Science Museums of Charlotte, Inc. will develop a 5500 square foot traveling exhibit on SCIENCE of FASHION for the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative (SMEC). Opening in February 1994, SCIENCE of FASHION will tour eight major U.S> cities over thirty-two months, introducing 2.5 million people to principles of chemistry, physics, biology, mathematics, and technology that drive the textile industry. SCIENCE of FASHION integrates diverse disciplines and will help public explore science in a wholistic manner. Because the subject matter is somewhat unusual fare, SCIENCE of FASHION will help diversify audiences, drawing in population segments, particularly women, who may not normally visit science museums. SCIENCE of FASHION is an eloquent vehicle for science-rich exhibitry which teaches the mathematics of pattern geometry, production statistics, and retail costs, polymer chemistry for engineering new fabrics, the genetics of new natural colors and strong aware fibers, and the sophisticated research, robotics, and computerized technologies that keep America's textile industry at the top international commerce. Rigorous evaluation will ensure a satisfying product that is educationally-effective, durable, and appealing to a broad public audience. SCIENCE of FASHION will be a worthy addition to the rich menu of science fare in SMEC exhibitry.
This is a comprehensive project about the science behind special effects in the motion pictures. WGBH, in association with eighteen museums in the Museum Film Network, will produce a 35 minute IMAX/OMNIMAX film showing the behind-the-scenes story of a group of filmmakers at Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) as they create a special effects sequence in the IMAX/OMNIMAX format. The film will illustrate how the eye and brain work together to process cinematic illusions. The California Museum of Science and Industry (CMSI) will create a 6,000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit that will focus on the science and technical processes of special effect. The exhibit will travel to fifteen other museums. A smaller scale lobby exhibit also will be developed for display in the cueing areas of IMAX/OMNIMAX theaters that are showing the "Special Effects" film. A collaborative educational outreach program will extend the reach of both the film and exhibit. The project will be managed by the NOVA production unit at WGBH under the direction of Paula Apsell. Ms. Apsell also will serve as Executive Producer for the IMAX/OMNIMAX film. Diane Perlov, Curator of Exhibitions at CMSI, will supervise the exhibit portion of the project. Kenneth Phillips, Curator of Aerospace Science at CMSI, will develop video interactives and oversee scientific content of the exhibit. Carol Valenta, Director of Education for CMSI, and Beth Kirsh, Director of Educational Print and Outreach for WGBH, will be responsible for implementing the outreach plan. Advisors for the project include David H. Hubel, neurobiologist, Harvard Medical School; Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, neurophysiologist, University of California, San Diego; Richard Gregory, perception psychologist, University of Bristol; Sally Duensing, Science and Museum Liaison, Exploratorium; Elizabeth Stage, Co-Director for Science, New Standards Project, National Center on Education and the Economy; and Robert Coutts, high school physics teacher, Los Angeles, CA.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Paula ApsellSusanne SimpsonAnn MuscatCarol ValentaBarbara Flagg
The Great Lakes Museum of Science, Environment, and Technology will develop a 10,000 sq. ft. exhibit focusing on The Great Lakes Environment. Addressing the core mission of the museum, the exhibit will promote understanding about "the interdependence of scientific, environmental, and technological activities in the Great Lakes Region." The exhibit will focus on the Great Lakes as an ecosystem. By means of interactive activities, visitors will learn how this ecosystem was formed, the web of life it supports, the stresses it receives, and the efforts to restore its health. The Great Lakes Museum is a new 165,000 sq. ft. facility located in downtown Cleveland on the Lake Erie Shore and is scheduled to open in 1996. The exhibit area will cover 50,000 sq. ft. and will be fully accessible. An entire floor will be dedicated to the Great Lakes Environment. Complementary educational programs will consist of the following: take home activity guides to encourage the discovery and exploration of ecosystems in backyards or neighborhoods, pre and post visit activities for school groups, and teacher enhancement activities. Museum staff are participating in the planning process for the Urban Systemic Initiative of Cleveland and activiites and content of exhibits will be developed to complement the curriculum. The museum will develop a menu of activities and databases for electronic networking with homes and schools. They will have video conferencing capabilities to connect the museum with classrooms.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Richard CoyneTimothy LargePauline Fong
The Computer Museum will develop two 2500 sq. ft. computer-based exhibits the "Virtual Fishtank: Splashing Into Complex Systems". One exhibit will be installed permanently in the Computer Museum and the other will travel nationally for three to five years. These exhibits will use computer modeling of fish to introduce the public to new ideas about complex systems science and demonstrate the central concept that complex behaviors and patterns can emerge from simple interactions among simple rules. Visitors will spend eight to ten minutes designing their own fish at one of the ten FishBuilder computer stations. As they make decisions, they will be able to observe the effects of their rule selections on a computer display. When satisfied with their design, visitors can then "tag" their fish by placing their initials on fish tails and launch them in the central "fishtank". Large projection screens will encircle visitors in a dramatic simulation of an underwater aquarium environment. Visitors will observe and analyze how the few simple rules imbedded in the design of individual fish give rise to complex behaviors and patterns in the entire ecosystem. This exhibit draws on research conducted at MIT's Media Lab, The Computer Museum, and the New England Aquarium and will be able to reach people with a variety of learning styles. It anticipated completion date is March, 1998 for the TCM's version and the traveling version will begin it's national tour in September, 1998.
The Self Reliance Foundation in association with the Hispanic Radio Network over a five year period will produce and distribute a variety of daily Spanish-language radio programs on science education topics and follow-up outreach services to network listeners on science education and career opportunities. The applicants will add two science related episodes each week to Buscando La Belleza, the four-minute daily radio series for families that focuses on social issues, work issues, women's rights, and educational and career opportunities. It is carried on 100 stations with a weekly cumulative audience of 2,567,000 listeners. The new episodes will include: 52 role model interviews with Hispanic men and women who have careers in science, mathematics, and technology from technical positions not requiring a college degree to Ph.D.'s engaged in cutting edge research; 26 family involvement episodes with suggestions for parents to build their confidence in helping their children with homework, doing simple science activities with their children at home, encouraging their older children in their studies, and working with schools and community organizations; and 26 academic and career resource/success stories highlighting Hispanic students who have been successful in their pursuit of careers in science, mathematics, and technology. The second series included under the grant is Salvemos Nuestro Planeta, a two-and-a-half minute series that focuses on environmental issues. It currently is carried on 89 radio stations twice a week with a total weekly cumulative audience of 2,494,300. The producers will expand the series to seven original episodes per week with five episodes focusing on science, mathematics, and technology themes: general science literacy, environmental management and technology, computers and information technology, environmental activities for youth, and SMET career opportunities. Outreach will consist of a national Spanish language toll free phone number that will refer listeners to resources related to opportunities for scholarships in science and engineering, activities and resources for parents and children in science education, etc., and in some cases, connect callers to the subject of that days interview. The PI will be Roberto Salazar who has been chief assistant to Vicente Llamas at the Comprehensive Regional Center for Minorities. He has been involved in numerous science education project for Hispanics and has a background in radio. The Executive Producer will be Jeff Kline. Major science consultants will be Vicente Llamas, Director of the Comprehensive Regional Center for Minorities, and Estrella Triana, Hispanic Science Education Director for the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Roberto SalazarGilbert SanchezRobert Russell
The program producers at the World Media Foundation seek $550,000 over three years to produce and present to listeners vital stories about scientific inquiry and technological developments related to environmental change. These presentations, entitled Living on Earth, are broadcast weekly on more that 240 National Public Radio member stations in the United States. The producer intends to develop the program into a one-hour format from the current 30 minute broadcast. Audience participation will be encouraged through call-in question and answer sessions about science and ecology.
