In this commissioned paper from the Climate Change Education Roundtable, Heidi Cullen offers strategies for mainstream media to engage the public around the topic of climate. She offers key strategies such as focusing on storytelling, paying attention to the changing media landscape, and being aware of audience needs.
Many informal science and mathematics education projects employ multiple media, but studies typically have investigated learning from a single medium, rather than multiple media. The present research, funded by the National Science Foundation, used Cyberchase(a multiple-media, informal mathematics project targeting 8-to 11-year-olds, produced by Thirteen/WNET) to investigate synergy among multiple media components and how they interact to yield cumulative educational outcomes.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Shalom FischRichard LeshElizabeth MotokiSandra CrespoVincent Melfi
The Adult Child Interaction Inventory (ACII) was developed as part of a research to practice collaboration between the Boston Children’s Museum and Evergreene Research and Evaluation. Preschoolers, Parents, and Educators: Strategies to Support Early Science Literacy (PPE), funded by the National Science Foundation and led by Boston Children’s Museum aimed to better understand the range of non-verbal as well as verbal interactions that occur between adults and children during collaborative science investigation. Results of project research contributed to the development of an exhibit, Peep’s
In the summer of 2010, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) spearheaded an effort to bring together a group of Denver Metro Area cultural institutions as part of an informal network of professionals interested in visitor evaluation (hereafter referred to as “the Network”). The founding purpose of the Network was to utilize the existing resources of DMNS to build evaluation capacity in other institutions, share instruments and data between cultural institutions, and to embark on citywide evaluation projects that would be of benefit to all institutions involved in the group. The Network
The work described in this white paper was undertaken in direct response to information WNET received from science museums describing certain challenges they face when partnering with public television stations on outreach initiatives. The PBS Series THE HUMAN SPARK provided the perfect opportunity to explore better ways to collaborate on large-scale initiatives, and to learn how these collaborations might provide the framework for attracting new audiences, increasing membership and revenue, and developing long-lasting partnerships.
Archaeology education activities in informal science learning settings are an underutilized, but effective strategy for teaching science inquiry skills in socially and culturally relevant contexts. This project investigated the potential for archaeological content and inquiry strategies to help informal science learning institutions increase learning with diverse ISE audiences. The project was based on foundational research for the development of a national research framework for archaeology education and a plan for developing high-quality science learning opportunities for under-represented
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael BrodyJohn FisherJeanne MoeHelen Keremedjiev
Across the country many schools and communities are trying to create and support efforts to institutionalize partnerships for learning, including those that rethink the use of time across the school day and year, and across the developmental continuum. These partnerships are not merely transactional in nature but rather transformative: partnering entities work together to integrate and complement their services with the shared goal of supporting children’s learning. Referred to by different terms—integrated, expanded, or complementary learning—the concept has one critical element in common
Knowledge of Climate Change Among Science & Technology Museum Visitors reports results from a national study of what the American public understands about how the climate system works, and the causes, impacts and potential solutions to global warming. This report describes how knowledge of climate change varies across Science and Technology Museum visitors. Using a straight grading scale, 38% of both occasional and frequent museum visitors received a passing grade (A, B, or C), compared to 19% of non-visitors. While knowledge levels vary across the groups, these results also indicate that
Women have made tremendous progress in education and the workplace during the past 50 years. Even in historically male fields such as business, law, and medicine, women have made impressive gains. In scientific areas, however, women’s educational gains have been less dramatic, and their progress in the workplace still slower. In an era when women are increasingly prominent in medicine, law, and business, why are so few women becoming scientists and engineers? This study tackles this puzzling question and presents a picture of what we know—and what is still to be understood—about girls and
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Catherine HillChristianne CorbettAndresse St. Rose
In April 2009, the Denver Museum of Nature & Science (DMNS) opened an innovative human biology exhibition with a focus on health: Expedition Health. The visitor experience is themed around a climb up Mount Evans—one of Colorado’s well known “fourteeners” (14,258 feet in elevation). The exhibition utilizes nine real‐life Coloradans as “expedition buddies”—virtual learning companions who accompany visitors throughout the exhibition. The exhibition combines hands‐on, fullbody activities and real anatomical specimens throughout five different specialized learning environments. These environments
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Denver Museum of Nature & ScienceSteven YalowitzClaudia Figueiredo
In 2007, Chabot Space & Science Center, with partners LodeStar Astronomy Center and the Institute for Learning Innovation, received a National Science Foundation grant (#0610253) to develop, create, distribute, and conduct research on a full-dome planetarium show titled Tales of the Maya Skies. This physically immersive show was designed to transport viewers to ancient Maya civilizations and to push the boundaries of narrative approach in planetariums by presenting the film with a “cultural wrapper” of the Maya people and their achievements in archaeo-astronomy. The research conducted three
This executive summary presents demographic data and survey results from participants in the 2010 SciGirls summer camp. Based on the post survey responses, the majority of the participants felt that the camp had increased their interest in science (78%) and science careers (97%). Those students who did not mention an increased interest said that they already had a high interest in science and STEM careers before camp.