Bill Nye the Science Guy is a widely-viewed, children's television series on science. Designed for eight-to-ten year olds, this series is shown in late afternoons Monday through Friday on PBS stations and on commercial television over the weekends. Rockman et al, an independent research group in San Francisco, was contracted by KCTS, Seattle, WA, to undertake an evaluation of the Bill Nye the Science Guy television series. The evaluation was charged with exploring the impact of the series on children at home, in school, and in other settings where children can watch television. Both the
The Franklin Institute proposes to establish the Science Learning Network (SLN), a unique online collaborative of science museums, industry and schools to support the teaching and learning of science, mathematics and technology (SMT) in grades K-8. The SLN will integrate the educational resources offered by science/technology centers with the power of telecomputing networking to provide powerful new support for teacher development and science learning. By December 1997 the SLN will develop and evaluate the following: UniVERSE - an online SMT database and software package which will provide interactive capabilities to actively and intelligently assist K-8 classroom teachers in their Internet explorations, much like an electronic "librarian." Online Museum Collaborative - a national consortium of science museums (The Franklin Institute, the Exploratorium, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Science - Boston, and Science Museum of Minnesota) that will pool their resources and expertise to create online assets and provide ongoing professional development on telecomputing networking for precollege SMT teachers. Online Demonstration Schools - a network of K-8 schools, working in collaboration with consortium museums and Unisys Corporation volunteers as demonstration sites for online teaching and learning in SMT. Over the course of three years, the SLN will provide direct support to 180 teachers and 3,000 K-8 students in the online demonstration schools. Through existing teacher networks, each museum will offer professional development for an additional 200 teachers each year. The Urban Systemic Initiatives in Philadelphia and Miami offer the potential for broader, systemic impact in those cities. By the end of the grant period, the SLN will provide field- tested models of a new kind of online SMT community through the collaboration of science museums with industry and schools. The sustainable impact of the SLN will be assured by UniVERSE's status as a publicly accessible database and software package and the development of the national consortium of online museums, whose network resources will be made available on an ongoing basis to educators. The three-year formative development of the online demonstration schools will contribute vital data to precollegiate school reform in SMT, showing how schools build capacity to become members of the online community and demonstrating how teaching and learning are enhanced by online resources. Unisys Corporation has pledged its support to this project and will provide matching funds for up to 40% of the total NSF award.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephen BaumannWayne RansomPaul Helfrich
This materials development project is the result of a joint effort by Miami University and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). The project will combine the resources of the Univeristy and the publication department of NSTA, to work with schools to produce an innovative science journal for children in grades 3-6, a teacher support manual, a parent support manual, and a supporting computer network that will connect children with scientists and university science students in scientific inquiry. The journal will be the first national journal devoted to research scientists and children with an outlet for publication of scientific investigations conducted by children. Given the strong record of accomplishment of the PI and the publications division of the National Science Teachers Association, the panel feel it is likely that the Dragonfly, Dragonfly Companions. the Dragonfly Net will be a quality product and recommends funding this project at a high priority level. The Program Officer agrees with the panel and recommends funding this proposal.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Christopher MyersPhyllis MarcuccioR. Hays CumminsChris WolfeCarolyn Haynes
The Magic School Bus Museum Collaborative, requests through Discovery Places, Inc., NSF support for six science museums and Scholastic Productions, Inc., to develop science education materials that capitalize on the interest and excitement in the forthcoming Magic School Bus television series and the Magic School Bus books. Over a three year period the collaborative will provide basic science education activities and demonstrations through museum educational programming. The collaborative will provide tools and support for teachers to use the Magic School Bus themes in their science curriculum and provide hands-on science classroom experiences using mobile museum exhibits. Working with the National Urban League, ASPIRA, the AAAS Black Church Project, and other youth serving organizations, the collaborative will encourage multi-ethnic participation in these museum programs. The numbers of children and their families who will be reached by the Magic School Bus Museum Collaborative are significant. The components of the project are a planetarium program (100 copies), two 1200 square feet traveling exhibits, and activity and programming guide, table-top exhibits and program, and 2 teacher enhancement workshops. Collectively, these components can reach conservatively over 5 million museum visitors in the first year. Coupled with the new television series, the Magic School Bus can have a tremendous impact on the education of young people in the sciences.
