The New England Aquarium (NEAq) will develop "Sounds of the Sea", a 2000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit that will provide visitors an opportunity to learn about the importance of sound in the ocean and acoustic oceanography as a tool for research, for such issues as global change. Both natural and anthropogenic sounds will be examined. The goals of the exhibit are to demonstrate the richness of sounds in the ocean, to educate visitors about the physics of sound in the air and under water, and to present current scientific research on the physics and biology of underwater sounds. One of the special features will be real ocean sounds in real time. Visitors will be able to hear sounds picked up by hydrophones in the inner and outer Boston Harbor and view spectral data. The exhibit will reach a broad audience including those with visual and aural impairments. NEAq will collaborate with MIT's Department of Ocean Engineering, the MIT Sea Grant College Program, Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the WGBH Educational Foundation's National Center for Media Accessibility in the development of the exhibit. Supplementary materials for visitors to the exhibit will include an exhibit guide and a web site. Complementary programming for use by formal educators will include pre and post visit materials and special programming for school groups.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William SpitzerJerry SchubelHenrik SchmidtCarolyn Levi
Sea Studios Foundation is developing a five-hour television-based project that will examine "Earth System Science," which will be produced in association with the National Geographic Society (NGS). Geologists, biologists, oceanographers, climatologists, social scientists and others are joining forces to understand the planet's rapidly changing environment. The series will follow the on-going research of these scientists as they investigate the links between Earth's geosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. These programs are planned as the first season of an annual series on the topic. Educational outreach will include a hands-on traveling exhibit to be developed and tested by the Maryland Science Center; an Educator's Guide for print and electronic distribution to informal science centers and community organizations; a "resource toolkit" to augment the Educator's Guide and an Internet site hosted by NGS that provides links to existing and new environmental resources. The series content also will be integrated into several NGS venues including: National Geographic Today, the daily news program on the National Geographic Channel; National Geographic Magazine, which will create a "global report card" as an annual feature; and National Geographic for Kids magazine, which is distributed to children in grades three through six. The project advisory board includes: Richard Barber, Professor of Biological Oceanography, Duke University Robert Costanza, Professor of Zoology, University of Maryland Gretchen Daily, Interdisciplinary Research Scientist, Stanford University Robert Dunbar, Specialist in Global Environmental Change, Stanford University Habiba Gitay, Senior Lecturer, National Centre for Development Studies, Asia Pacific School of Economics and Management, Canberra, Australia Michael Glantz, Senior Scientist, the Environmental and Societal Impacts Group, National Center for Atmospheric Research John Katzenberger, Executive Director of Aspen Global change Institute Jane Lubchenco, Professor of Marine Biology, Oregon State University J. R. McNeill, Professor of History, Georgetown University Harold Mooney, Professor of Environmental Biology, Stanford University Steven Schneider, Professor of Environmental Biology and Global Change, Stanford University Brian Walker, Coordinator of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization's Biodiversity Sector, Adelaide, South Australia
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mark ShelleyTierney ThysDavid Ellisco
In spring of 1992, Scripps Institution of Oceanography will open a new Aquarium-Museum. The enlarges facility will include a 3700 sq. ft. gallery, the Scripps Hall of Oceanography. Funding is requested for a new exhibit in this gallery, Exploring the Blue Planet, which will offer visitors an overview of the ocean sciences -- to our knowledge, the only major exhibit on oceanography in the United States. The exhibit first introduces visitors to our water planet, followed by a walk through the history of oceanographic research. Visitors are then invited to explore the ocean world as if they were oceanographers themselves, making discoveries as they follow the theme of "water" through the hall, adding components one-by-one to build a global system: first water alone (water chemistry and movements), then adding air (climate and weather), next adding land (seafloor spreading and plate tectonics), and finally adding life (adaptations of organisms to the marine environment). Through interactive exhibits on scientific concepts, coupled with exhibits on related Scripps research projects, visitors gain an appreciation for the process of science and its application to their everyday lives. The conclusion of Exploring the Blue Planet brings together the four realms of water, air, land and life to emphasize the nature of Earth as an interrelated global system. Visitors learn that oceanography, an interdisciplinary science that is global in scale and often international in practice, lends itself to a balanced and comprehensive investigation of global change and our future on earth.
The Cranbrook Institute of Science will develop "Our Dynamic Earth," a 7000 sq. ft. exhibit that will provide visitors with insight and understanding of the interrelationships of plate tectonics and climate to prehistoric life. This will make up the earth sciences component in their renovated and expanded exhibit area. This section will include four related areas: 1) Plate Tectonics, 2) The Earth's Amazing Climate System, 3) The Earth Evolving Biosphere, and 4) An Ecological Whodunit. Each area will be anchored by an "icon" that will serve as a guiding image for that exhibit and will be supported by a layered interpretation using objects from the collection, workstations with selected databases, simulated scientific investigations, and hot-links to related Internet Sites. Numerous interactives will highlight the use of scientific research tools and methods. A broad menu of complementary educational activities will accompany the exhibit including take-home activities for families; teacher enhancement sessions and materials for students, and experiences for pre- service teachers. Cranbrook is working with the Detroit Public Schools in their science reform effort supported by an NSF Urban Systemic Initiative and with the Michigan Department of Education through its NSF Statewide Systemic Initiative. The exhibit elements will support and reinforce the systemic reform efforts and will be aligned with the science standards.
The Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) at Augsburg College, in collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota, is developing three exhibit clusters on important weather and climate systems that affect our everyday lives. Each cluster will consist of a micro-computer-based exhibit that runs a mathematical model of the weather system, a supporting three-dimensional display that encapsulates the entire system, a physical interactive exhibit that teaches critical physical concepts, and a graphical environment that reinforces connections to visitors' personal knowledge and interests. The three weather systems that constitute the content of the exhibit will be selected from the following four options: mid-latitude cyclones and the weather they cause, the cycle of ice ages over the past million years, global warming and greenhouse gases, and physical features on the earth that have profound effects on local climates. These exhibit clusters will build on the previous interactive exhibit components developed by Augsburg College: Seasons, Winds, and Clouds. All three exhibit and program clusters will be designed so they can be placed in science and natural history museums nationwide. The computer models will be designed to run on common, inexpensive microcomputers and will be disseminated to museums, libraries, other public sites, and schools. The project content and educational design will be developed by the PI, William Jasperson, a Senior Research Scientist at CASS, working with two of his fellow Senior Research Scientists, David Venne and Anthony Hansen, and with Geanine Gregoire from the Department of Education at Augsburg College. J. Shipley Newlin and James Roe, will be responsible for exhibit design and development at the science museum.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William JaspersonJ NewlinDavid Venne
The Children's Museum of Houston (CMH) and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) collaborated to create and travel a museum exhibit on children's environmental health for a target audience of children 5-10, their parents, caregivers, and teachers. My Home Planet Earth (MHPE) is based on the NIH-funded, interdisciplinary My Health My World educational program developed at BCM and disseminated nationally through Carolina Biological Supply. The aims of the project are to: (1) expand understanding by children (ages 5-10) and their caregivers of the health consequences of human induced changes in the environment and increase their abilities to make healthful decisions through informal self-directed activities in a museum setting; (2) encourage linkages between formal and informal education settings by providing a model for connecting classroom-based curricula to museum-based exhibits and informal learning programs, based on the My Health My World educational materials and the My Home Planet Earth exhibit and support programs; (3) help parents provide additional environmental health-related informal learning experiences for their children, and promote awareness of science and health careers; and (4) partner scientists and educators in the creation of a model environmental health sciences exhibit and support program for the field of family-centered informal learning. The exhibit and support programs are in the process of touring 18 youth museums, science centers and health museums over six years of travel (2002-2008). An estimated 1.5 million visitors will participate in the project by the end of the tour in 2008. In addition to these visitors, 1,000 families will participate in MHPE Family Learning Events, 9,000 teachers will be introduced to the My Health My World curriculum-360 of whom will participate in a day long MHMW workshop, 36 scientists will partner with host museums to enhance the learning and community impact of the project, and 180,000 children will visit the xhibit during a school field experience.
Youth Volunteer Interpreters as Facilitators of Learning about Climate Change in Zoo Settings reports on a project to pilot test climate change education resources featuring youth volunteer interpreters as facilitators for zoo visitors’ experiences. Brookfield Zoo tested inquiry-based and specimen-based interpretation at the polar bear and Humboldt penguin exhibits, and Woodland Park Zoo tested a climate-change themed "activity cart" near their Sumatran tiger exhibit. Both the effects of youth volunteer interpretation on the zoo visitors and on the youth volunteer interpreters themselves were
Global Climate Change as Seen by Latin American Zoo Visitors reports on the findings of a summer 2011 survey conducted at eight Latin American zoos in five countries. The study was designed to characterize the readiness of Latin American zoo visitors to engage with the issue of global climate change. This included describing visitors’ cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral predispositions toward climate change in addition to describing their attitudes and beliefs regarding wildlife, nature, and conservation actions. Results indicate that Latin American zoo visitors have a high degree of
Global Climate Change as Seen by Zoo and Aquarium Visitors reports on the findings of a summer 2011 survey conducted at 15 zoos and aquariums. The study was designed to characterize the readiness of U.S. zoo and aquarium visitors to engage with the issue of global climate change. This included describing visitors' cognitive, attitudinal, and behavioral predispositions toward climate change in addition to describing their attitudes and beliefs regarding wildlife, nature, and conservation actions. Results indicate that zoo and aquarium visitors are receptive audiences for climate change
Although informal learning environments have been studied extensively, ours is one of the first studies to quantitatively assess the impact of learning in botanical gardens on students' cognitive achievement. We observed a group of 10th graders participating in a one-day educational intervention on climate change implemented in a botanical garden. The students completed multiple-choice questionnaires in a pre-post-retention test design. Comparing the test scores revealed a significant short-term knowledge gain as well as a long-term knowledge gain. Consequently, our results show the potentials
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Exploratorium began an exciting long-term alliance in 2009 to present climate and ocean sciences to the public. NOAA’s mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, and coasts using cutting-edge research and high-tech instrumentation, and to share its knowledge with others. Teaming up with the Exploratorium enables NOAA to explore new methods of communicating its work using the creativity and educational expertise of the museum. The partnership involves codeveloping exhibits, online media, public programs, and research about learning, and it also provides professional development opportunities for NOAA scientists. Some examples of partnership projects include the Scientists-in-Residence Program, the Wired Pier Project, the Deep-Water Dock at the Piers, and the Okeanos Explorer exhibit.