This study collected data from seven planetarium email lists (one per planetarium regional organization in the United States), as well as online survey panel data from residents in each area, to describe and compare those who do and do not visit planetariums.
NASA@ My Library is made possible through the support of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate as part of its Science Activation program. The project is led by the National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) at the Space Science Institute (SSI) in partnership with the American Library Association (ALA) Public Programs Office, Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), and Education Development Center (EDC). From 2016-2020, 78 public libraries (75 partner libraries and 3 pilot libraries), 18 State Library Agencies, 6 Portal to the Public Network sites, and 30 NASA-funded scientists participated in the project. More than 225,000 library patrons were reached through their efforts.
In 2021-2022, public libraries, universities, and state library agencies will participate in the project to increase and enhance STEAM learning opportunities in their communities, with an emphasis on reaching audiences underrepresented in STEM education and professions.
NASA's Universe of Learning provides resources and experiences that enable diverse audiences to explore fundamental questions in astronomy, experience how science is done, and discover the universe for themselves. Using its direct connection to science and science experts, NASA's Universe of Learning creates and delivers timely and authentic resources and experiences for youth, families, and lifelong learners. The goal is to strengthen science learning and literacy, and to enable learners to discover the universe for themselves in innovative, interactive ways that meet today's 21st century needs. The program includes astronomical data tools, multimedia resources, exhibits and community programs, and professional learning experiences for informal educators. It is developed through a unique partnership between the Space Telescope Science Institute, Caltech/IPAC, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and Sonoma State University.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Denise SmithGordon SquiresKathy LestitionAnya BifernoLynn Cominsky
In 2014 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awarded a Competitive Program for Science Museums, Planetariums and NASA Visitor Centers Plus Other Opportunities grant to Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL) called From Our Town to Outer Space (FOTOS). The three-year grant brought STEM learning experiences around NASA disciplines to six public libraries through a traveling exhibit called Discover NASA, associated programming for library patrons, training, resources, and a virtual community of practice for library staff and others who
The Space and Earth Informal STEM Education (SEISE) project, led by the Arizona State University with partners Science Museum of Minnesota, Museum of Science, Boston, and the University of California Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science and Space Sciences Laboratory, is raising the capacity of museums and informal science educators to engage the public in Heliophysics, Earth Science, Planetary Science, and Astrophysics, and their social dimensions through the National Informal STEM Education Network (NISE Net). SEISE will also partner on a network-to-network basis with other existing coalitions and professional associations dedicated to informal and lifelong STEM learning, including the Afterschool Alliance, National Girls Collaborative Project, NASA Museum Alliance, STAR_Net, and members of the Association of Children’s Museums and Association of Science-Technology Centers. The goals for this project include engaging multiple and diverse public audiences in STEM, improving the knowledge and skills of informal educators, and encouraging local partnerships.
In collaboration with the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD), SEISE is leveraging NASA subject matter experts (SMEs), SMD assets and data, and existing educational products and online portals to create compelling learning experiences that will be widely use to share the story, science, and adventure of NASA’s scientific explorations of planet Earth, our solar system, and the universe beyond. Collaborative goals include enabling STEM education, improving U.S. scientific literacy, advancing national educational goals, and leveraging science activities through partnerships. Efforts will focus on providing opportunities for learners explore and build skills in the core science and engineering content, skills, and processes related to Earth and space sciences. SEISE is creating hands-on activity toolkits (250-350 toolkits per year over four years), small footprint exhibitions (50 identical copies), and professional development opportunities (including online workshops).
Evaluation for the project will include front-end and formative data to inform the development of products and help with project decision gates, as well as summative data that will allow stakeholders to understand the project’s reach and outcomes.
The Orlando Science Center (OSC) in partnership with BASE Camp Children's Cancer Foundation and the University of Central Florida (UCF) will engage chronically ill children (cancer, sickle-cell, HIV/AIDS, etc.) and other Orlando area youth ages 10-18 who face the greatest educational disparities in NASA-themed Aeronautics, Space Exploration, and Space Science exhibits through a STEM engagement and educator professional development project entitled STEM Satellites: A Mobile Mathematics and Science Initiative for Orlando Metropolitan Area Children's Hospitals. OSC will partner with educational researchers, evaluators, and planetary scientists from the University of Central Florida to create three mobile exhibits for each of the three children's hospitals in the Orlando metropolitan area. Two additional sets of the three mobile carts will be used at OSC and UCF. The three mobile exhibits will be based on the planned NASA missions that the UCF planetary scientists are leading including a Mars-themed exhibit focusing on space exploration, an asteroid-themed exhibit, and an exhibit on microgravity. Each cart will include multiple STEM activities that incorporate NASA data and artifacts from prior NASA missions, UCF planetary science collections, and Kennedy Space Center. OSC will provide professional development and training to BASE Camp volunteers who will supervise the use of the mobile exhibits in the hospitals. These exhibits will provide authentic experiences that mirror current and planned NASA missions at a level that the children can understand. These hands-on and engaging exhibits will not only help motivate children to pursue STEM careers but will also help educate the general public about the exciting and important work that NASA carries out. Providing this level of engaging and authentic STEM activities through the mobile exhibits to this historically underrepresented population is unprecedented.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
JoAnn NewmanJosh ColwellBrandan LanmanMegan Nickels
From Our Town to Outer Space will inform, engage, and inspire new public audiences (library staff and patrons) by sharing NASA’s missions, challenges, and achievements. FOTOS is led by the Space Science Institute’s (SSI) National Center for Interactive Learning (NCIL). NASA mission staff will be invited to participate as active members. NCIL is partnering with Evaluation & Research Associates (ERA) to provide formative and summative evaluation services. FOTOS is a standards-based, informal education program that will reach a broad audience of librarians, library patrons, and other members of the public with a special focus on underserved and underrepresented audiences. The 3-year pilot program includes: 1) a hands-on, museum- quality library exhibit (called Discover NASA: the science and engineering of tomorrow) and tour (to 7 libraries across the country), 2) the development and broad dissemination of active learning activities for different age groups, and 3) library staff training (online and in-person) that introduces them to the STEM content of the exhibit and guides them in developing complementary programming. The project will also develop resources for the existing STAR Library Education Network (STAR Net) community of practice (CoP) whose members include librarians and STEM professionals.
