KCTS, Seattle's PBS affiliate, is producing a series of three one-hour prime-time science education television specials starring Bill Nye. The specials will be aimed at a family audience and will be designed to promote informal science learning through an entertaining presentation of science in everyday life. Topics currently being considered for the specials are The Science of Sports, The Science of Learning, and The Science of the Future, thought other topics, such as Pseudo Science, also are being considered. Each program will maintain the entertainment values of enthusiasm for science so prominent in the Bill Nye the Science Guy series but will have a strong narrative element and air of suspense as Bill embarks on a journey of discovery, greater depth of content and presentation, and longer uninterrupted segments. The programs will be supported by a multi-pronged outreach program to reach parents and children through local PBS stations and science museums, community organizations serving disadvantaged populations and, possibly, a tie-in with a national chain of quick family restaurants. Many of the same team that created Bill Nye the Science Guy will work on this project including Bill Nye; Elizabeth Brock, Executive Producer; and Erren Gottlieb and James McKenna, producers. The production team will work with fourteen scientists and science educators who will advise the project on presentation and outreach. This group also will review and comment on all scripts and drafts of outreach material.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William NyeJames McKennaErren GottliebBurnill ClarkRandy Brinson
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science proposed to develop an outreach science and mathematics program with a parent involvement and teacher enhancement professional development component. The goals of the project are as follows: (1) to involve parents in their children's education; (2) to promote a positive attitude on behalf of parents and students toward science and mathematics; (3) to increase teachers' level of comfort in teaching science; and (4) to enhance teacher's confidence in the hands-on approach as an effective method for teaching science. The objectives for the parent component of this project are: acquaint parents with the national and state science education goals and standards; introduce parents to activities that can be done at home with children; and provide families with materials and activity sheets that can be used at home. The objectives for the teacher component of this project are: (1) to provide teachers with opportunities for increased communication with parents about science literacy for children; (2) provide professional development for teachers on the use of hands-on science activities in the classroom; and (3) to providing bilingual activity guides and kits containing materials to encourage science learning. The methods for implementing this project will be varied according to the needs of the target audiences. Parents and children will be engaged through parent workshops and multi-aged children's activities conducted at the museum by experienced science educators. The professional development for teachers' component of this project will include an extensive summer workshop, on-going training/ planning sessions during the school calendar year and session on the uses of the bilingual teaching manuals. The cost sharing for this NSF award is 46.7% of the total project cost.
The Science Museum of Minnesota will develop "Investigations in Cell Biology," an integrated program that introduces cell, microbiology, and molecular biology to museum audiences through open-access, wet-lab, micro-experiment benches; training and support for school teachers; classes for adults and teens; and a long-term program for local high school youth. The project includes the development, testing, and installation of four micro-experiment benches that introduce visitors to the objectives, tools, and techniques of cell biology experimentation. These benches,"Inside the Cell," "Testing for DNA," "DNA Profile," and "Microbe Control," will be part of "Cell Lab," a 1,500 square-foot open experiment area within the science museum's new core exhibition, "The Human Body," opening December 1999.
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Laurie Kleinbaum FinkSusan FlemingJ Newlin
This project, Project PARTNERS (Parents: Allies Reinforcing Technology and Neighborhood Educators Reinforcing Science) supports parents and their children in learning the mathematics and science taught in the schools. The Bronx Educational Alliance (BEA), in collaboration with Lehman College, School District Nine, the Bronx High School Superintendency, and the Bronx Federation of High School Parent Association Presidents, provides a four-month Parent Academy twice a year. Thirty-six parents (20 elementary, 6 middle and 10 high school), from 18 Bronx schools in three K-12 corridors with which the BEA Resource/Outreach Center for Parents currently works, participate in each Academy, reaching 360 over five years. Project PARTNERS goals are to: 1) increase student achievement in 18 Corridor Schools through meaningful parental support; 2) provide parent training in Math, Science and Technology and enable parents to understand the New Standards; 3) develop skills to reinforce their children's learning at home; and 4) model how to effectively learn in science-rich informal educational institutions. Parents meet on Saturdays twice a month for six hours. On one Saturday they team with a teacher and child to visit a science rich institution. On the other Saturday they learn to use computer software programs which support MST, and math concepts through games and manipulatives. Incentives for parents include learning computer skills and stipends of $300 upon completion. The BEA Academies coordinate with the BUSI and District's Family Math and Family Science workshops.
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Herminio MartinezMarietta Saravia-Shore
The Exploratorium will develop "The Math Explorer Activity Book," a project designed to build interest in math among youth ages 11 to 14, particularly girls and minority youth; and to engage youth group leaders, parents, and caregivers in math outside the classroom. The project includes a national campaign to raise public awareness among youth and adults of the critical difference that achievement in middle school-level mathematics makes in the life opportunities of students as well as to publicize a new book of math activities, the heart of the project. The new book, tentatively titled "The Math Explorer," will describe how to do activities at home or in nonschool settings with common, inexpensive materials. The experiences and activities in the book will give middle school-aged youth opportunities to see the relevance of mathematics to their lives and to experiment with math outside the social pressure of school. After testing and evaluation, the Exploratorium will publish the book in collaboration with a commercial publisher for wide dissemination.
