The University of California, Davis will use this planning grant "Planning an Informal Science Education Program at the University of California, Davis" to redefine its relationship with and responsibilities toward the public. Outreach for them is being viewed as a interaction between public needs and interests and the university. Leadership will be provided by a committee of university faculty and an advisory board consisting of external university museum and science education professsionals will meet with project directors twice during the year. Together they will examine the regional science education needs, the existing public education activities at UCD, and investigate the potential for establishing a comprehensive informal science program. Among other things this will include the coalescing of various scientific collections (geology, entomology, anthropology, the botanical and arboretum collections) and their respective independent educational programming into a regional science education network. Advisors will include members of the UCD faculty and administrators as well as individuals representing external university museum and science education experts.
The Arizona Mineral Museum and the Flandrau Science Center at the University of Arizona will use this planning grant to develop a new interpretive exhibit "Minerals, Mining, and Mexico: A Cultural Bridge to Science." The University of Arizona Mineral Museum is about to receive the Miguel Romero mineral collection which is one of the most complete collections of Mexican minerals that exists. It contains over 8500 specimens and this collection plus their present collection will bring into being one of the finest regional mineral collections available. With it they will develop exhibits and programming that explore minerals and mining of Mexico and the southwestern U.S. With this planning grant, they will explore the exhibition and programming opportunities to realize their vision of creating a "living and engaging museum that promotes an understanding of basic science principles and an appreciation for the beauty and economic importance of minerals in the context of the historical and cultural perspective of the New World." The planning activities will include meetings of the advisory committee, visits to other museums, and development of two prototype exhibits. At the end of the twelve-month planning period they will have an overall script for the exhibit and recommendations for individual exhibit units, a traveling exhibit version, and curriculum materials for use by formal educators.
The Pacific Science Center will develop a 7000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit "Other Worlds! Other Beings"? Concerned that the general public is largely uninformed about the results of the years of basic science research carried out by U.S. scientists, this exhibit will provide an opportunity for visitors to learn about the results of this research and increase their own understanding of the earth and the solar system in general. The exhibit will introduce visitors to the planets, their environmental characteristics, potential and unlikely probability for life to exist on other planets and the processes involved in astronomical research. In addition to the exhibit, they will develop a planetarium program, materials for use by teachers and students, various workshops and other programs for teachers and community leaders, and a full marketing package for participating museums. The exhibit will travel to a minimum of nine museums during its three year tour after opening at the Pacific Science Center in December, 1997.
The Franklin Institute will develop a 6000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit about "The Powers of Nature". Focusing on earthquakes, severe storms, and volcanoes, the exhibit will promote a greater understanding of the meteorological and geological forces that underlie these phenomena. Visitors will also learn about how scientists monitor and predict natural events, more about how these natural events affect our lives, and critical safety measures that people should take during these dangerous events. The exhibit will include a rich array of immersion experiences, hands-on interactive activities, historical photographs, modern data and imagery, artifacts, and personal stories. An Educator's Guide containing background information and classroom activities will be developed and circulated in a printed publication as well as electronically on the Franklin's WWW home page (Http:\ ln.fi.edu). The exhibit will open at the Franklin Institute in October, 1997 and will circulate among the seven other science museums that are part of the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative. It is estimated that 2.5 million people will see the exhibit during its 42-month tour.
How do we know the distance to a star? How do we know what a star is made of? How do we know how fast an object is moving? These questions are addressed in this 1,488 square foot permanent exhibit which emphasizes astronomical spectroscopy - the detailed analysis of light from astronomical objects. This interactive, bilingual (English/Spanish) exhibit will demonstrate different applications of spectroscopy that provide insight into the universe, and will provide opportunities for students, teachers, parents, and the general public to learn about the universe. Bilingual ancillary materials will be produced: pre- and post-visit materials for school visitors; a "Life at an Observatory" ten-minute orientation/information video to be shown at the visitor center. Target audiences are students in grades K-12, and general visitors.
