A partnership between Carthage College and the Appalachian Mountain Club has delivered a successful public education and outreach program that merges natural environment topics and astronomy. Over the four years of activity, over 25,000 people have received programming. The effort has trained nature educators, permanent and seasonal AMC staff, and undergraduate physics and astronomy students to integrate diverse topical material and deliver high quality programming to the lay public. Unique to the program is the holistic nature of the material delivered - an 'atypical' astronomy program. Linking observable characteristics of the natural world with astronomical history and phenomena, and emphasizing the unique sequence of events that have led to human life on Earth, the program has changed attitudes and behaviors among the public participants. Successful interventions have included hands-on observing programs (day and night) that link nature content to the observed objects; table-talk presentations on nature/astronomy topics; dark skies preservation workshops; and hands-on activities developed for younger audiences, including schools, camps, and family groups. An extensive evaluation and assessment effort managed by a leading sociologist has demonstrated the effectiveness of the approach, and contributed to continuous improvement in the program content and methods.
This pathways project would refine and test a game based on the Kinect technology gaming tool to teach seismology concepts in an informal education setting and how they apply to phenomenon in other STEM fields. The game will be developed as a companion tool to the "Quake Catcher Network" a low-cost network of seismic sensors in schools, homes and offices world-wide and tie-ins with seismology programs such as the great California ShakeOut with a participant base of 8.6 million. The project design would select three new learning modules, chosen by a group of scientists and educators, to incorporate into the game and evaluate player experience and knowledge gain. The activities will be conducted at a partner test site, an aquarium, frequented by area youth 8 - 12 years old. The focus of the effort is to add to the knowledge of how gaming can be used effectively in informal learning environments The game places the player as a scientist, allowing the player to make decisions about seismic station deployment strategies following an earthquake, installing the sensors and monitoring incoming data. The game has levels of difficulty and players accrue points by acting swiftly and correctly. Learning goals for the project include making abstract math concepts understandable; involve participants in data collection and the process of scientific investigation, plus demonstrate how scientists and mathematicians use tools of their fields to address real-world issues.
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) and The Watermen's Museum, Yorktown, VA, will produce an underwater robotics research and discovery education program in conjunction with time-sensitive, underwater archeological research exploring recently discovered shipwrecks of General Cornwallis's lost fleet in the York River. The urgency of the scientific research is based upon the dynamic environment of the York River with its strong tidal currents, low visibility, and seasonal hypoxia that can rapidly deteriorate the ships, which have been underwater since 1781. Geophysical experts believe that further erosion is likely once the wrecks are exposed. Given the unknown deterioration rate of the shipwrecks coupled with the constraints of implementing the project during the 2011-2012 school-year, any delays would put the scientific research back at least 18 months - a potentially devastating delay for documenting the ships. The monitoring and studying of the historic ships will be conducted by elementary through high school-aged participants and their teachers who will collect the data underwater through robotic missions using VideoRay Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs) and a Fetch Automated Underwater Vehicle (AUV) from a command station at The Watermen's Museum. Students and teachers will be introduced to the science, mathematics, and integrated technologies associated with robotic underwater research and will experience events that occur on a real expedition, including mission planning, execution, monitoring, and data analysis. Robotic missions will be conducted within the unique, underwater setting of the historical shipwrecks. Such research experiences and professional development are intended to serve as a key to stimulating student interest in underwater archeological research, the marine environment and ocean science, advanced research using new technologies, and the array of opportunities presented for scientific and creative problem solving associated with underwater research. A comprehensive, outcomes-based formative and summative, external evaluation of the project will be conducted by Dr. L. Art Safer, Loyola University. The evaluation will inform the project's implementation efforts and investigate the project's impact. The newly formed partnership between the Waterman's Museum and VIMS will expand the ISE Program's objectives to forge new partnerships among informal venues, and to expand the use of advanced technologies for informal STEM learning. Extensive public dissemination during and after the project duration, includes but is not limited to, hosting an "Expedition to the Wrecks" web portal on the VIMS BRIDGE site for K-12 educators providing real-time results of the project and live webcasts. The website will be linked to the education portal at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, the world's largest organization devoted to promoting unmanned systems and to the FIRST Robotics community through the Virginia portal. The website will be promoted through scientific societies, the National Marine Educators Association, National Science Teachers Association, and ASTC. Links will be provided to the Center for Archeological Research at the College of William and Mary and the Immersion Presents web portal--consultants to Dr. Bob Ballard's K-12 projects and JASON explorations. The NPS Colonial National Historic Park and the Riverwalk Landing will create public exhibits about the shipwreck's archeological and scientific significance, and will provide live observation of the research and the exploration technologies employed in this effort.