WGBH received funding to develop and create NOVA Labs, an online environment that provides teen audiences with an online research lab, educational content, and the opportunity to engage with authentic data, tools, and processes to investigate scientific questions. This work has begun with the development of a first pilot lab, called The Sun Lab. NOVA Education created and launched this lab in early summer 2012. Examining the site in its pilot form, the Lifelong Learning Group (LLG) engaged in a formative evaluation to support refinements and improvements in the design of subsequent NOVA Lab
NOVA Labs (www.pbs.org/nova/labs) is a web-based platform designed for use by educators, students, and teens to engage learners with authentic data, processes, and tools of working scientists. The present evaluation study sought to investigate the outcomes achieved by users of the third NOVA Labs platform developed: Cloud Lab. The intended outcomes identified for student users were that they would: • Be able to successfully work with the real data provided in the Cloud Lab; • Demonstrate ability to interpret and use scientific data and tools; • Engage with real scientific data through the
The Dynamic Earth: You Have To See it To Believe It is a public exhibition and suite of programming designed to educate and excite K-8 students, teachers, and families about weather and climate science, plate tectonics, erosion, and stream formation. The Dynamic Earth program draws attention to the importance of large-scale earth processes and the human impacts on these processes, utilizing real artifacts, hands-on models, and NASA earth imagery and data. The program includes the exhibition, student workshops, family workshops, annual professional development opportunities for classroom teachers, innovative theater shows, lectures for adults by visiting scientists, and interpretive activities. The Montshire Museum of Science has partnered with Chabot Space and Science Center (CA) and the US Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (NH) on various components. The project has broadened our internal capacity for providing quality earth science programming by greatly expanding our program titles and allowing us to create hands-on materials for use by our educators and to loan to schools in our Partnership Initiative. Programming developed during the grant period continues to reach thousands of students and teachers each year, both on-site and as part of our rural outreach efforts.
Journey to Space will be a large-scale traveling exhibition that simulates a journey to the International Space Station (ISS), allows visitors to explore the physical properties of low gravity environments, and introduces some of the engineering and technology that makes it possible to live and work in space. A collaborative project led by the Science Museum of Minnesota joined by the California Science Center and the three other members of the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative, the exhibition will encourage museum visitors 1) to immerse themselves in the sights, sounds, and smells that astronauts experience traveling to, and living in, space; 2) to engage as problem solvers with some of the unique engineering challenges that must be solved to support living and working in space; and 3) to experience life aboard the International Space Station interpreted through the voices of engineers, scientists, and astronauts. In addition to the exhibition, the project will include a public website and a two-year youth program for underserved teens that will result in a three-day Celebration of Space Exploration Chautauqua aimed especially at underserved families in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. The exhibition will tour to twelve major science museums across North America and reach upwards of three and a quarter million families, adults, teachers, and students over six years.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Eric JollyPaul MartinJ. Shipley Newlin
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Engage and Equip to Empower: Building a S-STEM Generation (E³) is a two-part program that seeks to educate the public about living, working, and doing science aboard the International Space Station and to provide professional development in STEM for formal and informal educators. Working with Science Museum of Minnesota, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will create a new interactive exhibition, Space Station: Science in Orbit, that will give more than 500,000 annual museum visitors an immersive experience of what daily and professional life is like aboard the ISS, and how the ISS is supported by NASA back on earth, using the real voices of astronauts and engineers. In addition, the U.S. Space & Rocket Center will host STEMcon, an annual four-day STEM professional development program for educators, focused on best practices and innovation in hands-on, experiential STEM learning. Funds from this award will be used to provide tuition and travel to 70 educators per year for four years from the five-state service area of Marshall Space Flight Center. The U.S. Space & Rocket Center aims to recruit at least 40% of these educators from underserved/underprivileged schools. Both elements of the program seek to improve public knowledge of NASA’s work in science research and human spaceflight, as well as inform the public about the myriad careers involved in NASA missions. STEMcon aims to foster communication and teamwork between formal and informal educators across the country, while informing educators of resources that are available for curriculum development or classroom use.