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 Cleveland Museum of Natural History will develop an exhibit that integrates earth sciences and planetary geology. Currently titled "The Hall of Earth and Planetary Exploration" this 8700 sq. ft. exhibit will consist of a series of ten sections, each one focusing on a different theme including "The Big Bang", "Plate Tectonics", "Earthquakes and Volcanoes", "Ores and Mining", and the like. The goals are to instill curiosity about the Earth and planetary sciences and their interrelationships, to invite deeper exploration into scientific information and processes, to improve general science literacy by organizing the information into comprehensible themes, and to present an exhibit that is relevant to the daily lives of the general public. Visitors leaving the exhibit should know about the uniqueness of the earth with its moving continents, liquid water and living beings. They will also have some sense of the new scientific knowledge about the universe and the solar system and have their desire piqued to explore these topics further. The exhibit will have a number of complementary components including brochures, an expanded docent program, scheduled demonstrations and lectures by museum staff, devices for physically disabled, teacher guides and workshops, and traveling kits for schools. The exhibit goals and complementary activities align with Cleveland's Urban Systemic Initiative. The exhibit is scheduled to open late in 1997.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Joseph HannibalPaul CliffordJoAnn Coburn
Explorations is an 8,200 sq. ft. permanent exhibition containing about 70 educational components that will stimulate interest in and understanding of the ways that science and technology are extending the ability to examine and understand the Earth, its oceans and the universe. The exhibit design gives equal priority to science content and learning via high-tech device components, interweaving experiences to help the public understand cutting edge technologies, the scientific principles behind them, and how technology is used to advance scientific knowledge. To ensure accessibility to the Hispanic community, graphics and multimedia programs will be presented in English and Spanish. Strategies for addressing the language needs of other non-English speaking visitors are employed. It is expected that the engineering designs and solutions developed for these exhibits will advance the informal science learning profession buy contributing significantly to one of the top challenges faced by science museum exhibit designers today - the interpretation of advanced technological tools and capabilities to a broad museum public with diverse technical literacy skills.
Stream Monitoring is a statewide program for Wisconsin citizens interested in learning about and improving the quality of Wisconsin’s streams and rivers. As a volunteer for monitoring through Beaver Creek Reserve Citizen Science Center, you will collect information once a month May through September from one of the numerous streams in the Lower Chippewa Basin. To become a volunteer, you will need to attend a day-long training session to learn how to measure and record the stream data. There are two levels for stream monitoring; level 2 monitoring requires additional training and you are assigned specific streams and times to monitor them.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Beaver Creek ReserveWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesSarah Braun
"Atmospheric Explorations: Participatory, Computer-Based Simulations of the Weather" is a collaborative project of Augsburg College and the Science Museum of Minnesota. The purpose of the project is to enhance the interest and skills of museum visitors and students in science by providing a highly interactive exhibit environmental that allows the users considerable freedom in exploring topics in meteorology relevant to their everydays lives. The exhibits will be designed to accommodate a gender- and racially-diverse audience of national scope.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William JaspersonDavid VenneJ. Newlin
The AAAS Black Church Health Connection Project, with funding from the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), has developed and field tested a guidebook/manual of hands-on and participatory life science activities and a training/orientation program for use in non-religious education programs in churches that serve the African-American community. The current dissemination efforts of the project have led to increased demands for the activity manual and subsequent training for persons seeking to implement the program. AAAS was awarded additional funding to: (1) Continue dissemination of the project in the African-American community; (2) Expand the project to the Hispanic American community; and (3) Identify and connect biomedical/behavioral scientists to churches and community-based organizations seeking to improve health awareness among African Americans and Hispanic Americans. Products of this dissemination effort include a Spanish version of the Health Connection Activities Guidebook/Manual, a video training kit in both English and Spanish to assist communities in implementing the project, and a database of scientist volunteers who are interested in working with churches and community-based organizations to impact the quality of health science education in the aforementioned communities.