The middle-school and high-school years are a period of change and crystalization in terms of life goals, disciplinary and course preferences, and social and political attitudes. The literature provides a number of cross-sectional descriptions and models concerning cognitive and attitudinal development during adolescence and young adulthood, but there are no longitudinal data available to study these processes. The proposed longitudinal study will examine the (1) development of interest in science and mathematics, (2) the growth of scientific literacy, (3) the development of attentiveness to science and technology issues, and (4) the attraction to careers in science and engineering among two national cohorts of adolescents and young adults. One cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 seventh graders and follow them through the 10th grade. The second cohort will begin with a national sample of 3,000 10th graders and follow them for the next four years through the first full year after high school. Data will be collected from students, teachers, counselors, principals, and parents. A purposive sample of two or three school districts with exemplary elementary school science and mathematics education programs will be selected and comparable data will be collected in these districts. The analysis will consist of a series of expanding multivariate developmental models that will seek to understand cognitive and attitudinal growth and change in the context of family, school, and peer influences. Each wave of data collection will provide an opportunity to examine cognitive and attitudinal change measures in an increasingly rich context of previous measures. Periodic reports will be issued with each cycle of data collection and the data will be made available to other scholars on a timely basis. The first phase of the project, being funded at this time, provides approximately 15 months for instrument development and pilot testing, for sample selection, for monitor selection and training, and for working with the research advisory committee.
The New England Aquarium will develop an "inquiry-driven" gallery for the study of aquatic sciences in a move to go beyond the "naming" experiences in biology and environmental education. The project will focus on seven conceptual themes: 1) adaptation and evolution; 2) habitat; 3) life cycles; 4) development and metamorphosis; 5) species interactions; 6) energy flow: and 7) signals and senses. The exhibits will challenge the visitor with questions, puzzles and games. Curriculum materials will be developed for teachers along with a users guide for visitors. Outreach activities are planned, aimed at minority students and visitors. The Aquarium serves approximately 155,000 students and over one million visitors every year. The redesigned gallery will house eight tanks, ranging from a series of small tanks with accompanying video clips that display seldom seen behaviors such as the "birth" of seahorses, lobster molting, etc. to three 250-gallon tanks that will display ancient fishes and a variety of species showing different kinds of locomotion, color and sound. A 2500- gallon tank housing a school of fish will demonstrate different ways terrestrial and aquatic animals sense their surroundings. A 4000-gallon floor to ceiling tank will display a salt marsh on one side and a mangrove forest on the other and a 6000-gallon tank will house large groupers, moray eels and small gobies. The NSF award represents $273,971 out of a project total of $857,986.
This project will test an instructional strategy designed to increase the pool of minority students who are successful in their study of algebra and higher mathematics courses. Since 1979, the Comprehensive Math and Science Program at Columbia University has been developing an instructional model designed to give all entering ninth grade students the opportunity to work to their highest level of capacity in mathematics. Key features of the model are a zero-based start, which makes no assumptions on students' prior mathematics background, and a complementary curriculum, which provides a set of parallel, interlocking mathematics courses that substantially increases the rate of mathematics instruction over a four semester period. Preliminary tests of the model in New York City schools have yielded encouraging results. In the current project, the instructional materials will be completed and the model will be extensively tested in New York City and in Fulton County, Georgia. The testing will be accompanied by the development of an apprenticeship model for teacher training, which will pair new teachers with experienced teachers in the interlocking courses of the program.