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.
Wisconsin Public Broadcast will incorporate a science strand in "Get Real!," their television series for children 8-12 year olds in Wisconsin. The series presents positive images of children involved in, and succeeding at, a variety of areas. The Wisconsin-based stories are field-produced; and kids are involved on-screen and off as hosts, reporters, subjects of stories, as interns during production, and as sources of story ideas. The series is broadcast on both public and commercial stations in Wisconsin and receives multiple repeats. The science and technology strand: . connects science concepts to children's known experiences and activities and tells stories about kids involved in science-related activities; . models and reinforces positive attitudes towards, and involvement in science and technology and affirms the value of children's ideas, and the importance of asking why?; and . reinforces viewers' active connection to the science content by making suggestions for projects to get involved with, and by encouraging children to discuss and question their knowledge of science and the world around them. The series is an important element integrated into both informal and formal education throughout Wisconsin. It is supported by teacher materials and science video segments that are sent to every elementary school in Wisconsin. In season two, material also will be created for parents and children to use at home. A "Get Real!" kids club helps kids feel ownership of the series. Members receive a newsletter that includes suggested at-home science activities, book lists related to the series, features about the show, places for families to visit, and behind-the-scenes articles about kids in the series. Every elementary school library and public library in the state also received "Get Real!" materials including a poster and display items. James Steinback, the creator, original producer, and executive producer of "Newton's Apple," will be the co-PI with overall responsibility for the project. Kathy Bissen will be executive producer of "Get Real!" and David Wallach will be series producer. The series is produced in the three Wisconsin Public Television studios -- in Madison, Green Bay, and Menomonie -- and, therefore, can find and produce statewide stories.
Georgia Public Television is producing and evaluating one pilot program and accompanying ancillary material for a series of 30-minute television quiz shows for 8 to 10 year olds. The series would be designed to entertain a home audience while educating them about issues and facts relating to nature and the environment. The primary goals of the project are to increase knowledge about the world around us, to develop a concern for the conservation of wildlife and wild places, and to encourage critical and creative thinking skills in relation to the environment. The television programs and the formal and informal ancillary materials and activities will engage viewers in use and development of science process skills: observation, classification, measurement, prediction, inference, identification and manipulation of variables, interpretation of data, formulation of models, experimentation, construction of hypotheses, and drawing conclusions. The project is being developed in collaboration with the Zoo Atlanta, whose staff will have responsibility for content development, and with educational advisors who will help assure that age- and developmentally-appropriate skills are exercised and the topics have the maximum relevance to elementary and middle school science. The senior producers would be Carol Fisk, a producer with Georgia Public Television and previously a news producer and correspondent in Great Britain and with the BBC in Washington, and Nancy Lebens, a Georgia Public Television staff producer. Cindy Horton, a zoo education program coordinator with Zoo Atlanta, will be the host.
