The Land Information Access Association seeks funds to support planning activities related to "Listening to the River," a project that will ultimately result in a new model for engaging teens and adults in environmental activities that can be transferred to other community groups and institutions. This long-term project focuses on an environmentally and regionally meaningful topic (i.e. watersheds), brings together teens and adults in scientific discovery, transforms these explorations into radio segments and creates a children's museum exhibit. Planning grant activities include: (1) a program summit to build new partnerships with informal-learning organizations and reinforce existing community networks; (2) assessment of the potential for a scalable, model project; and (3) focus and refinement of program goals and objectives.
National Geographic Television requests $1,121,583 (35%) of a total project budget of $3,192,249, to produce a documentary series in 13 half-hour and one hour-long special, "Facing the Wild: The Crittercam Chronicles," with associated informal science education materials and programs. This project will feature the natural histories of some of the Earth's most enigmatic and charismatic marine species, highlight the groundbreaking technology employed to study these extraordinary creatures and celebrate the scientists who devote their lives to understanding marine creatures. The project's goals include: to educate audiences about the vital importance of the world's oceans to the health of the planet; to celebrate the ingenuity of novel technology developed for science and exploration; to illustrate that many tantalizing mysteries remain yet unsolved and a great deal of exciting science and exploration has yet to be done; to provide viewers with scientific role models and help motivate them to pursue careers in science. Employing cutting-edge remote imaging tools, including "crittercam", and National Geographic's trademark storytelling, Facing the Wild's strong conservation message is designed to appeal to a national and global audience. A robust web site, virtual teacher workshops and Student Ocean Conferences will augment the impact of the series.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Greg MarshallKeenan SmartBarbara Flagg
The long-running and highly successful National Public Radio series "Science Friday" is venturing in new directions. Given that basic research underlies all of the technological advances influencing our world and that tax dollars pay for that research, the public needs to be informed about the basics of research. To address this need for public education, "Science Friday" will examine the importance of research as a theme underlying all science and technology changes by: Finding the research roots at the bottom of each story; Exploring the cooperation among corporations, private institutions, and research foundations and illuminating how each plays a role in the research process; Following the research "bumps" along the road to illustrate that research success depends upon failures -- not all research produces positive results; Illuminating the barriers to successful research; Helping listeners understand the thought process of researchers; Scaling the "ivory tower" by enabling listeners to question and talk directly with researchers; and Helping listeners understand the role of basic research in policy-making. Ira Flatow, the host, will take "Science Friday" on the road and produce programs in Oklahoma, Iowa, Michigan, Massachusetts, Arizona and other locations. He also will visit schools and universities and will speak at public events. NPR also will reactivate the "Science Friday Kids Connection" which will take each week's program and its guest scientists directly into classrooms across the country.
The ZOOM children's television series, which reaches over 5.4 million children each week, teaches viewers the scientific processes as well as delivering science and mathematics content. The outreach materials and activities provide viewers with opportunities to explore, experiment and share their creativity. WGBH is requesting $1,303,776 of a total budget of $3,977,936 to produce 20 new shows for the ZOOM series. There also will be a new ZOOM campaign, the ZOOMsci Club, which will provide a unique way for kids to deepen their science and math knowledge while engaged in ZOOM's hands-on activities. The campaign includes: the new television programs, new print materials and outreach activities, and a new area of the ZOOM website that includes an on-line forum for kids to share results of their experimentation. ZOOM has been chosen by PBS as the first children's "local/national" show. This PBS initiative capitalizes on the strength of local public television stations and provides the opportunity for stations to customize ZOOM to serve the needs of their local markets. The stations can produce and insert segments that honor local kids for their volunteer activities and feature local kids answering questions. Stations also can localize outreach activities, producing their own local ZOOM websites and launching ZOOM Into Action campaigns to motivate kids to volunteer.
Education Development Center (EDC) is developing and implementing a three-year project to promote the informal learning of key basic mathematical concepts and skills among undereducated adults throughout the country. The effort will be part of EDC's Adult Literacy Media Alliance (ALMA). The principal components of the project will be: Ten new, half-hour episodes of the television series, TV411, which is currently carried by approximately 100 public television stations. The new programs will shift the emphasis of the series from reading literacy to mathematics skills. In addition to covering a broad array of mathematical concepts, procedures and vocabulary, the programs will have an explicit focus on problem-solving strategies and attitudes about mathematics. A multi-level national outreach and marketing campaign to attract viewers and users to the materials and to increase carriage of the series. An in-depth implementation effort will be conducted with outreach partners is six large metropolitan areas. EDC will adapt the outreach, marketing and promotion aspects of this focused effort so that it can be used by all television stations that commit to carry the series. Formative and summative evaluation to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the materials and to inform the understanding of the impact on viewers and users of these types of materials.
