The Association of Science-Technology Centers, representing some 170 science museums, receives regular requests for information on the status of science museums, their education programs, exhibits and other activities. To respond to this need, the organization will collect and analyze data on the status and activities of both member and non-member science museums. The material will be published as three reports and made available on computer disks for further study. The information is particularly useful to communities considering new museums, and to trustees and contributors to current museums and others who have an interest in the priorities and policies of education and exhibits programs. The project will be assisted by an advisory committee and Dr. Sue Smock, Director of the Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University.
The Franklin Institute Science Museum will, over a three year period, develop a regional Girl Scout leader training programthat provides science education experiences for Girl Scouts. The Girl Scout Council of Greater Philadelphia and the Washington Rock, NJ Council will be primary partners and the source of volunteer leaders and the target audience of member girls. Science Education kits will be developed and tested for Brownies and Juniors, training materials for staff trainers and volunteer leaders developed, leaders trained, and several post.training support mechanisms developed. Program materials are designed for continued use by the Girl Scouts; more than 2,000 leaders will be trained and 20,000 girls will participate in project activities during the three year period. This project is directed at the substantial under representation of women in many science and engineering fields by working with girls in informal settings to overcome patterns of science and mathematics avoidance. Replication and dissemination will be undertaken both within the Girl Scout Council system and among museums, youth organizations, and other informal educators. The proposers are contributing nearly $250,000 in resources to the project; NSF support will be 55% of the project total.
The Mississippi Museum of Natural Science proposes to build on its program of activities that involve children in science and bring them into contact with the approaches, objects and equipment that scientists use, with each activity designed to stimulate thinking and heighten interest in science. Cardinal features of the program are the development of hands-on exhibits, science kits for classroom use and a studied tie with the children's television program, "3-2-1 Contact." The goals are to coordinate these activities with hands-on science activities for students in grades 3-6, and to coordinate classroom activities with those at the museum, which conducts "3-2-1 Contact Days" throughout the year when students come to the museum and take part in experiments, observations and enrichment lessons and actively manipulate museum objects. The museum now will refine the program components, including improvement and duplication of the hands-on kits, continuation of the workshops for elementary teachers and development of new participatory exhibits dealing with insects and endangered species, and will present them to an expanded audience. One-third of the children in the state live below the poverty level, and fifty per cent represent minority populations. As most of these children lack such out-of-school experiences these informal science activities are particularly meaningful.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elizabeth HartfieldMartha Cooper
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Council for the Advancement of Science Writers (CASW), a nonprofit organization of scientists and science writers, will provide an additional four years of New Horizons In Science briefings for science reporters and editors. These annual briefings, which have been conducted since 1963, bring together leading researchers in the most active areas of science and engineering with science journalists to educate journalists about the latest developments in scientific discovery and inquiry, and to allow the two groups to interact with each other to discuss common aspects of the public understanding of science. Each year, the CASW Briefings engage more than a hundred science journalists from around the country with more than a dozen speakers reflecting as many fields of scientific discovery. The activities cover all fields of science and engineering and are carefully constructed to reflect a variety of points of view within disciplines. This standard award for three years will allow CASW to develop independent long.term funding for the series. Evaluation and marketing studies will take place in each of the next four years. More than $100,000 in additional project support will be provided by the CASW and other New Horizons sponsors.