In the Communities of Learning for Urban Environments and Science (CLUES) project, the four museums of the Philadelphia-Camden Informal Science Education Collaborative worked to build informal science education (ISE) capacity in historically underserved communities. The program offered comprehensive professional development (PD) to Apprentices from 8-11 community-based organizations (CBO), enabling them to develop and deliver hands-on family science workshops. Apprentices, in turn, trained Presenters from the CBOs to assist in delivering the workshops. Families attended CLUES events both at the museums and in their own communities. The events focused on environmental topics that are especially relevant to urban communities, including broad topics such as climate change and the energy cycle to more specific topics such as animals and habitats in urban neighborhoods.
The Rutgers Film Bureau in collaboration with the scientists of the LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) project at Palmer will produce a multi-platform documentary project, Antarctic Quest: Racing to Understand a Changing Ocean. This Connecting Researchers to Public Audiences proposal will focus on the scientists who are studying ocean physics, chemistry, biology, and ecology in the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), which is the fastest winter warming location on earth. The aim of the project is to promote scientific knowledge about the world's oceans and climate change, inspire interest in scientific careers, as well as train a cadre of next generation film students in the craft of science documentary filmmaking. The project will articulate the research of the Palmer LTER's quest to understand the impact of climate change on the marine ecosystems of the WAP, while involving university students in the filmmaking process. Deliverables include an hour television documentary intended for PBS television broadcast, an online "Antarctic Quest community" created through interactive and interconnected social media, three five-minute educational videos produced for the PBS Learning Media website, and a Digital Media Library to assist Earth science educators. The production team will employ a diverse group of twenty film students from Rutgers University to be involved in the many phases and components of the project. The project is designed to advance the public's environmental literacy. The project will raise awareness of the changes being observed in the world's oceans by illustrating how small changes in the physical conditions in the WAP can have profound impact on marine ecosystems and potentially the entire ocean system. The project will also highlight the significance of innovative new technologies that are revolutionizing research methods as well document the importance of scientific collaboration to understand a complex interdisciplinary problem and the challenges of working in extreme environments. The summative evaluation of the project will assess the effectiveness of the project in meeting its educational goals. By communicating significant scientific research to the public while training a cohort of next generation of science documentary filmmakers, the project will also contribute to capacity-building in the Informal Science Education field.
In this full-scale research and development project, Oregon State University (OSU), Oregon Sea Grant (OSG) and the Hatfield Marine Science Center Visitors Center (HMSCVC) is designing, developing, implementing, researching and evaluating a cyberlaboratory in a museum setting. The cyberlaboratory will provide three earth and marine science learning experiences with research and evaluation interwoven with visitor experiences. The research platform will focus on: 1) a climate change exhibit that will enable research on identity, values and opinion; 2) a wave tank exhibit that will enable research on group dynamics and problem solving in interactive engineering challenges; and 3) remote sensing exhibits that will enable research on visitor interactions through the use of real data and simulations. This project will provide the informal science educaton community with a suite of tools to evaluate learning experiences with emerging technologies using an iterative process. The team will also make available to the informal science community their answers to the following research questions: For the climate change exhibit, "To what extent does customizing content delivery based on real-time visitor input promote learning?" For the wave tank exhibit, "To what extent do opportunities to reflect on and share experiences promote STEM reasoning processes at a build-and-test exhibit?" For the data-sensing exhibit, "Can visitors' abilities to explain or use visualizations be improved by shaping their visual searches of images?" Mixed-methods using interviews, surveys, behavioral instruments, and participant observations will be used to evaluate the overall program. Approximately 60-100 informal science education professionals will discuss and test the viability of the exhibit's evaluation tools. More than 150,000 visitors, along with community members and local middle and high school students, will have the opportunity to participate in the learning experiences at the HMSCVC. This work contributes to the fields of cyberlearning and informal science education. This project provides the informal science education field with important knowledge about learning, customized content delivery and evaluation tools that are used in informal science settings.
The Nexus of Energy, Water, and Climate: From Understanding to Action (Café +) project will develop and test two interactive board game concepts focused on energy, water, and climate with youth and adults from four highly diverse communities in New Mexico. The four primary goals of the project are to: (a) develop, play test, and implement two board, card, or other non-electronic games grounded in energy, water, and climate content at four project sites, (b) identify the key characteristics of the games that maximize problem solving while stimulating interest, engagement, and learning, (c) explore the implications of game playing on dialog, learning, and Café+ satisfaction for youth and adult participants, and (d) evaluate the viability of this model for full scale implementation throughout the existing Café Scientifique program, from which this project is based. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratory, PNM Resources, Scott Balaban Games Design, the Los Alamos County Utilities Department, and a host of advisors and consultants from a broad range of organizations and institutions will collaborate to develop, test, and implement the Café+ games model. The primary deliverables include: (a) two non-electronic multiage commercial quality games focused on energy, water, and climate content, (b) a comprehensive pilot study examining the impact, effectiveness, and viability of the Café+ model with the target audiences, and (c) formative and summative evaluations of the games implementation model. A significant outcome of Café+ is that New Mexico youth and adults, from diverse backgrounds, will learn relevant science content through the development and testing of engaging, innovative commercial quality games. Over 250 youth and adults will benefit directly from their participation in the pilot study. They will not only learn important science content while working collaboratively in groups (youth only and youth/adult groups), but they will also participate in an authentic scientific process experience as playtesters. In this role, youth and adults will experience critical science concepts such as trial and error and refinement. Further, the games will be made publicly available and implemented across the entire Café Scientifique program (n=960 youth). The evaluation study will employ a mixed methods approach to examine project implementation, effectiveness, and impacts. Focus groups, observations, and surveys will be employed to assess a number of variables such as (but not limited to): content knowledge and learning, interest, engagement, game features, game play processes, gaming obstacles and challenges, participant interactions, and motivation. Embedded assessment opportunities will also examine participants\' decision making abilities, analytical skills, and ability to transfer knowledge gained to real world situations as they navigate through the games. Data collected at the youth-only pilot test sites will be used in a comparative analysis of similar variables tracked at the youth and adult sites. Formative approaches will provide iterative, ongoing opportunities for programmatic and game refinement and adjustments. The formative and summative evaluations will endeavor to document critical data and findings needed to assess the viability of Café+ as a full scale development project, with additional games and project sites across the country. The Café+ project would add to the limited literature base on learning and science engagement of youth within Science Café settings in the 21st century. More critically, this pilot study could contribute to the dearth of current research on the impact of non-electronic game play can have on youth only groups and youth/adult groups working collaboratively to make important scientific decisions within Science Café settings. This comparative data could prove significant for other program models interested in implementing similar youth and adult game based program. Further, the relevance of the content could potentially spark youths' interest not only in pursuing courses and careers in STEM, but it could also motivate youth and adult participants to become more involved in civic engagement activities occurring within and beyond their local communities.