This is a request from Claypoint Productions for 124,700 of a total budget of $526,178 to produce a one-hour prime-time documentary program on the Wright Brothers, the processes of science and engineering used in their work, and the science and technology behind their development of the airplane. The PBS program will cover the subjects of aerodynamics, aeronautics, geometry, algebra, applied mathematics, mechanical engineering, the process of invention, and the history of technology. A teacher's guide will be developed to supplement the film.
Byrd & Block Communication, Inc. is continuing production and distribution of the widely broadcast two-minute radio spots which focus primarily on astronomy, earth science, or environmental science. Some programs also contain information about other sciences such as marine biology or chemistry. The series is carried on 519 affiliate stations in 627 carriage locations in the United States and can be heard in all 50 states. Of these stations, 315 are public radio stations and 204 are commercial stations. It also is broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio network and by the Voice of America. The current grant will enable the producers to enhance the series by: - Adding programs for weekend broadcast, thereby increasing the number of programs produced each year from 260 to 365. - Making a concerted effort to add more stations, particular commercial stations, that carry the series. - Working with Kalmbach Publishing, fulfilling listener requests for free copies of science magazines. - Producing and distributing classroom materials in collaboration with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific - Conducting a second and third annual "Earth & Sky Young Producers Contest." - Expanding "Earth & Sky's" on-line presence on the Internet. The writer/producer/host will continue to be Deborah Byrd and Joel Block, VP of Byrd & Block Communications, Inc., will continue as studio producer and co-host. The principal content consultant for astronomy is Derek Wills, a McDonald Observatory astronomer, and the primary earth content consultant is Cliff Frolich, a research scientist at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.
The daily radio series EARTH AND SKY began airing nationally on September 30, 1991. It consists of 2-minute programs about Earth science and astronomy. Produced in association with the American Geophysical Union, it is designed for people of all ages. Its aim is to make science accessible and interesting to millions whose common bond is that they happen to be listening to the radio. On February 1, 1992, the series was airing on 63 commercial and public radio stations, which had paid for it, and the number of stations was growing. Producers and hosts Deborah Byrd and Joel Block were responsible for 5,000 daily programs in the award- winning STAR DATE radio series. Partial support is requested for the production, distribution and promotion of 780 programs in the EARTH AND SKY series. The goal for the grant period is to acquire a large listening audience via heavy promotion. After three years, EARTH AND SKY will be self-supporting on 371 stations, more stations than for any previous series of this king.
WHYY, Inc., in cooperation with the Franklin Institute Science Museum, is producing and implementing a radio-based science education program for families. Skytour is a live radio program designed to involve the public in observing astronomical phenomena and engaging in science activities related to the sciences of the sky. Each program centers on a particular science theme and includes short pre-produced pieces designed to capture listeners interest, a live orientation to the night sky with specific instructions to listeners about how to locate the phenomenon being discussed, and discussion with a guest astronomy expert. During the broadcast, listeners can call in to ask questions and to discuss their observations on-air. The program has been successfully piloted in Philadelphia. The current project will enable the applicants to increase the number of shows to six, two-hour shows each year of the project and to expand broadcast to at least three other areas. WHYY currently has definite commitments to participate in the project from four radio station/planetarium partners: New York City: WFUV and The Hayden Planetarium Pittsburgh: WDUQ and the Buhl Planetarium Raleigh-Durham: WUNC and The Morehead Planetarium Vermont: Vermont Public Radio and The Fairbanks Museum and Planetarium Outreach components of the project will include a newsletter, local sky parties organized on the evenings of the Skytour broadcasts, related hands-on science activities and workshops at each of the participating planetaria, and a Skytour World Wide Web site. The PI will be Derrick Pitts, Vice President and Chief Astronomer at the Franklin Institute. Neil Tickner, WHYY Special Projects Producer, will direct all production activities. Dale McCreedy, the project director for the Franklin Institute's National Science Partnership and Girls At the Center, and Minda Borun, the Franklin Institute's Director of Research, Evaluation and Planning, will both work with the project in their respective areas of expertise in outreach and evaluation. The project team will work closely with an advisory team of astronomers, informal science educators, and parents.
