The Louisville Science Center will develop "'The World We Create' -- a Traveling Exhibit." This project will develop two traveling version exhibitions (approximately 2,500 sq. ft. each) based on the programs of the highly successful permanent 12,500 sq. ft. exhibition "The World We Create," funded by NSF. One exhibit copy will travel nationally to small and medium-sized science centers throughout the United States over a three-year period, filling a need for quality traveling exhibits and reaching an audience of 300,000 to 500,000 people. The second exhibit copy will travel to rural areas of Kentucky to be hosted by schools, public libraries or community colleges, reaching an audience of 150,000 to 200,000 students and adults.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Theresa MatteiGail BeckerNancy Potoczak
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 New York Hall of Science is in the process of designing and constructing a 50,000 sq. ft. facility addition. This project, which could also be called project BUILD: Building Underway-Informal Learning Design, will take advantage of the inherent teaching and learning opportunities in science and engineering found in an authentic, real-time setting. A portable exhibit unit, fashioned after a construction-site fence with peepholes, will highlight aspects of technology, math, engineering, and materials sciences found in the building trades and architecture. Each peephole will display an artifact, text, image or interactive for the visitor and have specific learning outcomes defined during the development of the exhibit. Associated programing, in the form of Explainer demostrations, workshops, lectures, building trades career days, design, and hard hat tours will be created for three distinct audiences -- families, adolescents 11-14 (middle-school) and young adults 15-18 (high school). The exhibit and programs will evolve and amend themselves in tandem with the changeable timetables and nature of construction. Finally, a guidebook written on "how to" replicate these learning experiences, construct the exhibit fence for other venues, and partner with architects and tradespeople will be available to the wider museum and informal learning community.
The goals of the Seattle Partnership for Family Science are to enhance science literacy; increase parental involvement in their children's science education; and increase the numbers and ethnic diversity of families participating in school-based and community science programs. The Partnership will use the existing Seattle Partnership for Inquiry-Based Science, funded by a National Science Foundation grant for local Systemic Change, as the framework for the proposed activities. During the planning phase, the project staff will: * identify barriers to participation by families in their children's education paying special attention to ethnic minorities and individuals with limited proficiency in English; * develop and pilot-test an array of methods aimed at reducing these barriers; * promote awareness and involvement of parents in inquiry-based science activities; * develop new inquiry-based tools for science investigations; and * establish collaborative partnerships among the Seattle School District, the University of Washington, the Woodland Park Zoo, and other informal science centers.
The Franklin Institute and the Girl Scouts of the USA will develop, implement, and evaluate "Girls at the Center," a family outreach program that will foster girl-centered, learning within the context of the family. Partnerships will be promoted between local science and technology centers and Girl Scout Councils. It is a multi- component program that will increase girls' and their families' understanding of and interest in basic science principles and processes. Consisting of a series of family-oriented activities that coincide with the school year, science/technology centers will serve as the hosts. These museum-based activities will be supplemented by home-based activities. The activities will follow the constructivist theory of education and will cover a broad menu of scientific disciplines including ecology, energy, and human physiology as well as science careers opportunities. They will be linked to the requirements for the Girl Scout recognition (badges) program. It is building on the success of a previously NSF funded project "National Science Partnerships for Girls Scout Councils and Museum" and is expected to reach 75,050 girls and 112,575 adults in 25 sites across the US during the funding period. It will be institutionalized and will continue to operate in those sites as well as expand to other sites after the NSF-funded period.
The Science Museum of Minnesota will develop "After the Dinosaurs", an exhibit that will feature a detailed reconstruction of the ecology of a Paleocene subtropical environment that existed in the North Plains of North America (58 million years ago). Information presented in the exhibit will come from a 25 year research project carried out by SMM curator Bruce R. Erickson and his colleagues at Wannagan Creek Quarry in northwestern North Dakota. This research has yielded one of the most complete assemblages of Paleocene megafossils in North America. Both the increased knowledge gained from this research and process of the research will be highlighted in this exhibit. Visitors will learn that the world's landscape has changed considerably over time, the analysis of fossils helps scientists reconstruct the past, knowledge of former ecosystems help us to understand current ecosystems, and everyone can be a scientific investigator when we attempt to understand our environment in a systematic way. Two versions of the exhibit will be prepared: a 4000 sq. ft. permanent version that will be installed in the new SMM river front building and will open in late 2000. There will also be a 2500 sq. ft. traveling version that will begin its national tour in 2002. Complementary programming will include an on-line interactive teacher guide and student project curriculum, a teachers' institute, and a variety of youth programming including specially developed interpreter training materials. The exhibit will be accessible to people with disabilities.
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.