Each month, the American Institute of Physics (AIP) will produce twelve, 90-second television news reports that demonstrate the relevance of research to society, including animated descriptions of the underlying science principles. The peer-reviewed reports are offered for sale on an exclusive basis to one station in each of the 211 principal television markets. The service currently has 84 subscribers with the potential to reach approximately 62% of the total US television households. AIP is actively seeking additional stations that will purchase the service. They have plans for the service to become self-sustaining when 170 stations become subscribers. AIP has a working coalition with numerous scientific societies including American Geological Institute, American Mathematical Society, American Meteorological Society, American Society for Mechanical Engineers, and Universities Research Association. The television production staff relies on story ideas provided by the range of scientists represented in these societies as well as from journal articles, university press releases, and other findings from research institutions. Once a treatment is developed for a story, outside science experts are asked to review it for accuracy and to comment on its validity and reliability. A "Know More" web component offers audiences an opportunity to find out more information about a science story.
WGBH is producing and disseminating two seasons of a daily, half-hour television science series and accompanying outreach for three to five year olds. The series will be carried nationally as part of Discovery Television's newly expanded Discovery Kids. The project, "Peep and the Big Wide World," will model a developmentally-appropriate process of inquiry and exploration, nurture young children's innate curiosity, catalyze further hands-on exploration of the world around them, and motivate parents and care-givers to support and encourage these activities. The television programs will combine animation and short, live-action segments. The animation will weave the early childhood science curriculum into stories about three birds and their animal friends as they explore the world. Science content, unifying concepts, and habits of mind will be reinforced through two-minute live-action segments that show kids engaged in science play relating directly to the previous story. The television series will be supported by a comprehensive "Anywhere Science" outreach component of the project. "Anywhere Science" reinforces the fact that opportunities to experience and enjoy science exist in most facets of life. It will offer a range of activities -- through both web and print materials -- that can be enjoyed by just about anyone, just about anywhere. "Anywhere Science" is being designed to show parents and caregivers how important it is to support children's curiosity and how easy it is to engage in activities that help develop their science "habits of mind." The outreach campaign will be built around the new National Association for the Education of Young Children professional development standards and Head Start's science framework. The content director for "Peep and the Big Wide World" is Karen Worth, Senior Scientist at the Education Development Center and the Co-Director of the Center for Urban Science Education Reform. She is also the Principal Investigator of "Tool Kits for Early Childhood Science Education" that is developing national standards for preschool science education. The Executive Producer for the project is Kate Taylor who has previously served as Executive Producer for"ZOOM," " Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego," and "Degrassi Junior High." The creator of PEEP and animation artist is Kai Pindal, former Head of Animation at Danish Television. The head writer is Kathy Waugh who has written four seasons of the Emmy winning children's series, "Arthur." Evaluation will be conducted by Rockman et al. Advisors for the series include Barbara Bowman, President of the Erikson Institute for Advanced Study in Child Development; Diane Levin, Professor of Education at Wheelock College; Tera O'Hora, Consultant and Workshop Facilitator for "Science Beyond the Sandtable;" Kathy Paget, an early childhood educator working as a science curriculum developer and evaluator of science-related educational projects at the Technical Education Research Center; Diane Whitehead, a Quality Initiative Coordinator for the National Head Start Association; and Elizabeth Young, Director of Head Start Child Care in Cambridge, MA.
Educational Broadcasting Corporation (WNET New York) is producing twelve new programs for the third season of Cyberchase, the first national math series for children in over a decade. The daily, half-hour programs currently are viewed by over 1.5 million viewers for each broadcast. The associated website has had over 140 million page views. Summative evaluation of previous seasons has determined that Cyberchase increases children's positive attitudes about mathematics as well as their content comprehension and confidence in their problem-solving skills. In the third season the content of Cyberchase will be enriched by the addition of more complex mathematics concepts. Grouped by their related NCTM standard, these include: Number & Operations: Percent, Zero, Mixed Number Fractions, Factoring Geometry: Circles, Perspective, Tessellations, Navigation: Angles and Distance Algebra: Body Math (Ratio & Proportion); Mathematical Modeling Data Analysis and Probability: Experimental Probability, Stem & Leaf Plots Reasoning & Proof: Reasoning Representation: Drawing to Scale During the third season WNET also will upgrade the web site to offer more math challenges to frequent visitors and will create math games with varying levels of complexity and challenge to provide more learning opportunities and to bring children back online more often. In addition, WNET will intensify the project outreach to key constituencies through an integrated campaign of community outreach, materials and promotion.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sandra SheppardCarey BolsterMichael TempletonBarbara Flagg
Night Fire Films is producing a one-hour show for PBS titled "Breaking the Maya Code," based on the book by Dr. Michael D. Coe. "Breaking the Maya Code" will explore the history of the decipherment of the Maya hieroglyphic script. The 400-year scientific detective story, climaxing in the past thirty years, will be told through footage shot at key locations in Central America, Europe and the United States, together with dramatizations, animation and graphics; archival materials; and interviews with major participants in the decipherment. An outreach campaign, including an extensive web site, will enhance the television viewing experience as well as promote further STEM learning. The program will be produced and directed by David Lebrun; Nicolas Noxon serves as Executive Producer. Michael Coe will serve the project as Principal Advisor, along with an extensive board of advisors of ethnographers, epigraphers, archaeologists, historians, iconographers and others. Multimedia Research will conduct formative evaluation of the program; Knight-Williams Research will conduct summative evaluation of the project. The National Endowment for the Humanities has granted $550,000 toward this project.
MacNeil Lehrer Productions is adding a significant science presence to the nightly "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" program by creating a Science Unit as part of their production staff. Each year for three years, the unit will produce at least 12 long-form documentary reports (8 to 12 minutes each), shorter (4 to 5 minute) videotape background reports to set up studio interviews, and brief (2 minute) news summary reports when appropriate. The NewsHour science production team also would collaborate with the NOVA team at WGBH through such means as production of a NewsHour companion report related to a planned NOVA documentary and use of a NOVA segment as a lead-in to a policy discussion on the NewsHour. Selection of story topics, information about developments in different fields of science, and validation of science content would be guided by a core advisory group that includes: Stephen Sass, Cornell University (Material Science, Nanotechnology) Ken Miller, Brown University (BioScience) Larry Smarr, Director of the California Institute of telecommunications and Information Technology (Infotechnology) Maria Ghirardi, National Renewable Energy Laboratory (Energy) John Logsdon, George Washington University (Space) The project will be supported by "The Online NewsHour." This web site will notify viewers via email of upcoming segments; provide public forums with scientists, researchers, ethicists and policy makers; and allow viewers to obtain transcripts of the broadcasts. The forums, conducted after the broadcast, include one or more of the principals who appeared in the program responding to questions and/or issues raised by viewers. Formative evaluation will be conducted by Rockman Et Al and summative evaluation will be conducted by the Goodman Research Group, Inc.
Ira Flatow has been producing SCIENCE FRIDAY for over a decade. The series is now rated among the top ten news programs carried by NPR and is carried by over 200 stations. In spite of this success, the audience, though large, is limited to those people who can listen on Friday afternoon. In addition, the program is not carried on some stations because it does not fit their weekday program format. However, in conversations with many station managers, Flatow has learned that many stations that do not now carry the series do understand the value of science to their listeners and would include a science program in their schedules if one were made available to them for broadcast on weekends. The purpose of this planning proposal is to develop the parameters for a SCIENCE WEEKEND series. Since weekend programming many times is not like programming on weekdays, it will be necessary to find out more about the length and format that stations most prefer and to establish key partnerships to assure the broadest impact of a weekend program. Specific tasks to be conducted in the planning phase include: 1. Surveying public radio stations about their preferences for format, length, and broadcast day for SCIENCE WEEKEND 2. Identifying key programming elements to be included in a pilot program 3. Recording, editing and producing a pilot program 4. Getting assessments of the pilot from public radio station managers and programmers 5. Evaluating the pilot with members of the target audience 6. Securing a network partner to serve as a distributor for the program 7. Creating partnerships with teaching and other educational institutions to participate in the outreach efforts of the project 8. Developing an evaluation strategy to assess the impact of SCIENCE WEEKEND on the audience
EarthTalk, Inc. will develop and air 24 90-second shows per year for three years on the subject of nanotechnology on the Earth & Sky radio program. They will partner with Nano Science and Technology Institute (NSTI), Boston; Nanoscale Science and Technology Facility (CNF), Cornell University; and Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN), Houston to identify researchers, advisors and program ideas. Program categories will be Nano 101; Innovations that Could Change the World; Science or Science Fiction; Implications and Ideas; Nano and the Environment; and Listener Questions. The Earth & Sky program currently airs on 685 stations nationwide, making 323 million gross impressions each year; new shows will create some 64 million gross impressions. They will be supplemented by related material on Earth & Sky Online, which receives up to one million page views/month, and a composite of the nano programs onto CD mailed directly to 10,000 teachers yearly.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William BrittonDeborah ByrdBarbara Flagg