The University of Texas at Austin's McDonald Observatory is requesting $581,736 over three years to produce and distribute a Spanish language version of Star Date, a daily radio program that covers astronomy, space exploration, and other space-related topics. The purpose of the new program is to increase scientific literacy among the Spanish-speaking segment of the American population, inspire a greater interest in astronomy and space science, and encourage younger listeners to enter space or other science-related fields. Collateral ancillary material related to astronomy will also be developed and distributed.
COSMIC VOYAGE will be the first film in IMAX to survey the whole universe. Its main objective is to convey to a broad museum audience the enormous range of space and time scales spanned by the universe, and to locate our familiar human place in this context. The film's centerpiece will be a continuous "cosmic zoom" extending from the largest observable structure of the universe down to the subnuclear realm, a guided tour across some 42 orders of magnitude. This will be followed by a similar excursion through the dimension of time, from the first instant of the Big Bang to the present day some 15 billion years later. The film will take special care to explain the utility and importance of "orders of magnitude". It will indicate the observational basis underlying our description of the physical world. The narrative will emphasize the continuity as well as the open- ended nature of the scientific enterprise over a wide range of disciplines (cosmology, high-energy physics, astronomy, geology, chemistry and biology), and it will integrate the whole into a coherent picture of the universe. COSMIC VOYAGE will communicate this material in ways that are scientifically accurate and instructive, as well as visually absorbing and entertaining. The overall aim is to produce an unparalleled film about the universe that is both beautiful and powerful.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bayley SilleckJeffrey MarvinSteven SoterEric ChalssonMartin Harwit
The excitement of astrophysical research and discovery is brought into the high school science and mathematics classes through a flexible set of student activities and projects on variable stars. The project includes a computerized database, of 400,000 measurements of brightness of 150 variable stars in five constellations over 25 years, from which students can deduce properties, processes, and evolution of these stars. Students can make additional measurements and discoveries from carefully selected time sequences of 125 35mm slides or from actual measurements from the night sky. A comprehensive student manual and instructional videos make the materials self-contained and easy to use. The teacher manual enables the instructor to adapt the materials to skills, objectives and local curricula. The material can be used in a variety of contexts: traditional mathematics and science classes at both the high school and college level, independent projects, summer institutes, and community science clubs. The material will be field tested in classes and refined through workshops with teachers. A newsletter and a video about amateur astronomers is planned.
Lawrence Berkeley Labs developed a CD containing educational materials, staff training and the software necessary for informal science education centers to offer to middle school students one- hour sessions, multiple-day workshops, and ongoing participation in a drop-in computer lab. Hands-On Universe (HOU) is an active science education program that provides participants access to observing time on professional telescopes through the use of a personal computer and the Internet. The CD contains: exploration experiences and challenge games; resource material including images from other national labs, descriptions and animations of related topics, and astronomical catalogs; image processing software; a telecommunications package to interface with HOU telescopes and support network, the Internet, and World Wide Web; staff training material. The target audiences are youth in grades three through high school, and adults.
