Educational Broadcasting Corporation (WNET New York) is producing twelve new programs for the third season of Cyberchase, the first national math series for children in over a decade. The daily, half-hour programs currently are viewed by over 1.5 million viewers for each broadcast. The associated website has had over 140 million page views. Summative evaluation of previous seasons has determined that Cyberchase increases children's positive attitudes about mathematics as well as their content comprehension and confidence in their problem-solving skills. In the third season the content of Cyberchase will be enriched by the addition of more complex mathematics concepts. Grouped by their related NCTM standard, these include: Number & Operations: Percent, Zero, Mixed Number Fractions, Factoring Geometry: Circles, Perspective, Tessellations, Navigation: Angles and Distance Algebra: Body Math (Ratio & Proportion); Mathematical Modeling Data Analysis and Probability: Experimental Probability, Stem & Leaf Plots Reasoning & Proof: Reasoning Representation: Drawing to Scale During the third season WNET also will upgrade the web site to offer more math challenges to frequent visitors and will create math games with varying levels of complexity and challenge to provide more learning opportunities and to bring children back online more often. In addition, WNET will intensify the project outreach to key constituencies through an integrated campaign of community outreach, materials and promotion.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sandra SheppardCarey BolsterMichael TempletonBarbara Flagg
WGBH Educational Foundation is requesting $1,261,934, or 33% of a total project budget of $3,835,236, to produce 20 new shows and new outreach and Web activities for" ZOOM." Targeted to kids ages 8 to 11, "ZOOM" is a daily, half-hour PBS series featuring an assortment of games, riddles, investigations, recipes and poems -- all based on materials sent in by its young viewers. Uniquely by and for kids," ZOOM" gives its viewers a chance to explore, experiment and share their creativity. "ZOOM's" science and math segments (30% of each half-hour show) give kids opportunities to explore scientific and mathematical ideas, concepts and phenomena. The goals for Season VI are to: (1) expand "ZOOM's" engineering curriculum; (2) develop two new content areas--Sports Science, and Perception and Sensation; (3) create new partnerships with FIRST LEGO League and Girl Scouts of USA; and, (4) conduct summative evaluation to continue to gauge "ZOOM's" effectiveness at teaching math and science to targeted audiences. Outreach for the project will include print materials for kids, families and educators. "ZOOM"-related activities at community-based organization include 590 ClubZOOM science afterschool programs and 21 ZOOMzone science museum exhibits. The 2,400-page interactive web site is updated weekly. "ZOOM" currently is carried by 170 public broadcasting stations and is viewed by close to 6 million children per week. The program receives 24,000 letters and e-mails per week; the web site attracts an average of 14,000 visitors per month.
The goal of this project is to educate children between the ages of 10 and 18 about the ecology of insects and forests, how human activities affect their interaction, and how scientific research is conducted. It will disseminate information throughout Indiana based on research award DEB 0345331, Cicadas and Forests Education. For a period during May and June 2004 the United States was captivated by periodical cicadas in an unusual convergence of popular and scientific interest. This project will use this heightened awareness as a vehicle for informal science education as additional broods emerge in 2007 and 2008 in the Midwest and South. The project will use existing video footage from the research to produce a documentary film on periodical cicadas for airing on public television stations and distribution on DVDs to schools; an interactive computer-based presentation in PowerPoint; and an interactive 3-D animation of the cicada life cycle for use in a science center. Project collaborators include local public television stations, Wonderlab (a science museum), the Indiana State Museum and school systems in Indiana.