This grant provides support for Season IV of The Magic School Bus, the fully animated PBS series targeted at youth ages 6-9. Components of Season IV will include 13 new episodes, educational support for teachers and youth leaders, dissemination and presentations at major educational conferences, promotion, and summative evaluation. The new programs will bring the total number of programs to 54 making it possible to broadcast the series as a daily strip without undue repeat broadcast which might cause the series to loose its freshness. All of the current principal staff of the project will remain for the fourth season. Cheryl Gotthelf will be PI and Executive Project Director. Jane Startz will be Co-PI and Executive Producer for the series and Michael Templeton will be a Co-PI and Science Content Director. Kristin Martin will continue as Supervision Producer.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Deborah ForteCheryl GotthelfJane StartzMichael Templeton
National Public Radio will produce and distribute a weekly, one-hour program entitled, "Weekly Edition: Science, The Environment, and Technology," which consists of a compilation of the best science stories aired during the previous week on "Morning Edition," "All Things Considered," and "Weekly Edition." Each program will be varied, looking back at the week in science and reviewing main stories. The hour format also will enable the producers to go into greater depth than was done in the daily coverage. They will expand the news pieces with additional interviews and/or out-takes reporters were unable to use on the daily programs. As part of the NPR outreach program, the project will develop "Weekly Science" on "Kids Connection (Science Friday)" as part of the World Wide Web. Each week, that week's program as well as additional science information and bibliographies will be entered on the "Science Friday" homepage. The PI and executive producer for the series will be Anne Gudenkauf, Senior Editor at NPR. Richard Harris and Joe Palca will host the series. Harris has been an on-air host for NPR produced summaries of congressional action on health reform and both have substituted for Ira Flatow on NPR'S TALK OF THE NATION: SCIENCE FRIDAY. The program producer will be Jane Greenhalgh.
The project conducts action research to learn more about how different groups use technology in meaningful ways, develops approaches that significantly increase access for underrepresented groups, and proposes ways in which technology might be modified or redesigned to engage, address, and represent diverse populations. The project targets children and young people from groups underrepresented with technology, informal and formal educators, community groups and organizations, researchers, policymakers and funders, industry, and the public. Products include: a report on the state of access of underrepresented groups to technology; case studies; guides to increasing community access to technology; guidelines about how to be critical viewers, users, and makers of technology; report on the issues involved in producing diverse and equitable technology design; exemplars and ideas for diversifying technology design; suggestions for software publishers and industry; commissioned papers on issues of access and design for particular underrepresented groups; an agenda for action; and interactive World Wide Web site; and a popular press book that synthesizes the knowledge gained through this project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
ellen wahlYolanda GeorgeEric JollyLaura JeffersAndres Henriquez
The Science Education Department of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics will produce and evaluate a pilot for a series of after school television program targeted at youth aged 9 -12. The series, which is based on the research into children's misperceptions about science conducted by the applicant, will help viewers make sense of often poorly understood or misunderstood science principles. The project will be highly interactive through the use of the Internet and 800 numbers. In the television series, viewers will see "evidence" for different ways to interpret basic science concepts and will be called upon to make sense of the key evidence, conduct further investigation on their own, and register their findings via the Internet and World Wide Web or by calling an 800 number. In response to the viewer's verdict, local stations will air either a "guilty" or "innocent" resolution -- both of which will clarify the science concept being considered. The PI for the project will be Philip Sadler, Director of the Science Education Department at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The Project Manager will be Matthew Schneps, Director of the Science Media Group. Education and science content will be the responsibility of Hal Coyle, a science teacher and curriculum developer, and Roy Gould, an Education Specialist at the Center. The principal science advisor will be Irwin Shapiro, Director of the Center for Astrophysics, and the chief educational advisor will be Charles Whitney, Prof. Emeritus Harvard University. The video will be produced in cooperation with Terra Associates in New York.
Children's Television Workshop will plan how science and mathematics can be incorporated into the plot line of the series, GHOSTWRITER. The major work to be undertaken during this planning phase will be to assemble a group of science and mathematics educators to work with a subgroup of the existing series advisory board and with series content and research staff to: o examine the interrelationships among disciplines such as science, mathematics, and English and language arts within the context of GHOSTWRITER, o explore the integration of science and mathematics into GHOSTWRITER and devise educational goals that reflect the outcome of this exploration, and o generate content topics and presentation techniques that will address these mathematics and science goals in GHOSTWRITER.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Joel SchneiderEve HallHelen LesterMarjorie KalinsEdward AtkinsRita Weisskoff