Science museums and science centers exist (in large part) to bring science to the public. But what public do they serve? The challenge of equity is embodied by the gulf that separates a museum’s actual public and the more diverse publics that comprise our society. Yet despite growing scholarly interest in museums and science centers, few researchers have explored how these organizations seek to bridge that gulf. Adopting an institutional theory perspective, we argue that equity is a field-wide challenge in informal science education—a challenge that different organizations define and respond
This essay seeks to explain what the “science of science communication” is by *doing* it. Surveying studies of cultural cognition and related dynamics, it demonstrates how the form of disciplined observation, measurement, and inference distinctive of scientific inquiry can be used to test rival hypotheses on the nature of persistent public conflict over societal risks; indeed, it argues that satisfactory insight into this phenomenon can be achieved only by these means, as opposed to the ad hoc story-telling dominant in popular and even some forms of scholarly discourse. Synthesizing the
This project will reinterpret a significant property owned by Historic Hudson Valley (HHV). Using as a focusing device the experiences of four women who shaped this country estate during its 200-year history, the new interpretation will illustrate important turning points in American attitudes toward nature and landscape. As it forges a more integrated, effective way for house museums to interpret the built and natural environments, HHV will strive to help visitors understand how American points of view about landscape and nature have changed over time and why those shifts matter. Project formats include an interpretive tour of the nearly 400-acre site; web-based programs and blog; and publications. The story of Montgomery Place reflects many of the ideas and values that have shaped America’s land and people. The project addresses how cultural attitudes toward the natural world determine human actions, and how these actions in turn affect people’s environments.
Stories help people form relationships and make sense of the world around them. Business, medicine, and education have long used stories---or cases---as teaching and professional development tools. In the family engagement field, reading cases challenges those who work with families to consider multiple perspectives; think critically about real-world issues; communicate effectively; and identify family strengths. These are all abilities that educators need to work effectively with families. With this in mind, Harvard Family Research Project and the Community Engagement Team in the Department
This feature documentary will join film to humanities scholarship in investigating the historical production of nuclear waste, the present character of communities living with that waste, and the combined efforts of sociologists, anthropologists, writers, and scientists to imagine how to guard this material into the 10,000-year future. Drawing on important work in environmental (land) history, ethics, and politics, as well as work on the cultural anthropology of the nuclear world, the film “Containment” examines how the Cold War transformed the American landscape, how nuclear waste compels us today—in lands across the United States and beyond—to examine our most basic views about the control and ethics of land use, and how 24,000-year half-life of plutonium pushed scientists and humanists into the Congressionally-demanded business of imagining a ten-thousand year human future in order to mark and isolate nuclear waste.
Although studies in a variety of settings suggest that participant reactions to the research context can threaten the validity and generalizability of study findings, there have been almost no investigations of participant reactivity in museums. In this experimental study, the authors compared the behaviors and learning outcomes of visitors at two versions of an interactive mathematics exhibit who had either been actively recruited by a data collector or passively recruited using posted signage. They assessed the amount of time visitors spent at the exhibit, the number of mathematical exhibit
This workshop convened a group of thought leaders from across the nation, sectors, and academic disciplines on June 3, 2015 at the National Science Foundation for one day of brainstorming and prioritizing of ideas, strategies (such as collective impact), and actions that could be aggressively pursued by the NSF Inclusion across the Nation of Communities of Learners that have been Underrepresented for Diversity in Engineering and Science (INCLUDES) initiative.
This project develops an interdisciplinary and transformative in- and out of-school science education and technology program that engages high school aged youth and their teachers in 1) the production of food using hydroponics, and 2) the use of green energy technologies (solar, and wind) to power hydroponic systems. This distinctive program integrates food production, a novel model of parental outreach, a focus on green career development, and an authentic reason (growing their own produce for selling at a market) for learning how and why to use alternative energy technologies. The project creates an approach to sustainability in which students not only give back to their community, but are in a position to provide a continuous revenue stream to the school in order to operate their indoor urban garden indefinitely. The partnership with the Boston Youth Environmental Network provides youth opportunities for summer internships with green energy companies. The project builds upon a learning progressions model in which youth gradually learn about complex scientific systems and economic principles throughout their years in the program. Rather than a onetime experience, youth are engaged in a long-term experience building their knowledge and skills regarding science, economics, and college preparedness. This project has the potential to impact thousands of students informally and over 2000 students (in classrooms) directly with a minimum of 60 students receiving focused and in depth learning experiences during the summer and on weekends during the school year. With the passage of laws encouraging local schools to partner with local farms, the need for locally grown produce will increase; in that context, the program brings the farm to the school in a way that allows food to be grown year round. Thus, a model is developed that any school or informal learning center could adopt to grow their own food while simultaneously creating a living and learning laboratory for youth in their own program.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
George BarnettEric StraussDavid BlusteinCatherine WongElizabeth Bagnani