The Burke Museum at the University if Washington will develop Pacific Voices, a 5500 sq. ft. exhibit that will focus on the issue of cultural identity. It will encourage visitors to examine the definition of American cultural identity, the integration of diverse cultural elements within American communities, and questions regarding interactions between Native peoples and Euro- Americans. Four themes (Teachers, Elders, and Authority; Language; Oral Traditions; and Ceremonies) will be developed to help visitors understand cultural identify, tradition and change in the context of Pacific Region cultures. The extensive collections and professional resources of the Burke Museum will be used and the exhibit will be used. Building on established linkages between the Seattle school systems and the museum, the Burke staff will introduce new teacher/student guides and a varied menu of teacher training activities including for-credit courses and in-serviced programs that will address the social science literacy benchmarks of Project 2061. Other outreach activities will include traveling study collections, weekend family programs, a resource bank in the museum's Department of Education and locally and nationally disseminated radio and television news and feature programs related to the theme of Pacific Voices.
This project will examine the implications of the intersection of art, science, and technology as revealed by the events occurring around the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the first general electronic computer, ENIAC-50. The finished product will be radio programming and audio material that presents the coming together of scientists, artists, and other participants in Philadelphia. It will build on the previous research and explorations in both of these fields toward finding commonalties and ways in which each has influenced the other. The finished product will be broadcast for the general public and also can be made available to scientists and educators in the field as resource material for courses, seminars, and lectures as they explore the intersections of science and art and implications this has for research and education.
ONE, TWO, THREE...INFINITY: The World of Mathematics is a series of eight one-hour films about math in the real world. It will be produced by WQED/Pittsburgh for prime-time broadcast on the 340 PBS stations and in many foreign countries. The goal of the series is not to "teach" math but to show, in an entertaining fashion, the importance of math in many walks of life--music, art, engineering and communications, to name a few. Math affects our lives everyday in ways many of us have never imagined. Yet few of us ever stop to think about it, perhaps because of "Math anxiety." This series will be the first to reveal math's importance not only as a tool for discovery, but also as a major cultural force. Drawing on WQED's proven skill in creating special visual effects, and making liberal use of magic and mystery, puzzles, and paradoxes, the series will break down the public's fears and misconceptions about math. We hope viewers--children as well as adults--will come away with a new appreciation of mathematics and, most important, a more open attitude toward learning about it--the first step toward a higher level of math literacy. WQED's Producers and cinematographers bring many years of experience on such award- -winning programs as PLANET EARTH, THE INFINITE VOYAGE and the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SPECIALS. A diverse and distinguished advisory committee will help shape the series and ensure its accuracy. And a companion book, together with a program of educational materials and activities, will extend its reach beyond the television audience, making the series a potent catalyst for learning.
EINSTEIN is a series of three prime time television programs to be shown nationally on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). The series will present a scientific biography of Albert Einstein. The series will treat the life of Albert Einstein on several levels. The central narative thread will trace the development and impact of Einstein's work in physics. The three programs will examine Einstein's impact beyond physics -- as a muse for the arts; a dissident voice in politics; a moral sensibility; ultimately as the greatest public symbol of scientific accomplishment. With original texts (including newly identified documents from the Einstein archives), historical footage, interviews, documentary sequences, the most sophisticated computer animation available, and other techniques as appropriate, EINSTEIN will present to its audience a unique picture of the role of Albert Einstein in the making of the modern world. Beyond its broadcast in 1992, the series also will receive wide educational distribution in secondary schools and colleges and a large foreign audience.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Paula ApsellThomas LevensonBarbara Flagg
The Children's Museum of Manhatten is requesting $267,220 over two years to create a 2,500 sq.ft. interactive exhibition about the physical and acoustic properties of sound. The exhibition will use music as a high-interest point of entry into learning about science, and also as a demonstration of science as part of our everyday lives. The entire exhibit will be displayed for two years. Certain elements will then be retired, others displayed indefinitely. Target audience is children in kindergarten through sixth grades.
The American Museum of the Moving Image (AMMI) will develop and distribute a traveling version of their permanent exhibit, Behind the Screen. The project, which consists of a 4,000 to 6,000 square foot traveling exhibit and related educational materials, will focus on the science and technology underlying movies and television, including motion, light and optics, sound, electricity and magnetism, chemistry, and geometry/trigonometry. The exhibit also will examine the impact of advances in the technology of movies and television and the resulting impact on audiences and society. The PI will be Rochelle Slovin, founding director of the AMMI. Carl Goodman, Curator of Digital Media, and Richard Koszarski, Head of Collections and Exhibitions, will serve as exhibit content specialists. The integration of science principles and activities into the exhibit will be under the direction of Ted Ansbacher, a physicist who previously served as Director of Exhibits at the New York Hall of Science. Thom Thacker, Director of Education at the AMMI, will be responsible for the development of educational outreach material.