The Franklin Institute Science Museum in Philadelphia, PA requests NSF support for a three-year model program entitled "Partnerships for Acheiving Careers in Technology and Science" (PACTS). Building upon a successful pilot project involving African-American students and mentors, PACTS aims to foster positive attitudes about science careers and increase students leadership skills and self-estee. Through bi-weekly hands-on science workshops with African-American Scientists as mentors, students will strengthen their understanding of science concepts and enhance their critical thinking skills. On alternate Saturdays, students will participate in college/career workshops. PACTS students will also have the opportunity to tutor younger students, visit science laboratories, and serve as science museum demonstrators. Additional support and encouragment will be provided through a network of community resources involving partnerships among scientists, professional associations, community centers, corporations and a science center. The PACTS model will be disseminated nationally through museum conferences, the national networks of professional associations and corporations, and presentations by PACTS staff to interested organizations in other cities.
A three-year project, Science Experiences and Resources for Informal Education Settings (SERIES), involves collaboration between the 4-H Youth Development Program, practicing scientists, science education centers, and community service agencies to provide community-based science experiences for youth. Goals for national dissemination of the SERIES project are: 1) Increase the quality and quantity of science experiences for youth as leaders and as learners; 2) For youth to actively experience how science concepts and processes relate to their everyday lives; 3) Provide opportunities for youth to take positive leadership roles in their homes and communities; and 4) Provide opportunities for youth to investigate educational and career possibilities in science and technology through a scientist mentor relationship. SERIES builds upon the materials, and instructional/coaching model successfully developed and tested during the Califronia SERIES Project. National dissemination by 4-H assures SERIES availability to the 5,100,000 youth currently enrolled in 4-H. Expected outcomes of SERIES are: 1) Refine and produce final versions in English and Spanish of four SERIES community service science units; 2) Develop two new units; 3) Development of an "inquiry coaching" module for adult volunteers; 4) Develop and asses apprentice-like mentoring experiences for SERIES teens to work directly with scientists; and 5) Establish four SERIES regional dissemination centers, working collaboratively with 4-H, science centers and other youth serving agencies to provide national dissemination of the SERIES program model to 28 states.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Richard PonzioLaurel DeanHerbert Thier
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
A three-year project, Science And Youth (SAY), integrates the existing curriculum, instructional design, and training capacity of the 4-H Science Experiences and Resources for Informal Educational Settings (SERIES) project with high school students exploring careers in teaching at eleven existing "teaching magnet" high schools across the country. The SAY project expands the quantity and quality of informal science education experiences by accomplishing the following objectives: 1) prepare one thousand teenage teachers/leaders to present SAY activities to forty thousand elementary school age youth: 2) involve participating youth in a total of five hundred community service projects; 3) involve five hundred teenage leaders in mentoring relationships with local scientists, and; 4) have seventy-five percent of the participants continue their education in science and/or the teaching profession. SAY uses a teens-as-leaders model to engage younger youth (ages 9-13) in hands-on, inquiry-based science activities that result in science-based community services projects. SAY offers youngsters a vehicle for experiencing how science problem solving strategies are applied to home and community problems. The pedagogy of the SAY project represents the best of current research on science education, and offers an innovative model for the preparation of a new cadre of science teachers.
The University Museum at the University of Arkansas is conducting preliminary planning for expansion of their 1994 pilot project entitled "Women in Science." During this planning phase, the staff will meet regularly with experts and teachers to design an exhibit about non-academic female scientists in Arkansas that will travel throughout Arkansas, outline a workshop for teachers that would help them encourage their female students to participate in math and science, and develop a program that enables female scientists to work with groups of students. At the end of the three and a half month planning stage, a final report will present a plan for the exhibition, gender workshop, and scientist program which identifies personnel, gives models/prototypes, and a budget for each facet of the proposed project.
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.
