and has a background in radio. The Executive Producer will be Jeff Kline. Major science consultants will be Vicente Llamas, Director of the Comprehensive Regional Center for Minorities, and Estrella Triana, Hispanic Science Education Director for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Roberto SalazarGilbert SanchezRobert Russell