We used content analysis to analyse the representation of female scientists in animated short films on gender and science, selected from the Anima Mundi Festival, over 21 annual editions. In these films, female scientists are featured as ‘intelligent’, ‘dominant’ and ‘well respected’, adult, white, wearing a lab coat or uniform and working in laboratories and fieldwork. We identified a reconfiguration of the gender stereotype in films in which the female character is about to gain space and visibility. We also analysed films whose sexist foundations in the relationship between scientists and
Supported by the National Science Foundation, the Global Soundscapes! Big Data, Big Screens, Open Ears project employs a variety of informal learning experiences to present the physics of sound and the new science of soundscape ecology. The interdisciplinary science of soundscape ecology analyzes sounds over time in different ecosystems around the world. The major components of the Global Soundscapes project are an educator-led interactive giant-screen theater show, group activities, and websites. All components are designed with both sighted and visually impaired students in mind. Multimedia
In September 2008 the Greater Screen Cinema Association (GSCA) hosted the one-day symposium Connecting Society with Science: the Greater Potential of Giant Screen Experiences. Funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the symposium was held in Jersey City, New Jersey, one day before the GSCA International Conference and Trade Show.
One of the most recent additions to the range of Immersive Virtual Environments has been the digital fulldome. However, not much empirical research has been conducted to explore its potential and benefits over other types of presentation formats. In this review we provide a framework within which to examine the properties of fulldome environments and compare them to those of other existing immersive digital environments. We review the state-of-the-art of virtual reality technology, and then survey core areas of psychology relevant to experiences in the fulldome, including visual perception
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Simone SchnallCraig HedgeRuth Weaver
Viewers believe they are learning from giant screen films. But are they really learning, and what are they learning? This article reviews how evaluators look for learning impact and what evaluators have discovered aboutl learning from giant screen films and their adjunct materials.
The Global Soundscapes! Big Data, Big Screens, Open Ears Project uses the new science of soundscape ecology to design a variety of informal science learning experiences that engage participants through acoustic discovery Soundscape ecology is an interdisciplinary science that studies how humans relate to place through sound and how humans influence the environment through the alteration of natural sound composition. The project includes: (1) an interface to the NSF-funded Global Sustainable Soundscapes Network, which includes 12 universities around the world; (2) sound-based learning experiences targeting middle-school students (grades 5-8), visually impaired and urban students, and the general public; and (3) professional development for informal science educators. Project educational components include: the first interactive, sound-based digital theater experience; hands-on Your Ecosystem Listening Labs (YELLS), a 1-2 day program for school classes and out-of school groups; a soundscape database that will assist researchers in developing a soundscape Big Database; and iListen, a virtual online portal for learning and discovery about soundscape. The project team includes Purdue-based researchers involved in soundscape and other ecological research; Foxfire Interactive, an award-winning educational media company; science museum partners with digital theaters; the National Audubon Society and its national network of field stations; the Perkins School for the Blind; and Multimedia Research (as the external evaluator).
This research and development project would inform and engage audiences (especially middle school age girls) about the fundamental research under investigation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. A research plan and summative evaluation will fill a gap in what is known about the public's perception and understanding of the LHC/particle physics and include studies on girl's interest and engagement. Deliverables include a 40 minute giant screen film (3D/2D), full dome planetarium film, an interactive theater lobby exhibit, website, mobile app, materials and professional development workshops for educators. The giant screen film will use scientific visualizations and artistic interpretation to reveal compelling scientific stories recreating conditions following the Big Bang and the discovery in 2012 of the Higgs boson. CERN is providing unprecedented access to the collider and particle detectors including filming inside the 17 mile long underground tunnel while it is closed for upgrades in 2013-2014. There are 8 partner science museums (7 with planetariums) that will show the film/exhibit and serve as sites for research, evaluation, and outreach to underserved audiences ( Adventure Science Center, Carnegie Science Center, The Franklin Institute, Liberty Science Center, OMSI, Orlando Science Center, the Smithsonian, and the St. Louis Science Center). Additional distribution/marketing channels include giant screen theaters, planetariums, DVD, and social social media. Launch is targeted for 2016. Learning outcomes will focus on increasing awareness and interest in the LHC and increasing young people's engagement and excitement about the nature of scientific discovery. The research on girl's engagement and interest in physics will fill a gap in field. The project deliverables are projected to reach large audiences through national distribution of the giant screen film, the planetarium show, the exhibit, 3D/2D Blu Ray and DVDs, and access on computers, tablets, and other mobile devices.