Ornithology is one of the few scientific disciplines to which amateurs can still make significant contributions. Whether they observe birds at a feeder, count birds for a national census, or conduct a simple experiment, their activities contribute greatly to our knowledge of birds. Furthermore, participants in bird study programs not only learn about birds, they also become more aware of environmental problems. The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology exists to facilitate such amateur involvement and education. This proposal is aimed at strengthening our education programs and expanding them to include under-served audiences in the inner city. We propose to evaluate the extent to which our radio program, magazine, and Project FeederWatch appeal to various audiences and how effective these programs are at communicating information about birds and in stimulating involvement. Based on this evaluation, we will modify our programs, then evaluate them again. We are also proposing a brand-new volunteer-assisted data gathering program, which we call the National Science Experiment. In cooperation with other organizations, volunteers will look at the biology of pigeons in our cities, food preferences of winter birds across the United States, and the habitat requirements of neotropical migrant tanagers. The results of these studies will be of interest to both ornithologists and birders; furthermore, participants in the project will gain first-hand involvement with the process of science.
Science-By-Mail is a mentorship program between scientists and youth whereby youth have a subscription for three scientific challenge packets each year, create solutions, and receive responses from a personal scientist. Science-By-Mail brings the excitement of science discovery into classrooms and homes of children around the country and provides them with positive, approachable role models of professional scientists. A grant of $622,088 over three years will allow us to strengthen and expand this program nationally, focusing especially on increasing participation by minority youth and scientists. Specifically, support is requested for the design and development of 12 new challenge packets; to increase participation to 47,900 youth, 4,500 scientists, and 26 regional chapters; promote increased corporate and other private-sector involvement in the program; and to conduct an annual evaluation. The AAAS will aid in the recruitment of volunteer scientists. In addition, we will work together with the National 4-H Council to pilot the program within that organization (with a membership of 5.4 million), focusing particularly on minority youth. Anticipated income form the expansion of Science-By-Mail will make the program self-sufficient at the end of the grant period.//
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TEAM MEMBERS:
John Shane
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Project A.S.T.R.O. is a program to bring both amateur and professional astronomers into the schools to assist fourth through ninth grade teachers in the classroom, with day and evening observing activities, with individual student projects, and with inspiration to provide a greater appreciation of science and lead students to science and engineering careers. Amateurs are a largely untapped resource for science education and this project will explore the impact their enthusiasm and experience can have in providing significant assistance to teachers and students in grades where crucial science attitudes are formed. The California-based pilot program will -- after the development of appropriate protocols and materials -- use 40 astronomers and 40 teachers to test the effectiveness of astronomers (especially amateur astronomers) as school resource agents. The project has four related components: 1) the assessment of existing programs of this type and of materials to help both the visiting scientists and the teachers; 2) workshops to train the astronomers, prepare the teachers, and continue developing activities and resources; 3) school visits and other activities by astronomers for a full school year; and 4) the production of a loose-leaf Teachers' Resource Notebook and a How-to-Manual for bringing astronomy to the schools. Formative and summative evaluation by those involved and a professional evaluator will be a key component of each phase. A set of guidelines for the national dissemination of the project will also be developed.
The scientific community is challenged by the need to reach out to students who have traditionally not been attracted to engineering and the sciences. This project would provide a link between the University of Michigan and the teachers and students of secondary education in the State of Michigan with an initial emphasis on southeast Michigan, through the creation of a range of computer services which will provide interactive access to current weather and climate change information. Taking advantage of a unique computer network capacity within the State of Michigan named MichNet which provides local phone ports in virtually every major city in the state, and the resources available to the university community via the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) UNIDATA program, this project would provide secondary schools with access to a state-of-the-art interactive weather information system. The real-time data available via the system, supplemented by interactive computer modules designed in collaboration with earth science teachers, will provide animated background information on a range of climate and weather related topics. While the principal objective of this project will be to provide educationally stimulating interactive computer systems and electronic weather and climate modules for application in inner city Detroit and its environs, the unique nature of the available computer networking will allow virtually every school system in the state to have access. Subsequently successful completion of this project could eventually make the same systems available to other cities and states.
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific requests $1,317,701 over three years to implement its California pilot project to six sites around the country. Each site will establish local, self- sustaining coalitions linking science centers, astronomical institutions, school districts, and community groups. These coalitions will, with training and support from the national Project ASTRO staff, identify, link, and support the astronomer/teacher partners in their area to use the excitement of astronomy to improve the teaching and learning of science in elementary and middle school. A second strand of the project will use the Project ASTRO materials and techniques to train astronomers and teachers at national meetings outside the six sites to set up individual ASTRO partnerships on their own. Materials to be produced include a: Project ASTRO Coalition Manual; Training Manual; update to the Resource Notebook for the Teaching of Astronomy. Target audiences are students in grades 4-9.
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.