In the Fall of 1994 The New York Botanical Garden will begin its second 100 years of commitment to science education with the opening of the Children's Adventure Garden and the Children's Adventure Trails. As two components of the Children's Adventure Project , these informal science education facilities will use participatory discovery to engage urban children and their families in learning botanical science, inquiry skills, positive attitudes towards science, and the methods of scientists. In the 1.5 acre Adventure Garden children will interact with living plants and fabricated exhibits to discover fundamental principles of plant biology; and in the one mile of Adventure Trails they will closely observe interdependencies of complex ecosystems using the framework of these fundamental principles. To expand visitor understanding of plant biology and the ways that scientists study it, Investigation Stations, integral components of each facility, will be placed so that visitors will handle, sense, and observe living plants in situ and interact with fabricated exhibits and scientific tools. The Project will be developed by NYBG staff educators and scientists with on-going participation of a broad spectrum of advisors and consultants, including exhibition designers, evaluators, community school teachers, and environmental education specialists.
The Health Museum (THM) is requesting $868,108 over 30 months to create a 3,600 sq. ft. permanent exhibit containing seven Body Stops components, which will maintain THM's science literacy focus by linking concepts of human biology to everyday experience through visitor exploration of the human body's seen and unseen operating systems. Ancillary instructional materials and programs will be produced. The educational goals of the project are to: 1. Promote understanding of the basic biological sciences in the context of the human life cycle and health; 2. Present vital basic science information through an active and accessible exhibit environment which complements formal science education; 3. Develop an appreciation of basic human biological sciences as they are presented similarly across all people and an appreciation of human variability as these biological processes are played out in the individual. The target audiences are families, urban youth, and student and teacher groups.
Blackside, Inc. is producing a television series and an outreach component about minority scientists. The goals of the six-hour prime-time series, "Breakthrough: People of Color in Science," are to raise the consciousness of the general public that is largely unaware of the significant contribution of scientists of color and to provide role models that will encourage young people to consider science and engineering careers. The programs will feature the work of contemporary African-American, Latino and Native American scientists and engineers who are active in cell biology, astrophysics, applied mathematics and other fields of science. The stories of their scientific achievements will present both women and men, old and young, at different stages of their careers, and will explore the professional, educational and social worlds they live and work in. Viewers will have immediate access to a comprehensive follow-up effort that will connect them with local, regional and national opportunities in informal science education. Blackside will collect information from existing resources and institutions as well using source material from several extensively researched databases geared toward minority students. Using all of this information, Blackside will create a metadatabase that will connect teachers, parents, mentors, and students to a rich variety of educational programs: extracurricular classes, mentoring programs, national science contests, teacher training workshops, and a myriad of on-line services. To ensure immediate access and, where possible, to customize the information to viewers needs, Blackside will disseminate it through a variety of means: an 800-number with a direct fax-back capability, an on-line service, a CD-ROM, and a printed packet delivered by mail. A principal target audience is gatekeepers in students' lives: parents, teachers, and scientists interested in becoming mentors. The target audience also includes students from fourth th rough twelfth grades. Joseph Blatt will serve a PI for this project and co-executive producer for the television series. His previous experience include serving as executive producer of "Scientific American FRONTIERS" and as a producer/director for several NOVA programs. He also has been executive producer for three television series/college credit courses in mathematics. Henry Hampton will be the other co-executive producer. He was the creator and executive producer of the 14-hour, award winning series, "Eyes on the Prize," about America's civil rights movement. The principal educational consultant will be Ceasar McDowell, assistant professor of education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Michael Ambrosino, the original executive producer of NOVA, will be the principal science television consultant.
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum is requesting $370,728 to create a traveling exhibit entitled "How Things Work, which will familiarize students and the general public with the science and engineering behind 15-20 "gadgets" which play vital roles in their everyday lives. A number of the exhibit elements will be based on the work of Dr. Richard Crane. Ancillary materials will be developed for classroom teachers as part of school outreach. An Exhibition Resource Guide will be developed for use by other museum venues, as well as teachers, students and others.
MacGillivray Freeman Films is producing a 40-minute large format film about a scientific and climbing expedition on Mount Everest. The film will introduce viewers to the methods and significance of scientific field research and the rigor and excitement of the scientific endeavor through an expedition to the top of the world's tallest mountain. An international climbing team of women and men will advance the research of geophysicist Roger Bilham who has been influential in applying Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to the study of earthquakes in the Himalaya. The film also will explore the physiological challenges the climbers face at extreme altitude. Endoscopic and microscopic photography will reveal the human body's amazing adaptations to a cold, low-oxygen environment. A comprehensive package of ancillary materials for teachers, students, film exhibitors, and the general public will enhance the educational experience of the film. Greg MacGillivray, President of MacGillivray Freeman Films, will be the PI and Executive Producer/Co-Producer/Director/Photographer. Stepehen Judson and Alec Lorimore, both of MacGillivray Films, will be Co-writer/Director and Co-Producer respectively. Tim Cahill, a freelance writer with experience writing for National Geographic and GEO will be the other Co-writer. Advisors include: Cynthia Beall, Prof. of Physical Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University Broughton Coburn, Conservation and Development Expert on Nepal James Fisher, Prof. of Anthropology, Carleton College Kip Hodges, Prof. of Geology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Charles Houston, Prof. of Medicine (emeritus), University of Vermont Peter Molnar, Senior Research Assoc. Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences, MIT Audrey Salkeld, Author and Fellow, Royal Geographical Society Bradford Washburn, Honorary Director, Museum of Science, Boston