The University of Southern California (USC) will build on prior work to test a robust model for assessing player content engagement and social interactions within an augmented reality game (ARG). In partnership with No Mimes Media, USC will use machine learning algorithms to make automated player inferences to customize game play. The content focus of the game will span a range of STEM disciplines, with a special emphasis on earth science content and scientific investigation & experimentation reasoning. High school youth from underserved communities in Los Angeles will be recruited to participate in the endeavor. This pathways project will use various "rabbit hole" techniques to attract freshmen and sophomore students from partner charter schools to the online game. The rabbit hole strategies may include cryptic posters, inquisitive signs, & SQR codes strategically placed in plain and open view of the target group. The game will be fully accessible to the target group online. During the ARG experience, youth players will encounter STEM concepts and scientific problems. Antagonistic characters will promulgate scientific misconceptions and nonscientific reasoning and challenge players to employ their scientific knowledge and skills to level-up, gain badges, and move through the game. As game play persists, machine learning algorithms will gather data on the players learning competencies and social interactions within the game. These data will be aggregated and analyzed to assess learning and interactions within the ARG environment. Additional analyses will be conducted by the mixed methods approach the external evaluation group, CRESST, will employ for the project formative and summative evaluations. Approximately 300 youth, within the target grade levels, are expected to participate in the gaming experience. However, given that access to the game and assessment tools will expand beyond the target group, the potential reach of the project could be much greater. Further, the stated aim of the project is not only to produce a scalable model for broad implementation but it also endeavors to provide puppetmasters with research and assessment tools to create more individualized experiences and improved learning outcomes for players within ARG environments.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Yu-Han ChangJihie KimRajiv Maheswaran
This proposed Communicating Research to Public Audiences (CRPA) project outlines a pathway for communicating how climate change can affect a watershed area that supplies water for a specific region. The educational platforms will address the geology of the Caldera along with meteorology, ecology and hydrology. The project will focus on the ongoing scientific research processes and the impact of climate change to the physical system as well as to the citizens who depend on this resource. Partners in this endeavor include New Mexico EPSCOR, the University of New Mexico, the Valles Caldera National Preserve, the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Santa Fe Productions and Tim Aydelott Productions. The project team will create a PBS television documentary in English and Spanish, including a Native American Jemez Pueblo storyteller who will describe the natural environment of the Caldera. The team will also create a YouTube channel with updatable clips, a Facebook fan page, and a climate change exhibit. The evaluation will include front-end and summative components, and will be conducted by Minnick & Associates and Elsa Bailey Consulting. The intended impact of this CRPA is to educate the public about the importance of the Caldera in securing the region's water supply and how climate changes could impact their lives. Further, aspects of the multidisciplinary science used in this research will be described with the goal of encouraging more young people from the region to choose STEM careers.