The 4-H organization of Virginia is developing a Marine and Aquatic Education Program with a strong field study component for youngsters ages five through nine. They plan to reach these young people through local and community 4-H clubs and in summer camps. One part of the program is aimed at the handicapped and development of strategies to meet their special needs. Other components of the program include volunteer training of high school students and adult leaders and a series of publications with emphasis on "hands-on" activities. There is a strong national dissemination plan and, through a national survey, the Virginia 4-H have determined that 27 state 4-H organizations are interested in adapting program. The 4-H organization is the largest youth organization in the United States with a membership of 4.3 million young people. They have a strong network, both urban and rural, with minorities representing 22% of the membership, 53% are female and 63% are under 11 years of age. The Virginia 4-H mirrors the national picture but with a slightly more rural membership. This project provides an opportunity to strengthen science learning outside of the formal education system by supporting a test project in marine education. Over the next three years the project will be tested with 38,500 youngsters and 500 adults. The program will then be expanded to all 115,467 Virginia members as well as a strong outreach effort to the national membership. This project is directed at two important goals for the Informal Science Education Program: strengthening out-of-school science programs for young people and the handicapped. The marine science area is one of high interest and significance both locally and nationally. The staff are experienced and committed and the program is cost effective at a little over $3.00 per person.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Barry FoxWilliam ChristySusan GilleyMichael CliffordJoseph Hoffenberger
The Franklin Institute Science Museum, a major American Science Center serving more than 700,000 individuals annually, proposes to create a 3,700 square foot permanent exhibition that will promote public interest in and understanding of the concepts and principles of mathematics in concrete, tangible form. The exhibition will consist of five clusters of hands-on devices, interactive computer programs, models, and text on the themes of Geometry; Symmetry; Chance, Probability and Randomness; Series, Sequences and Limits; and "Modern Math"--Fractals, Knots and Braids and Topology. Museum staff will utilize several mathematicians as advisors and design participants and will develop adjunct educational materials for use by teachers, students, and family members. They will disseminate exhibition techniques and content by providing six collaborating museums with selected copies of exhibit devices and hardware for their use in developing temporary or permanent mathematics exhibits. Staff of the six museums will join advisors for a design conference during exhibition planning, and will provide evaluation reports on their use of the exhibit materials. Knowledge of mathematics is not only necessary for everyday life; it is central to public understanding of science and engineering, and a key to continued participation in science and engineering, and a key to continued participation in science education in high school and college. Increasing national interest improvement in the mathematical ability of americans at all levels, pre-college and college, make this proposed exhibition particularly timely.
Dorand Shannon New Orleans' Audubon Zoological Garden will design and construct a 3,000 square foot exhibition "Pathways to the Past" that will utilize interactive exhibits to highlight the ancestral link between birds and reptiles and to explore the ensuing development of each species. The permanent exhibition, occupying a prominent place in the newly remodeled Odenheimer building, will be used both by 125,000 school children visiting the zoo each year and for the more than one million regular visitors. More than a third of the residents of New Orleans are minority group members. Zoos are increasingly emphasizing their science communication and science education mission in the context of zoological research and species preservation. They have a substantial need for improved educational resources to better meet the needs of the large and broad cross section of their visitors. The Audubon Zoo's specific plans for interactive exhibits are well thought out, with many connections back to the living collection of the zoo. They have assembled an advisory committee and consulting team that includes scientists, zoologists, educators and science education specialists. They plan a variety of educational materials in support of the exhibition, and will communicate the results of the project to other zoos through reports, publications and presentations. More than $213,000 in direct matching support will be provided by private sources. An FY87 award of $185,915 to the Audubon Zoological Garden is recommended.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dale StastnyKevin BowlerPeter ShannonSteven Dorand
The investigation of naive conceptions of science has many implications for both teaching and learning. The predominant model for past investigations has been with school children or within very formal settings. Extending investigations of misconceptions to informal settings is the challenge of this research. Museum visitors' misconceptions about two topics, gravity and mechanical advantage, will be recorded through a variety of interview formats. Twenty-five persons from each of the age ranges 9-11, 12-14, 15-18, and college students/adults will be interviewed. Information from the interview will be used to modify the current exhibit or to build new prototypes. The research will determine if a modification can be made that results in individuals moving from their previous misconceptions toward a correct conceptualization of the concepts. This research will document what individuals actually learn from museum exhibits and how "front end evaluation" can be used to redesign exhibits for maximum concept learning. The proposed research is challenging and has the potential of adding significant information to science education research on misconceptions. The principal investigator is highly respected in the field of museum education and the associated staff and consultants are the top scholars in their respective fields.
The Franklin Institute Science Museum will design, test, fabricate, and circulate to eight museums an exhibit, "The Science of Music: Sound Waves and Sound Forms" that will introduce visitors to the physical laws that govern sound waves. By using music as an attractive and concrete subject to engage broad public interest, the exhibit will illustrate such topics as sound wave amplitude, phase, frequency, reflection and interference. Primary support for the project comes from the eight member Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative, consisting of: the Franklin Institute Science Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Discovery Place, Charlotte, NC; the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth, TX; the California Museum of Science and Industry, Los Angeles, CA; the Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN; the Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL; the Center of Science and Industry (COSI), Columbus, OH; and the Museum of Science, Boston, MA. Each has contributed $50,000 and the costs of exhibit shipping and maintenance. Direct matching fund support totals more than $381,000. The exhibit will spend three months in each location, and the total audience will exceed 1.5-million visitors over its eight museum tour. This project will extend the work of a group of museums that are already helping each other in a collaborative effort. The exhibit concept has high public appeal among groups that science finds it hard to reach, including teenagers and minorities. An FY87 award of $145,000 is recommended.