WGBH will develop, produce, and distribute a comprehensive project that will review science of the twentieth century. The major components of the project will be a series of five, two-hour, prime time documentary programs for PBS, an outreach campaign to involve the public through informal and formal science education institutions and organizations, material for use in formal classrooms, and a science museum component. The focus of the series will be to review the science of the twentieth century by telling the dramatic story of the struggle to understand ourselves and our world over the past 100 years -- a time when science advanced further than in previous eras combined and when scientific discipline underwent a revolution. However, because at the close of the century there is an ever-widening gap between what scientists know and what most of the public comprehends, the series will explore the century's most enduring scientific endeavors with each two-hour program probing several related fields of investigation and application: views of the universe and of matter; origins of the Earth and of life; health, medicine, and the human body; human nature and behavior; and technology and engineering. It will offer viewers an opportunity to view 100 years of scientific pursuits as a whole, to recast their perceptions of science and scientists, and to be intrigued and inspired by a view of science as a never-ending and deeply human quest for answers and solutions. The outreach component of the project include: Video-based Components - videocassettes of the series, video modules selected for classroom use, level one videodiscs, and a prototype for a CD-ROM for home learning. A Discovery Challenge Activity - a national campaign targeted primarily for girls and boys 11-14 years of age. The two-phase activities will be offered through middle school science and social studies classes; through youth groups such as Girls Inc., Family Science Programs, 4-H, and Girls and Boys Clubs; at museums and science centers; and through other informal education outlets. Activities will be designed so they can be undertaken by youth with a wide range of interests, learning styles, and skills. Print Components - teacher's guide, video module activity guide, videodisc guide, poster, and a companion trade book. On-line Component - an electronic bulletin board and e-mail center related to the project. Public access sites will be established in libraries, community centers, and schools throughout the country and members of the public with home computers will be able to connect to WGBH at no cost. Service and activities offered on-line will include the ability of viewers to critique programs, ask questions of the production team, download educational materials, and ordering project material. The bulletin board will provide an electronic forum for educators to exchange strategies and ideas as they use the project's resources and enable participants in the Discovery Challenge to tap into the on-line resources and share information. The on-line component will be managed and controlled at WGBH. Museum Component - consisting of a museum tool kit and activities to be incorporated Science-by-Mail. Paula Apsell, executive producer for NOVA and director of the WGBH Science Unit, will serve as executive-in-charge of production. Jon Palfreman will be executive producer and will head up a project team consisting of the executive editor, Thomas Friedman, a senior producer, and two producers. Outreach activities will be the responsibility of Beth Kirsch, Director of Educational Print and Outreach, and Simone Bloom, Outreach Manager.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Paula ApsellThomas FriedmanJon Palfreman
The Children's Museum is requesting $910,088 from the National Science Foundation to create an exhibition to go in an Urban Environmental Center to be built on a barge anchored in Fort Point Channel, a 500-foot-wide Boston Harbor waterway in front of the Museum. Our goal is to create exhibits which broaden public access to the process of science while extending each person's awareness of an engagement in this particular waterfront environment. Barge exhibits are focused on water, which has universal appeal to children and is the central feature of our location; atmosphere -- birds, sun, solar radiation, shadow, light refraction and diffraction, heat, wind, and clouds; built environment -- architecture, engineering, buildings, technology -- and their relationship to living things. We will provide a wide menu of entry-level approaches to the environment that are not given in school. The exhibits will take a visitor from where s/he is at the beginning of the visit to a new level of curiosity and concern. Through observation and direct experimentation, children will see what varies with the tides, what flows into the Channel from street run-off, where different creatures nest, what is emitted into the atmosphere from cars and buildings, and many other things. Some exhibits invite a playful experience, involving the senses and whole body; others offer a more focused exploration to uncover principles of a phenomenon. All encourage practice in such scientific processes as observing, collecting, recording, and comparing data.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Signe HansonDorothy MerrillDiane Willow
KCTS Television is producing 20 new programs for the third season of "Bill Nye the Science Guy." The series, which has received an enthusiastic public response, will continue to be on PBS stations during the week and syndicated to commercial stations on weekends. The twenty topics for Season range from earth science, to physical science, to life science, to technology and include programs on such diverse subjects as spiders, time, life cycles, inventions, flowers, architecture, computers, probability, invertebrates, and forensics. Outreach activities for the third season are designed an emphasis on reaching out to new audiences, especially girls and children of color. The Season III outreach components consist of: o "The Big News of Science" - a newsletter distributed through youth serving organizations as well as being mailed directly to viewers at home o An at-home science kit - an easy to use kit that enables children and their families to perform science experiments together at home. Two-thirds of the kits to be distributed directly to youth and one-third will be distributed to children participating in afterschool and community programs. o Teacher's Kit - to be distributed to fourth grade teachers nationwide. o Special appearances - As Bill Nye's schedule permits, he will present a live, traveling science demonstration show in selected urban communities. The programs will be based at science museums, community centers, or similar venues and will include an explanation about the science content of the series, and demonstrations of science experiments where children are invited to participate. o A PBS station outreach kit - This material will provide PBS outreach and education staff with programs, tips for developing local science outreach projects, and a list of informal science resources. The staffing for Season III will remain basically the same as it has been for Seasons I and II. Bill Nye will remain as Chief Writer and Host, Elizabeth Brock will continue as Executive Producer, and James McKenna and Erren Gottlieb will remain the series producers.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Elizabeth BrockJames McKennaErren GottliebWilliam Nye