The Ross Sea Project was a Broader Impact projects for an NSF sponsored research mission to the Ross Sea in Antarctica. The project, which began in the summer of 2010 and ended in May 2011, consisted of several components: (1) A multidisciplinary teacher-education team that included educators, scientists, Web 2.0 technology experts and storytellers, and a photographer/writer blogging team; (2) Twenty-five middle-school and high-school earth science teachers, mostly from New Jersey but also New York and California; (3) Weeklong summer teacher institute at Liberty Science Center (LSC) where teachers and scientists met, and teachers learned about questions to be investigated and technologies to be used during the mission, and how to do the science to be conducted in Antarctica; (4) COSEE NOW interactive community website where teachers, LSC staff and other COSEE NOW members shared lesson plans or activities and discussed issues related to implementing the mission-based science in their classrooms; (5) Technological support and consultations for teachers, plus online practice sessions on the use of Web 2.0 technologies (webinars, blogs, digital storytelling, etc.); (6)Daily shipboard blog from the Ross Sea created by Chris Linder and Hugh Powell (a professional photographer/writer team) and posted on the COSEE NOW website to keep teachers and students up-to-date in real-time on science experiments, discoveries and frustrations, as well as shipboard life; (7) Live webinar calls from the Ross Sea, facilitated by Rutgers and LSC staff, where students posed questions and interacted directly with shipboard researchers and staff; and (8) A follow-up gathering of teachers and scientists near the end of the school year to debrief on the mission and preliminary findings. What resulted from this project was not only the professional development of teachers, which extended into the classroom and to students, but also the development of a relationship that teachers and students felt they had with the scientists and the science. Via personal and virtual interactions, teachers and students connected to scientists personally, while engaged in the science process in the classroom and in the field.
The goal of this project is to advance STEM education in Hawaii by creating a series of educational products, based on NASA Earth Systems Science, for students (grades 3-5) and general public. Bishop Museum (Honolulu HI) is the lead institution. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is the primary NASA center involved in the project. Partners include Hawaii Department of Education and a volunteer advisory board. The evaluation team includes Doris Ash Associates (UC Santa Cruz) and Wendy Meluch of Visitor Studies Inc. Key to this project: the NASA STEM Cohort, a team of six current classroom teachers whom the Museum will hire. The cohort will not only develop curricula on NASA earth science systems but also provide guidance to Bishop Museum on creating museum educational programming that best meets the needs of teachers and students. The overall goal of Celestial Islands is to advance STEM education in Hawaii through the use of NASA Earth Science Systems content. Products include: 1) combined digital planetarium/Science on a Sphere® program; 2) traveling version of that program, using a digital planetarium and Magic Planet; 3) curricula; 4) new exhibit at Bishop Museum on NASA ESS; 5) 24 teacher workshops to distribute curricula; 6) 12 community science events. The project's target audience is teachers and students in grades 3-5. Secondary audiences include families and other members of the general public. A total of 545,000 people will be served, including at least 44,000 students.
Stroud Water Research Center (SWRC) will partner with Longwood Gardens (LG) to develop educational materials that help visitors understand the links between the hydrologic and carbon cycles. The goal is to demonstrate how landscape aesthetics can influence land-use decisions, and to offer carbon-neutral methods the public and others can employ to reduce the impact of storm runoff. The intended audience is primarily adults among the 800,000 annual visitors to the Gardens who are landowners as well as professionals such as engineers, regional planners, landscape architects, developers and municipal officials. This project will also communicate research to public audiences through SWRC and LG websites.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Louis KaplanJ. Denis NewboldSusan GillAnthony Aufdenkampe
Formative evaluation of one of four pieces of the Marcellus Matters: EASE project. This study examined the effectiveness of an eight-week adult/community education program about topics related to natural gas development.
Formative evaluation of one of four pieces of the Marcellus Matters: EASE project. This study examined the effectiveness of two "Community Conversations" theater and dialogue/discussion events at a) communicating natural gas development-related science content and community issues, and b) promoting audience members' openness to dialogue about natural gas development-related issues.
Presentation on the evaluation of NSF grant DRL-0638977 (Water's Journey through The Everglades) presented at the CAISE Convening on Sustainability Science and Informal Science Education, February 6th, 2012.