This research project will analyze and communicate important societal issues having to do with the disposal of nuclear waste. Unlike the vast majority of scholarly inquiries, which culminate in journal articles or a book, this inquiry will result in a feature length documentary about the scientific, political, and ethical issues adjacent to the problem of the socially responsible disposal of nuclear waste. Though the reach of the film will extend beyond any particular site, the focal point of the study is the only fully-licensed, operating geological repository for nuclear waste in the world: the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant twenty-six miles east of Carlsbad, New Mexico. The project will track the contentious history of current and planned clean-up operations involving the Pilot Plant. It will depict a disputed, sometimes successful and sometimes failed, trading zone for very different (often antagonistic) stakeholders from experts, to townspeople, politicians, miners, activists, industrial engineers, and futurists. Trading-zone studies, a methodological approach within the research area known as Science and Technology Studies (STS), interrogate subcultures confronting one another and developing coordinated local action where global agreement is often absent. In this trading-zone study, the investigator is ethically, visually, and methodologically committed to depicting that collision as all sides struggle to shape an contested nuclear future. The use of film as a medium for presenting the results of the trading-zone study is innovative and potentially transformative; it could open a way for STS to investigate in a visual way the making of science and technology policy. This project will reach a broad audience by partnering with outreach organizations, Film Sprout and Working Films, to bring the film to its core audience: policy makers, environmentalists, along with groups and citizens traditionally not positioned to participate in science policy. Target locales and groups include science museums such as the Bradbury Science Museum (Los Alamos), the Atomic Testing Museum (Las Vegas), The Museum of Science and Industry (Albuquerque), nuclear facilities, towns surrounding them, and environmental groups.
Dinosaurs Alive is a global adventure of science and discovery featuring the earliest dinosaurs of the Triassic Period and those of the Cretaceous "reincarnated" life-sized for the giant IMAX screen. Audiences will journey with some of the world's preeminent paleontologists as they uncover evidence that the descendants of dinosaurs still walk (or fly) among us. From the exotic, trackless expanses and sand dunes of Mongolia's Gobi Desert to the dramatic sandstone buttes of New Mexico, the film follows American Museum of Natural History paleontologists as they explore some of the greatest
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Alice Apley, Ph.D.Kim StreitburgerJenny ScalaMaryland Science Center
Independent investigator Knight Williams Research Communications conducted a summative evaluation for Sea Monsters. The evaluation consisted of three separate studies which sought to address the following broad questions: To what extent and in what ways did the film appeal to the viewers?, How did viewers react to the film's investigative storytelling and use of 3D?, How did viewers respond to the film in terms of clarity of presentation and the amount of information and science?, What were the most interesting things viewers felt they learned from the film?, What new information, ideas, and
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Valerie Knight-WilliamsNational GeographicDivan Williams Jr.Christina MeyersOra Sraboyants
Hidden Universe is a multi-faceted project built around production of a 2D/3D giant screen film. The goal is to inspire, engage, and excite viewers about the mysterious worlds hidden around us and the science and technology that reveal them. The film will illuminate natural wonders that are invisible to the naked eye, such as objects and processes that are too slow, too fast, and too small to be seen without advanced technologies. It will include nanoscience and microbiology research and developing wavelength technologies such as ultrafast lasers. The project will employ cutting-edge technology to bring arresting footage of micro- and nanobiology to the giant screen to offer audiences (1) deeper understanding of natural phenomena that comes through observation and (2) greater appreciation of modern technology that makes such observation possible. The film story will focus on demonstrating science as inquiry and underscore the crucial link between scientific inquiry and technological advances. The film project will be enhanced with educational outreach materials, professional development opportunities for educators, and an interactive website. Hidden Universe will be produced by the large format team at National Geographic's Cinema Ventures group and its production partner Blacklight Films. The project brings to the table the extensive resources of the National Geographic Society. In addition, the project will partner with a select group of scientific research centers (Chester Carlson Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology and the Nanobiotechnology Center at Cornell) and leaders in informal education (Boston Museum of Science and Girl Scouts) to extend the reach and impact of the project. The project will add to its list of partners by working with the D.C. Public Schools and Teach for America to find new ways to intersect with teachers and students in underserved areas. The project will employ Multimedia Research and Knight-Williams Research Communications to conduct the project\'s formative and summative evaluations, respectively.
The Maryland Science Center, in partnership with SK Films, Inc. received NSF funding to produce a large format, 2D/3D film and multi-component educational materials and activities on the annual migration of monarch butterflies, their life cycle, the web of life at select sites where they land, and the citizen science efforts that led to the monarch migration discovery. Project goals are to 1) raise audience understanding of the nature of scientific investigation and the open-ended nature of the scientific process, 2) enhance and extend citizen science programs to new audiences, and 3) create better awareness of monarch biology, insect ecology and the importance of habitat. Innovation/Strategic Impact: The film has been released in both 3D and 2D 15/70 format. RMC Research Corporation has conducted evaluation of the project, both formatively and summatively, including a study of the comparable strengths of the 2D and 3D versions of the film. RMC has conducting formative evaluation and is currently conducting summative evaluation to assess the success of project materials in communicating science and achieving the project's learning goals. Collaboration: This project employs a collaborative model of partnerships between the project team and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), the University of Minnesota's Monarchs in the Classroom and Monarch Watch. Project advisors represent world-renown monarch butterfly research scientists and educators, including Dr. Karen Oberhauser, named a "Champion of Change" by President Obama in June 2013, and Dr. Chip Taylor, founder and director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas.