The Nanoawareness Study is designed to answer the question "What, if any, impact do NISE Net activities delivered at Tier 1 and Tier 2 institutions have on the nanoawareness of the public audiences that experience those activities?" The appendix of this report includes the online survey instrument used in the study.
This study was conducted as a part of the formative evaluation of the NISE Network forum Nanotechnology: Risks, Benefits, and Who Decides? The purpose of the forum was to bring members of the public together to discuss whether experts, watchdogs, and/or the public should be the primary decision makers about nanotechnology policy. During the course of the forum, participants learned about nanotechnology and its societal and ethical implications from experts, had a chance to ask questions of the experts, participated in a small group discussion where they talked about the pros and cons of the
August, 2009 Communities of Effective Practice, 2008-2009 Evaluation Abstract: The Communities of Effective Practice (CEP) project is a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded project to develop a professional development model for supporting math and science instructional practices that are culturally responsive within American Indian communities. This report summarizes findings from the Year 3 evaluation (conducted during the 2008-2009 academic year) and discusses these findings within the context of the Years 1 and 2 evaluations. It presents key considerations for developing a Community
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Gina MaghariousKasey McCrackenUtah State University
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The National Resource Center of the 122 Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLIs), in collaboration with the Exploratorium and three regional OLLI sites at California State University-East Bay, University of South Florida, and University of Missouri-Columbia, explored, via this planning grant, a variety of scenarios for engaging target audiences of "third age" (50+) participants in informal STEM learning activities. Six collaborative partnerships between OLLIs and science centers in Maine, Virginia, California, Oregon, Montana and Pennsylvania were given $1000 each to create, test, and evaluate a STEM program/activity. The collaborative projects supported by the planning grant engaged 1186 older adults in ISE activities. Data collected from the partnership projects, and from national surveys of OLLIs and science centers, from a literature search, and from a CAISE Forum discussion were used to develop a full scale proposal to NSF in 2010 to fund a national Science Education Center for the Third Age. That proposal was declined but has been significantly reworked based on reviewer feedback and further efforts of the planning team and was submitted in its new form for the January 11, 2012 ISE deadline. This new project would be a largely virtual national Center based at the University of Southern Maine. The project would include creation of an interactive website, 30 funded OLLI/ Science Center collaborative partnerships nationwide ($10,000 each to create new ISE activities for older learners), and 3 regional/national summits to share results.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Kali LightfootBette FeltonAracelis RogersLucille Salerno
This planning grant deals with helping people in a flood prone area, Lehigh Valley, understand climate change and the impacts it can have on their livelihood. Through a series of town hall type meetings and distributed materials, the Nurture Nature Foundation and scientists will provide perspective on climate change and options now available to them. The target audience will range from teenagers to adults. During these discussions STEM concepts shall be integrated into the materials. An important aspect of this planning project is devising strategies for interactions with the local groups in meetings and for effective displays and exhibits that not only address the flooding/climate change issues but also reflect the STEM principles and concepts that are involved.
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences (NSF 03-509) project is based on the PI's current NSF award: SBE-0545361- ADVANCE: Determining national science faculty demographics in order to empower women and guide solutions. This project will help address the need for underrepresented female faculty as role models and mentors in science and engineering. Although the number of female under-represented minority students (URM) in college has been increasing, there are astonishingly low numbers of female URM faculty in each science discipline. This project would produce a series of female URM faculty biographical videos to substitute for the lack of personal contact young women have with these role models. The videos would be widely disseminated through schools, colleges, and minority serving organizations to reach young women.
Cornell University, through Main Street Science (the education program of its Nanobiotechnology Center), proposes to create a 3,500 sq. ft. traveling exhibition on nanoscale science and engineering in partnership with Sciencenter of Ithaca, New York. Intellectual Merit: The exhibition will address two questions: How do we see things too small to see, and how do we make things too small to see? In sections titled Small, Smaller, Nano; Seeing Nano Structures; Making Nano Stuff; and Nano and Me, hands-on activities and experiences will present the tools, processes and applications of nanoscale science and engineering for children ages 8 to 13 and adults. Broader Impact: This traveling exhibition is projected to reach some three million visitors in at least six sites as part of its national tour. It will then become a permanent exhibition at Sciencenter. Dissemination will be supported by a web site, take-home materials, a children's book and activities to carry out at home, along with links to formal education.
John Carroll University, Cleveland's International Women's Air and Space Museum and Cleveland Public Schools are partnering in a three-year project to provide a cross-age, collaborative exhibit development experience to increase young peoples' science understanding and interest in science and teaching careers. The program exposes 120+ high school and undergraduate women to the skills of educational program planning and implementation. Content includes science, technology, engineering and math related to flight, and the history and role of women in flight related careers. The project proposes a highly supportive learning environment with museum, science and education experts working alongside students at secondary and undergraduate levels to design exhibits that will meet the interest and needs of the museum, and the young children and families from Cleveland schools who visit. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, the evaluation will measure change in participant career interests, content understanding and perception of science, technology, engineering and math subjects, and skill development in presenting these concepts to public audience members. Public and professional audience experiences will also be evaluated. More than nine hundred local elementary school age children, their families and 15,000 general public audience members will participate in student-designed, museum-based exhibits and programs. Deliverables include a model for university/museum partnerships in providing exhibit development and science learning experiences, three team-developed permanent exhibits about flight and women in science, a set of biographies about women and flight in DVD format and three annual museum based community events. The model program will be informed by national advisors from museum/university partners across the United States who will attend workshops in connection with the projects public presentations in years one and two. These meetings will both provide opportunities to reflect on the program progress and to develop new strategies in the evolution of the program design. Workshop participants will develop plans to implement similar programs in their home locations, impacting another layer of public audiences. The transferability of the model to these new sites will be measured in year three of the proposal. An additional 25,000 participants are expected to be impacted in the five years following the grant period. Beyond the implementation sites, the model's impact will be disseminated by the PI and participants in the program through peer reviewed journals and presentations at national conferences.
This report provides an overview of the findings from the formative evaluation of the RISE Public Communication Internship conducted at the Museum of Science in January from January 20-23, 2009. The internship was created as a result of a partnership between the Strategic Projects Department at the Museum of Science and the NSF Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center headquartered at Harvard University, and was supported by a sub-award from the Center, to the Museum of Science. The program was overseen by MOS PI Carol Lynn Alpert. The goals for the internship as provided by the intern