The Lawrence Hall of Science proposes to develop two 1400 square foot interactive exhibitions based on the latest research findings on the structure and function of the human brain; one for permanent display at the Hall, and one for circulation to 12 science museums over a five year period. The exhibition will use large scale models and equipment from two television programs on the brain. Substantial input from scientists and psychologists will be combined with the educational expertise of curriculum development, museum, and design staff from the Lawrence Hall of Science to create the exhibitions. Visitor and school related curriculum materials will be developed, including a video library and an auditorium show for large group school use. The Lawrence Hall of Science has more than 300,000 visitors per year and is a major science education research and development facility; the twelve host museums will reflect museums in both large and medium sized cities well distributed geographically. More than three million people will view the exhibits over a five year period. The topic is timely, the treatment substantive and educational, and the qualifications of staff and advisors high. The re-use and relationship to a major television series, "The Brain", is an ingenious and effective strategy. The Lawrence Hall of Science is matching the National Science Foundation contribution with comparable private funds. A 24-month FY87 award of $ is recommended.
This project, WALKING ON WATER, chronicals the success of Jaime Escalante's nationally acclaimed mathematics program at Garfield High School in Los Angeles. Overcoming crime, poverty and a 50% drop-out rate, Mr. Escalante transformed Hispanic students with deficient scholastic backgrounds into the top calculus students in the country. As a result of this success, Garfield High School is now a magnet school for math and science in the Los Angeles School District. Mr. Escalante's story will be told in a 90 minute film docudrama which will air nationally on public television's American Playhouse series, the 14th most popular program on PBS reaching 1.2 million homes. The film is designed for general theatrical release, for educational distribution on cable, for videocassette release and will be dubbed into Spanish for airing in Spanish theaters. In addition, Eddie Olmas, the Emmy award winning star of Miami Vice who portrays Mr. Escalanate in the film, will use the film in personal appearances. Reviewers all agree that this story will inspire and motivate students and teachers alike. They also agreed that it is equally important to reach other significant audiences such as parents, school administrators and opinion leaders so that they will understand and support these types of education efforts.
The WGBH Educational Foundation and the NOVA production team will produce an hour-long special program in the NOVA series on the remarkable scientific response to Supernova 1987A, the most significant supernova to be observed since 1604. Responding rapidly to this unique opportunity, they will capture the spirit of science in formation, through video and audio interviews with many of the involved research scientists in their laboratories and observatories around the world during the critical time period when there are as many questions as answers about the event. They will continue to cover the scientific response into the summer and early fall, including scientific meetings that are expected to provide clarification and explanation of the supernova's behavior. They are responding with insight and speed to a rare opportunity, and will match National Science Foundation funds with $300,000 of their own production funds to produce this program. NSF support will be used to insure that the coverage land treatment of the event will be substantive and accurate, and rich enough in detail to illustrate the processes of scientific discovery, research cooperation, and debate and dialogue that leads to understanding. The resulting program will be seen by the more than 12 million viewers of the NOVA series, as well as by tens of thousands of classrooms in high schools and colleges. Educational materials will be produced to accompany the program. An award of $50,000 for FY87 is recommended.
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History in Albuquerque will design and construct a 6,250 square foot permanent exhibit on the geology and biology of the intracontinental Cretaceous Period seacoast environment of New Mexico. Using more than 20 interactive exhibits as well as modern and extinct plant and animal species, visitors will experience and explore this ancient, yet familiar world and develop a sense of the relationships between past and present, living and dead, extinction and survival as well as the continuity of natural processes. The Museum will also construct related traveling exhibits for statewide display and install semi-permanent satellite exhibits in four communities that have relevant geologic and paleontologic resources. Exhibition designs will be based on formal and informal studies of exhibit effectiveness, systematic study of learning styles of visitors to the New Mexico Museum of Natural History, and interaction with schools throughout New Mexico. This new natural history museum has an impressive staff, a record of institutional development and of state-wide community service, and a clear plan for carrying out informal science education with regional themes that serve the varied populations of New Mexico. The museum presently receives about 375,000 visits a year, of which 70,000 are in organized school groups with 45% Hispanic and/or Native American children. There is a substantial outreach program and extensive relationships with teachers and schools throughout the region. This $1.6-million exhibit project is supported by $840,000 of state funds and $500,000 in private contributions. A National Science Foundation award of $298,886 for FY87 is recommended.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Michael JuddCaren WaltJeffrey GottfriedDavid Gillette