The Field Museum will develop a 10,000 sq. ft. exhibit "Life Underground: Foundations of the Biosphere." This exhibit will introduce visitors to underground ecosystems and the importance of soil upon which we all depend. Visitors will be invited to explore the diversity of underground organisms and the vital processes in which they participate. It will consists of three main parts: 1) Underground Expedition, where things will be enlarged 100 times life-size; 2) Changes Over Time, which will highlight the dynamic nature of soil communities and forces of change, and 3) a World Tour, which will compare soil communities from a variety of ecosystems including forests, grasslands, deserts, tundra, among others. The exhibit utilizes ideas and research from all four of the museum's academic disciplines -- botany, zoology, geology and anthropology and will incorporate hundreds of specimens from the museum's botany, mycology, and zoology collections to illustrate the diversity of organisms in and around the soil. Complementary educational programming will be developed and the project is especially targeting rural and inner city residents. School and community programs will extend the exhibit into classrooms, vacant lots, and community centers. The materials developed for use in a formal education setting will be integrated with current objectives of the existing curricula. In addition, on-line access to the content of the exhibit and complementary educational materials will be provided. The scheduled opening date for the exhibit is May, 1998 and during the ten year projected life span of the exhibit and complementary programming, it is expected that more than eight million people will be introduced to "Life Underground."
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TEAM MEMBERS:
M. Frances Muraski-StotzGregory MuellerDebra Moskovits
The Museum of the Rockies will plan an exhibit "The Rockies Rise Again." When completed, this exhibit will illustrate evolving Cenozoic landscapes and life forms as understood through research conducted by the museum's staff in the Northern Rocky Mountain region. This exhibit will provide the natural historical context for visitors as they explore the cultural history exhibits that will follow this section. Together, the Museum's exhibits will illustrate the theme "One Place Through All of Time." With this award they will engage in a series of planning activities will include a front-end evaluation study of the public's knowledge and interest in this subject, consultation with expert advisors, review of related Cenozoic exhibits in selected natural history museums, and a two-day symposium which will include a dialogue about the exhibit concepts between the scientists and the public to help complete the plan. They will also hire an educator to develop an educational plan that will link the exhibit with the needs of teachers and will address national and state science standards. Special attention will be given to developing materials and dissemination strategies that will serve educators in this largely rural setting. At the end of the twelve month planing period they will have a completed exhibit and education plan and will be able to move forward with the exhibit.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bonnie Sachatello-SawyerChristopher Hill
The Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History will develop "Texas Dinosaurs: How Do We Know? -- Regional Dissemination of Science Inquiry Exhibits and Educational Programs on Paleontology." This will be a major permanent and portable exhibition project that will be accompanied by an array of educational programs for formal and informal audiences throughout Texas. The permanent 12,000 sq. ft. exhibit, "Texas Dinosaurs: How Do We Know?", will recreate field and laboratory processes of paleontological research in an inquiry approach to public learning in geology, biology, ecology and mathematics. Portable versions of the exhibit will be distributed to the Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Headquarters, the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum in Canyon, the Science Spectrum in Lubbock, the McAllen International Museum, and the El Paso Insights Science Museum -- all in Texas. Regional dissemination of "How Do We Know?" exhibits and educational programs and materials will reach at least 1.5 million people annually, including isolated rural communities in the large geographic region of Texas.
The Pacific Science Center, in collaboration and with support from the Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium, proposes a three-year program to develop and test a model for delivering mid-scale, astronomy and space-themed exhibits and programming in a shopping center environment, especially in rural locations. The program targets an audience that does not have easy access to a science center or that may not be inclined to take advantage of such a facility. The exhibits and curriculum for this project will be based on Pacific Science Center's well-tested Space Odyssey Van Program, which presently tours elementary schools in Washington State. Phase One of the project will be a test delivery of the existing exhibits and programming to two malls. Phase Two involves construction and testing of the final, larger exhibits and reworking existing programming to better fit a mall delivery environment. Phase Three takes the newly tested devices to ten malls in suburban and rural Washington.
Midwestern Wild Weather is a traveling exhibition designed to reach the target audiences in the small/rural communities and the science centers and museums in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Michigan. This is a three-year project to replicate five of a set of nine interactive exhibits on the topic of Wild Weather. This exhibition is being produced in collaboration with SPARC (Springfield, Peoria, Aurora, Rockford and Carbondale) which are cities located in the State of Illinois. The project represents a strong model for collaboration between museums, science centers and the formal educational system. An innovative feature of this project design is the use of "attractor" exhibits to entice persons to come to the museum and/or science center. "Many places have talked about doing this but few have tried it." Also, this project has the potential to fill the real need of making available quality exhibits to small museums and bringing informal education resources to small/rural communities. The Science and Technology Interactive Center's cost share for this project is 52.1 percent of the total budget.
Ocean science is important for the public to understand as the impact of water as a resource has become more significant in recent years. As part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments, the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program funds innovative resources for use in a variety of settings including rural communities. This project's goals are to educate rural communities and youth about ocean science via setting up exhibits in unique venues such as parks, parking lots and at community gatherings as well as in local libraries. Local library staff and Girl Scouts will assist the investigators in operationalizing the community activities. The project is a collaboration between the Consortium for Leadership, Inc., Rutgers University, the University of Hawaii, Ashland University, the College of Exploration, the Girl Scout organization and some of its affiliates, the Rural Library Education Network, local museums, and the Texas State Aquarium. This project will experiment with a new style of presentation called "Pop up" which brings in exhibits that are rapidly and easily set up in unconventional venues such as parks to get the communities' attention. From among the visitors attending the "Pop up" sessions, the organizers will invite those who have shown interest to attend deeper discussions of ocean science at the local library. This deeper discussion, referred to as "Drill down", will involve scientists commenting from a research ship on their research activities. Cores from the ocean floor will be used to educate attendees about the history of the planet. Locations of the project venues will include rural communities that have a high population of underserved citizens. Research questions to be investigated are: 1. Do the "Pop up" and "Drill down" exercises create an effective and sustainable model for STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning? 2. How does the "Pop up/Drill down" methodology meet the needs of partner informal science education institutions such as the libraries and Girl Scouts in fulfilling their own missions? 3. What is the impact of these sessions on increasing awareness and knowledge of ocean and earth science, technology, and the work of scientists/engineers?
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sharon CooperKevin JohnsonCarrie FerraroKaterina Petronotis
The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI), in collaboration with the Small Museum Research Collaborative (SMRC), proposes to create four small bilingual exhibitions in English and Spanish for a national tour to small museums. The exhibitions will focus on current clinical research in nutrition and physical activity and its applications to personal and family wellness. We propose to build four, 700-square-foot traveling exhibitions: two identical exhibitions with a focus on nutrition, and two identical exhibitions with a focus on physical activity. OMSI's SMRC partners bring the experiences and resources of five geographically and thematically diverse small museums to this project. As the lead institution, OMSI brings over 19 years of experience in creating and touring national exhibitions and in collaborative projects with other museums. Front-end, formative, remedial, and summative evaluation will be conducted with family audiences at OMSI and SMRC sites. To extend the visitor experience, OMSI and SMRC will produce related educational materials and programs including a Web site, teachers' guides, small museum staff training, distance-learning programs, and interactive presentations. An SMRC distance-learning network will be created for program dissemination. The project will be developed with the support of local research scientists at the Oregon Health & Science University's (OHSU) General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) and other experts in nutrition and fitness research, health care, and education. The project's audience is family and K-5 school group visitors to small science and children's museums in rural and small urban communities nationwide. Latino families are also a priority audience for the project. Each of the four traveling exhibitions will tour to three venues a year for a minimum of eight years. We conservatively estimate that over two million people will visit the exhibitions during their national tours. This project presents a powerful opportunity to reach museum visitors in rural and underserved communities, to invite families to pursue healthy nutrition and physical activity together, and to present and interpret clinical research findings for diverse audiences.
Goals: 1) Increase the number of Alaskans from educationally and/or economically disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly Alaska Natives, who pursue careers in health sciences and health professions and 2) Inform the Alaskan public about health science research and the clinical trial process so that they are better equipped to make healthier lifestyle choices and better understand the aims and benefits of clinical research. Objectives: 1) Pre-med Summer Enrichment program (U-DOC) at UAA (pipeline into college), 2) Statewide Alaska Student Scientist Corps for U-DOC, 3) students (pipeline into college), 4) Facility-based Student Science Guide program at Imaginarium Science Discovery Center, 5) Job Shadowing/Mentorship Program for U-DOC students and biomedical researchers, 6) Research-based and student-led exhibit, demonstration, and multi-media presentations, 7) Professional Development for educators, 8) North Star Website.
KY-H.E.R.O.S. (Health Education Rural Outreach Scientists) is a health science education program that partners the largest science center in Kentucky with Science Heroes-- important regional biomedical research scientists. The Science Heroes, their stories and their studies serve as inspiration to our rural audience. The project objectives are to: (1) Convey the relevance of health science research to people's daily lives and promote awareness of healthy lifestyle choices and wellness; (2) Promote understanding of the fundamental principles of the scientifc process and inspire K-12 teachers to incorporate current research into their teaching of health science; and (3) Encourage students to pursue advanced science education and increase awareness of the wide range of health science related careers. The Science Center, working with the distinguished Science Heroes, their research teams and a group of 15 knowledgeable professional advisors will develop the new KY-H.E.R.O.S. science education program. The program will include new hands-on labs and demonstrations, teacher training workshops, career exploration activities, interactive videoconferencing distance learning links, and innovative public programs. Using museum-based exhibits and a wet lab, traveling exhibit components, telelinking (distance learning), an interactive website and printed and electronic materials, we will present information about the work of the Science Heroes and its relevance to the lives of participants. The focus of the program will change every two years to feature three different scientists and their work. A total of nine scientists will be included during the 5 year period covered by the SEPA grant. As the focus changes every two years to a different three scientists, all the programs and exhibits will be changed accordingly. KY-H.E.R.O.S. will be designed to serve audiences composed of school groups on field trips; teachers in workshops; classes in remote areas of the state participatng through videoconferencing; underserved groups including economically disadvantaged, minorities and young women; and the family audience that makes up about 60% of the Science Center's annual attendance. Formative and summative evaluation will be conducted by an outside firm to ensure effectiveness.
STAR_Net brings inquiry-based STEM1 learning experiences to public libraries through two traveling exhibits, associated programming for library patrons, and a virtual community of practice for library staff and others who are interested in bringing STEM programming to libraries. In 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a three-year grant to the Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) and its partners—the American Library Association (ALA), the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), and the National Girls Collaborative Project (NGCP)—to
The National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) at the Space Science Institute (SSI), in collaboration with the Colorado Clinical and Translational Studies Institute (CTSCI), and Colorado Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), requests support for Discover Health/Descubre la Salud (DH/DS). The bilingual (English/Spanish) project will include an interactive library exhibit supported by media and community education resources to engage underserved communities in learning about their cardiovascular and digestive systems, and how to keep them healthy. The project will target underserved communities, including rural and Latino communities, working through libraries and community institutions. The project will use a strategic combination of bilingual, interactive exhibits presented at libraries and community health fairs and festivals, career events, family nights, science camps, and mini-med schools, to engage students, families, and adults in these important health issues. Project PI Robert Russell, Senior Education Associate at NCIL, and NCIL Founder Co-PI Dusenbery, Founder of NCIL, will direct the project. Dr. Jack Westfall, who will direct the Community Engagement Core of CCTSI and also directs Colorado AHECS, he will direct their subaward. An outstanding advisory committee includes biomedical researchers, community health educators, librarians, and informal science educators. They will provide expertise on biomedical science content and help guide the project's implementation. Knight Williams, Inc., a highly experienced media and community evaluation firm, will conduct the full required project evaluation.