This planning grant proposal would develop the logistical, programming and creative specifications for production of Magic Porthole, an innovative Web-based science game for 8-14 year olds. The content and learning will focus on the value and significance of intact coral ecosystems to human communities, encouraging young people to seek more sustainable relationships with their environment. The project will use existing video footage of coral reef life along with new live action footage, text, stills, music and flash animation. The 8-14 year olds will be engaged in a sustained mystery story that will pull them more deeply into scientific content. The organizational collaborators are environmental education and media organizations.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Janine SelendyJan PostWilliam FinneganBrett Pierce
The California Science Center (CSC) developed the "World of Ecology," a 45,000 sq ft permanent exhibition that involves the large-scale fusion of interactive science exhibits with the immersive live-habitat concept of zoos, aquariums and botanical gardens.The focus for this project is the Extreme Zone, which will explore how species adapt to their environment. It contains four habitats: the Sonoran desert, deep sea hydrothermal vents, polar regions and rocky shores and will include more than 259 terrestrial and aquatic animal and plant species. The overall goal is to communicate that in every ecosystem the physical and living worlds are connected and shaped by the same fundamental ecological principles. It will be achieved through the integration of science center exhibits with immersive habitats on a large scale. This approach provides an interesting model for the science center, museum, zoo and botanical garden fields. The target audience is the 1.6 million annual CSC visitors, 57% of whom are from minority populations, with an emphasis on families, elementary and middle school students. In addition, CSC will enhance the exhibition through outreach programs that serve at-risk students. All audio-visual programs will be available in Spanish as well as English, and a Spanish language audio guide will be produced. Collaboration with the Santa Barbara Zoo will bring valuable expertise as well as enhance prospects for dissemination.
The Queens Borough Public Library (QBPL) will develop "Science in the Stacks," an integrated, multi-sensory, self-paced informal learning environment within its forthcoming Children's Library Discovery Center. It will include 36 Discovery Exhibits developed by the Exploratorium, three Learning Carts for scripted activities by librarians, six Information Plazas, a Discovery Teens program, a web site and supporting educational activities. The theme will be multiple pathways to the world of information. QBPL will be collaborating locally with the New York Hall of Science and the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Overall, QBPL receives some 16 million visits per year; the target audience for this project is children ages 3 to 12. In addition to its public impact, "Science in the Stacks" will have professional impact on both the science center and library fields, showing how it is possible to combine their different modes of STEM learning in complementary ways. Although library-museum colaaborations are not new, this one is the first attempt to combine their respective learning resources on a large scale. It offers the potential to serve as a new model for both fields, enabling visitor (patron) entry into self-directed STEM learning through books, media, programs or hands-on activities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Nick BuronLorna Rudder-KilkennyThomas RockwellMarcia Rudy
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.
National Geographic Television, in Collaboration with Graphic Films, is producing a 40-minute, large-format, documentary film about the scientific quest to understand some of the most dramatic geological and meteorological events we experience -- volcanoes, earthquakes and violent storms. The goals of the film are to inform audiences about geological and meteorological forces which greatly impact our planet, present the scientific research being performed in an effort to understand and predict these forces, portray scientific role models and to stimulate a greater appreciation and interest in the Earth sciences. Informal education outreach will include: A "Forces of Nature" website that will include educational resources targeted to the general audience as well as to students and teachers. Museum and Family Activity Guides The National Geographic Society will support public programs at science-technology centers by providing access to scientists who work in the areas of science covered in the film. National Geographic's cable program Explorer (carried on MSNBC) will produce a themed show around "Forces of Nature" to coincide with the launch of the film. A companion book In addition, outreach materials for formal education will include: A "Forces of Nature" Teacher's Guide A teacher training seminar to be conducted at the first 20 theaters in the U.S. that lease the film Workshops at the national conferences of the National Science Teachers Association, the National Council for the Social Studies and the National Council for Geographic Education. Instructional information in National Geographic for Kids, the classroom magazine for elementary school students in grades 3-6. The Executive Producer for the film will be Lisa Truitt. George Casey will be the Producer/Director. The Lead Science Advisors are Stephen Schneider, Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change, Stanford University; James Shymansky, Professor of Science Education, University of Missouri-St. Louis; and James Walker, Professor Emeritus, Space Physics Research Lab, Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Science, University of Michigan.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lisa TruittGeorge CaseyPaul NovrosBarbara Flagg
Kinetic City After School is a two-year project that will produce a web-based after-school program for children ages 9-11. The on-line adventure will enable users to enter a virtual universe where a computer virus (Deep Delete) systematically attacks a new area of science each month (analogous to one of the 12 Project 2061 Benchmarks for Science Literacy). As students battle the virus, they learn Benchmarks learning goals. Each unit invites children to think about the problem, take action and reflect on their experience. The activities accommodate different learning styles and are supplemented by live audio chats with scientists and a self-assessment enables students to earn Kinetic City Power Points. Power Points can be donated to after school programs without computers and Internet access. These sites may in turn, exchange their accumulated Power Points to obtain computers, Internet service and a site license for "Kinetic City After School." Although the program is web-based, most of the activity extensions are done off-line. "Kinetic City After School" will be introduced to after-school sites with a two-day training workshop, with follow-up via phone meetings and site visits. Supporting materials will include a Leader Guide, Journal and Kinetic City Home Crew activity pages for use in the home.
The Children's Museum of Houston, in cooperation with Scholastic Entertainment, the National Weather Service and the American Meteorological Society (AMS), will develop, produce and nationally circulate two (2) copies of a 2,500-sq.ft. interactive exhibit. Using the popular icon of the Magic School Bus, the exhibit will take young children on a journey of discovery to explore the science involved in the Earth's weather. The exhibit, "The Magic School Bus Gets Weather Wise," and accompanying educational materials and programs will be bilingual in Spanish and English and will support national and Texas standards for science and mathematics learning for children aged 5-10. It is estimated that the exhibit and programs will serve 2,000,000 children and adults in 36 national venues over six (6) years. Weather Exploration Stations will precede the exhibit to encourage community engagement prior to the exhibit's arrival at the host venue. AMS scientists, local meteorologists and media weathercasters will assist visitor experiences and help museums with strategies for publicity campaigns and development of local programming. The visiting audiences of children and their families will learn meteorology is a study of weather, there are different types of weather, a variety of tools are used in predicting weather and the water cycle plays a role in weather events. Visitors will read data from maps, graphs, thermometers, anemometers, experiment with variables and model weather conditions using interactive exhibit components.
The Louisville Science Center (LSC) proposes to develop "The World Around Us (WAU)," an 8,000 sq ft exhibition, plus programs and materials designed to increase environmental awareness of citizens, inspiring greater understanding and respect for earth's natural resources. Exhibition components are CenterStage; AtmoSphere: Air that Surrounds Us; TerraSphere: Environments that Support Us; and AquaSphere: Water that Sustains Us. The exhibition integrates hands-on activities and media-based visitor experiences with approximately 1,000 specimens from the LSC collections. The project takes an interdisciplinary thematic approach founded in educational goals and STEM content that is closely linked to national science standards. Target audiences are children in grades 3-8, parents, caregivers and teachers. LSC expects to reach some five million visitors over ten years after opening the exhibition. The project focuses on reaching rural and underserved audiences in Kentucky and Indiana. Its impact will be extended through strong ties to the schools and with ancillary materials. The distance learning capability of the Collections Discovery Gallery will extend the reach of the exhibition beyond the museum walls. In addition, the application of PDAs and handheld GIS technology will add to experience of the field in these areas. Dissemination of "green" fabrication techniques will help other science centers follow similar approaches.
This report summarizes a summative evaluation of Amazing Feats of Aging, an exhibition developed by staff at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon. Patricia McNamara, an independent evaluator, designed this study to document the exhibition's impact on visitors at two locations: its permanent installation at OMSI itself and at the installation of the exhibit's traveling version at the Lafayette Museum of Natural History (LMNH) in Lafayette, Louisiana. Data collection strategies included visitor interviews, self-administered questionnaires and unobtrusive
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Patricia McNamaraOregon Museum of Science and Industry