This poster presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting describes a project that uses out-of-home (OHM) media to improve the public understanding of science. It features multimedia installations located in public spaces such as Boston's T.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It highlights the goals, audience, outcomes, and lessons learned for a pathways project to develop a model for producing scientific news reports in a variety of media formats on a range of topics of keen interest to rural and Native American communities in Montana. Cultural differences and geographic isolation influence opportunities to provide STEM content to these communities, yet these communities are facing perplexing decisions about exploitation of their environmental resources. The poster highlights the successes of
This poster from 2014 AISL PI Meeting describes a project that studies how 3-D visualizations can most effectively be used to improve public understanding of freshwater lake ecosystems and earth science processes.
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University of California, DavisGeoff Schladow
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting held in Washington, DC. It describes a project created to design, develop, implement, research, and evaluate a cyberlaboratory in a museum setting.
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. STAR Library Education Network (STAR_Net) is a national program led by the Space Science Institute’s National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL). STAR stands for Science-Technology Activities and Resources (www.starnetlibraries.org). Core partners include the American Library Association, Lunar and Planetary Institute, and the National Girls Collaborative Project. Other partners include the National Academy of Engineering, Engineers Without Borders-USA, IEEE-USA, the National Renewable Energy Lab, American Geophysical
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SPACE SCIENCE INSTITUTE/National Center for Interactive LearningPaul Dusenbery
This poster was presented at the 2014 AISL PI Meeting in Washington, DC. It describes an EAGER project that conducts ongoing experiments on the chemical precursors to life as exhibit experiences in partner venues.
The Nature Research Center is a project through which the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences provides NASA with a permanent presence through the creation of NASA-themed exhibits in its new wing (the Nature Research Center), hosting special events, educator workshops and special programming, all of which serve the general population and seek to improve understanding of and engagement with science. The lead institution is the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Goals, expected and actual outcomes are as follows: Exhibits in the new wing were expected to reach 200,000 individuals in its inaugural year; in only 8 months, the Museum has welcomed over 1 million visitors. Astronomy Days’ goal was to reach 20,000 people per year and is on target for meeting this goal. Educator Workshops’ goal was to reach 32 educators per workshop and is on target for meeting this goal. The Museum’s visitor base has demonstrated an insatiable desire for NASA-themed programs. Attendance at Astronomy Days remains impressive and special space events (such as the transit of Venus, or live downlinks with the International Space Station) attract larger-than-expected audiences. The Museum appreciates NASA’s support and is eager to continue providing NASA with an ongoing presence in Raleigh, NC.
The Dynamic Earth: You Have To See it To Believe It is a public exhibition and suite of programming designed to educate and excite K-8 students, teachers, and families about weather and climate science, plate tectonics, erosion, and stream formation. The Dynamic Earth program draws attention to the importance of large-scale earth processes and the human impacts on these processes, utilizing real artifacts, hands-on models, and NASA earth imagery and data. The program includes the exhibition, student workshops, family workshops, annual professional development opportunities for classroom teachers, innovative theater shows, lectures for adults by visiting scientists, and interpretive activities. The Montshire Museum of Science has partnered with Chabot Space and Science Center (CA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (NH) on various components. The project has broadened our internal capacity for providing quality earth science programming by greatly expanding our program titles and allowing us to create hands-on materials for use by our educators and to loan to schools in our Partnership Initiative. Programming developed during the grant period continues to reach thousands of students and teachers each year, both on-site and as part of our rural outreach efforts.
STEMtastic: NASA in Our Community is a two-year project designed to educate and inspire teachers, students and life-long learners to embrace NASA STEM content. The project will increase awareness of NASA activities, while educating and inspiring students to train for careers that are critical to future economic growth of the country in general, and NASA’s future missions in particular. The Virginia Air & Space Center (VASC) will partner with the Virginia Space Grant Consortium and Analytical Mechanics Associates, Inc. to accomplish this project. VASC will deliver NASA STEM content through (1) STEMtastic Teacher Institutes and Education Modules: (a) a series of two five-day professional development institutes for educators which will result in the (b) development and dissemination of new education modules for grades 4-9; and (2) STEMtastic Exhibits and Demonstrations: new interactive exhibits to used for live demonstrations at VASC; those demonstrations will also be delivered to traditionally underserved schools in the region. All classroom and teaching materials—educator institutes, education modules, exhibit software and demonstration modules—will be developed using NASA content and shared with other institutions to promote the expansion of knowledge about best practices in providing STEM education in both formal and informal education settings. STEMevals, a robust evaluation plan, will be implemented to assess success in each project area. Adjustments will be made along the pipeline to increase effectiveness in reaching the target audience. The project has the potential to reach countless educators, students and museum visitors throughout the U.S."
Pipeline for Remote Sensing Education and Application (PRSEA), will increase awareness, knowledge and understanding of remote sensing technologies and associated disciplines, and their relevance to NASA, through a combination of activities that build a “pipeline” to STEM and remote sensing careers, for a continuum of audiences from third grade through adulthood. This program will be led by Pacific Science Center. The first objective is to engage 50 teens from groups underrepresented in STEM fields in a four-year career ladder program; participants will increase knowledge and understanding of remote sensing as well as educational pathways that lead to careers in remote sensing fields at NASA and other relevant organizations. The second objective is to serve 2,000 children in grades 3-5, in a remote sensing-based out-of school time outreach program that will increase the participant’s content knowledge of remote sensing concepts and applications and awareness and interest in remote sensing disciplines. PRSEA’s third objective is to engage 180 youth, grades 6-8, in remote sensing-themed summer intensive programs through which youth will increase knowledge of remote sensing concepts and applications and increase awareness and interest in educational and career pathways associated with remote sensing and NASA’s role in this field. The final objective is to engage 10,000 visitors of all ages with a remote sensing-themed Discovery Cart on Pacific Science Center’s exhibit floor. By engaging in cart activities, we anticipate visitors will increase their level of awareness and interest in the topic of remote sensing and NASA’s role in contributing to this field.
Our Instrumented Earth: Understanding Global Systems and Local Impacts through the El Nino Story centers on a new production displayed on Science on a Sphere® (SOS), and informal educational program elements to engage learners in the power and purpose of NASA data-gathering tools. Audiences include over two million visitors to partner institutions, serving both urban and rural constituencies that rank among the most diverse in the nation. The Aquarium has partnered with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) and NASA Goddard Space Center to implement elements of the program, as well as NASA scientists and experts to develop content. There are two main project goals for Our Instrumented Earth: to create a NASA-informed public by creating an SOS production which highlights space technologies and other instruments monitoring Earth; and to enhance the STEM capacity of underserved teachers, parents, and students through teacher professional development and outreach events. Major project deliverables for Our Instrumented Earth include: a brand new SOS film production, an adapted program for the Magic Planet spherical display platform to serve rural communities, professional development workshop for formal teachers, and NASA Night outreach events at the Aquarium.