Cornell University is producing a documentary television program about the 100-meter radio telescope in Green Bank, West Virginia. The film, planned as a PBS special, will document the engineering and technology behind the construction of the telescope as well as examining and explaining the science of radio astronomy. Ancillary educational material, including a 20 minute version of the video, will be developed and distributed for use in informal education setting through the American Astronomical Society and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. In addition images and information about the Green Bank Telescope and the science of radio astronomy will be made available through an electronic bulletin board service such as GOPHER or MOSAIC. Teaching materials also will be developed for use in the secondary school curriculum and an "Across Space and Time" undergraduate curriculum developed at Cornell University will be made available to faculty at other colleges and universities. In addition, the film and related material will serve as the centerpiece for short courses for college teachers at Green Bank under the National Chautauqua Short Course Program. The PI and major content developer is Martha Haynes, Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University associated with the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center and the Center for Radiophysics and Space Research. The film is being produced by PhotoSynthesis Production of Ithaca, New York. David Gluck is co-producer, director, and cinematographer and Deborah Hoard is co-producer and writer. A twelve person advisory committee of astronomers, teachers, and informal science educators will guide development of the project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Martha HaynesDavid Gluck
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Project A.S.T.R.O. is a program to bring both amateur and professional astronomers into the schools to assist fourth through ninth grade teachers in the classroom, with day and evening observing activities, with individual student projects, and with inspiration to provide a greater appreciation of science and lead students to science and engineering careers. Amateurs are a largely untapped resource for science education and this project will explore the impact their enthusiasm and experience can have in providing significant assistance to teachers and students in grades where crucial science attitudes are formed. The California-based pilot program will -- after the development of appropriate protocols and materials -- use 40 astronomers and 40 teachers to test the effectiveness of astronomers (especially amateur astronomers) as school resource agents. The project has four related components: 1) the assessment of existing programs of this type and of materials to help both the visiting scientists and the teachers; 2) workshops to train the astronomers, prepare the teachers, and continue developing activities and resources; 3) school visits and other activities by astronomers for a full school year; and 4) the production of a loose-leaf Teachers' Resource Notebook and a How-to-Manual for bringing astronomy to the schools. Formative and summative evaluation by those involved and a professional evaluator will be a key component of each phase. A set of guidelines for the national dissemination of the project will also be developed.
As the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico attracts thousands of visitors each year, of all ages and from many countries. Pride in the Observatory has caused local Puerto Rican organizations to contribute the funds necessary for the construction of the new Arecibo Observatory Visitor and Educational Facility. Cornell University, in behalf of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, is requesting $774,463 form the NSF-ISE over a two year period to develop and implement the exhibits and educational programs which will give life to the Educational Facility. Within the facility, we propose establishing an educational program centered on the theme "More Than Meets the Eye", which will reflect the general idea that we can study our world with tools which extend our direct sensory experience. The proposed program will explore the unseen sky and, in particular, the objects that fall under the scrutiny of a radio telescope. Specifically, the program will introduce the visitors to the electromagnetic spectrum as a means of exploration, will offer a framework of basic astronomy and atmospheric science, and will provide understanding of the function and operation of the Arecibo radio telescope. Some of Arecibo's most exciting new discoveries in the fields of radio astronomy, solar system radar astronomy and astomospheric science will be presented so that visitors can experience the dynamic nature of science.
The Space Science Institute of Boulder, Colorado in partnership with the Franklin Institute Science Museum and the Electric Producers Research Institute will develop a 3000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit entitled Electric Space: Exploring Our Plasma Universe. Visitors to the exhibit will be introduced to the physics of the sun and the polar aurora. They will learn about the effect solar variability has on technology and humans working in space. The exhibit is divided into seven sections: Space is Not Empty; SkyWatchers; Plasma: the Fourth State of Matter; The Dynamic Sun; Planet Earth: a Great Magnet; Reaching Toward the Starts: the Heliosphere; and The Cosmic Connection. Its design is guided by the desire to create a total immersion environment that will allow visitors to explore the many realm of the plasma university from Earth's upper atmosphere to distant galaxies. It is the developers intention to demystify science by concentrating on process rather than facts, to create a stimulating informal learning environment, to reach a diverse audience, to motivate young people to pursue science as an interest and a career, and to have the exhibit serve as an interface between the scientific community and the general public. In addition to the exhibit, supplemental curriculum modules using an inquiry-based approach will be developed in cooperation with the Science Discovery Project at the University of Colorado. These materials will provide teachers, students, and parents the opportunity to explore the concepts presented in the exhibit. An extensive evaluation plan will be carried. The exhibit will open at the Maryland Science Center the summer of 1995. It will then travel to nine major US cities reaching an estimated two million adults and children who represent a great diversity of ages and education an ethnic backgrounds.