The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science will develop two areas in a new 70 acre outdoor exhibit "BioQuest Woods: Linking Animals and Plans with Interactive Exhibits". This concept is to pair live animals and plants in their natural setting with science center-style interactive exhibits to communicate key ideas in biology and physics. Support will go to sixteen interactive stations in two four-acre theme areas "Catch the Wind" and "Down to Earth". "Catch the Wind" will assist visitors in the exploration air movement and learning about how plants and animals use air in specialized ways. For example, visitors will experiment with air thermals while observing the behavior of birds of prey and will learn how prairie dogs exploit the venturi effect to ventilate their burrows. In the "Down to Earth" thematic area, visitors, simulate the activities of field biologists, will track bears equipped with radio collars, examine living invertebrates, among other activities. Scientific instruments, including microscopes, in kiosks will aid on-the-scene study of live animals and plans. "BioQuest Woods" will help visitors, teachers and students gain the realistic experience of scientific inquiry in a natural setting. Education programming will highlight curriculum linkages and fulfills the goals of North Carolina's new science curriculum. It directly addresses the State's competency-based goals requiring understanding of natural systems and the interrelations of the basic sciences. Pre and post-visit materials will be developed along with teacher guides and enhancement activities. This project is being developed with the cooperation of the Austin Nature Center, the National Zoo, and the Indianapolis Zoo.
The large format film unit at NOVA/WGBH Boston, in association with the Liberty Science Center, is producing a 40-minute large format film about the science of volcanology. Volcano: Lost City of Pompeii will tell the story of a diverse group of scientists working together, each in his or her specific field, to understand better how Vesuvius can reasonably be expected to behave - today and in the years to come. Following the scientific teams, the film will impart a basic understanding of magma flow and plate tectonics, the geological building blocks out of which volcanoes emerge. The film will blend geology with archaeology to tell an ongoing detective story - a present-day scientific investigation that integrates state of the art techniques and technology with ancient evidence derived from buildings, victims' remains, and vivid eyewitness accounts that go back nearly 2,000 years to the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D. The range of scientific disciplines involved in the film includes: geochemistry, geology, geophysics, remote sensing, plate tectonics, seismology, archaeology, and volcanology. The film will be available with both captioning for the hearing impaired and visual description for visually impaired members of the audience. The film will be supported by an extensive educational outreach plan that includes: Pompeii Earth Science Exploration, a program targeting underserved and disadvantaged youth at 100 Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide; Pompeii Museum Toolkit, a blueprint enabling museums to integrate existing exhibitry with use of the film and including models for outreach initiatives built around the film; Pompeii Activity Guide, an activity guide for us with upper elementary and middle school youth in both informal and form science education settings, and; Pompeii Idea Handbook, a booklet for museums that shares successful outreach programs implemented by museums showing the film during the first year. Paula Apsell, Executive Producer of N OVA and Director of the WGBH Science Unit, will be the PI. The Co-Executive Producer will be Susanne Simpson who previously produced such large format films as Storm Chasers and To the Limit. The Key Scientific Advisor will be Richard Fisher of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Others on the advisory committee include Lucia Civetta, Director of Osservatorio Vesuvio; Diane Favro, Assoc. Prof. in the School of Arts and Architecture at UCLA; Grant Heiken, President of the Earth and Environmental Science Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory and President of the International Society of volcanology; Dan Miller, Chief of the U.S. Geological Survey's Disaster Assistance Program; Haraldur Sigurdsson, Professor in the Graduate School of Oceanography at the University of Rhode Island; and Barbara Tewksbury, Professor of Geology at Hamilton College and past president of the National Association of Geoscience Teachers. Emyln Koster, President and CEO of the Liberty Science Center, will act as key education advisor.
WGBH is producing four, two-hour programs on the lives of scientists. These programs will be the initial programs in a continuing series of television portraits of distinguished scientists to be broadcast as regular features in the prime-time science series NOVA. The scientists to be covered in the first four programs are Galileo Galilei, Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, and Percy Julian. By illuminating the lives and scientific careers of these important figures, the programs will enhance public understanding of such basic scientific concepts as evolution, the solar system, the chemical bond and the structure of the atom. Ultimately, the programs will give viewers a new perspective on the process of scientific discovery. Ancillary educational support for the programs will include enhanced content on the web site at NOVA Online and classroom support material in the NOVA Teacher's Guide that is mailed to 60,000 teachers nationwide. WGBH also has formed an outreach partnership with the American Library Association to create informal educational resources for use by families, youths, and adults. The core of this special outreach plan is a set of Library Resource Kits that will be available to all 16,000 public libraries. Paula Apsell, Executive Producer for NOVA, will serve as PI for the project. Members of the advisory committee include: Evelyn Fox Keller, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science, MIT; Kenneth R. Manning, Thomas Meloy Professor of Rhetoric and of the History of Science, MIT; Noami Oreskes, Associate Professor of History, University of California, San Diego; Daniel I. Rubenstein, Chair of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University; and Neil D. Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium.