"Saving Species" will engage large and diverse public audiences in inquiry-based learning and environmental stewardship through a system of exhibits at zoos and other informal science education institutions throughout the U.S. The exhibit system will include more than 70 touch screen interactives and related technological infrastructure being created by Project Dragonfly at Miami University (Ohio). Project partners include the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, Brookfield Zoo, Cleveland Metroparks Zoo, Columbus Zoo & Aquarium, Denver Zoo, Liberty Science Center, Louisville Zoological Garden, New York State Zoo, Oregon Zoo, Pittsburgh Zoo, Riverbanks Zoo, Santa Barbara Zoo, Shedd Aquarium, Toledo Zoo, The Wilds, Woodland Park Zoo, and Zoo Atlanta. Touch screen exhibit components will be designed for specific programs at partner zoos. The partner institutions in this consortium are establishing exhibits nationwide linked to one of three Saving Species campaigns: 1) the Great Ape Campaign allows families to conduct research on captive ape populations and to help save wild apes by joining the work of experienced field researchers; 2) the Wild Cat Campaign focuses on endangered cat species and allows families to join in conservation efforts along with professionals; 3) the Sustaining Life Campaign builds on widespread interest and growing exhibitry in environmental stewardship, renewable energy, and climate change. The consortium includes a shared library of public inquiry and public-action tools (e.g., cell phone recycling), as well as remote monitoring capabilities that provide real-time measures of station success, facilitating the development of variations of exhibit interactives across the country. More than 500 staff from informal science institutions are participating in "Saving Species" professional development through workshops and graduate courses in major cities and conservation sites worldwide. The formal educational opportunities include two new Master\'s degree programs co-delivered by Miami University and informal science institutions: (1) the Advanced Inquiry Program, and (2) the Global Field Program. Strategic partners include the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, public television, Conservation International, and the Society of Conservation Biology. Project evaluation by the Institute for Learning Innovation includes specific assessment protocols that are identifying patterns of engagement by gender, ethnicity, and socio-economic class so that disparities can be addressed across these demographics. A planning study and front-end evaluation will inform the future development of personalized, post-visit engagement opportunities on social networking platforms. "Saving Species" will achieve broad impact nationally, reaching millions of visitors to the participating institutions annually during the funding period and beyond, fostering the relationship between science inquiry and public action, and building multi-institutional partnerships committed to sustaining life on our planet.
This is a proposal for a 3 year, $1,297,456 project to be conducted as collaboration among 5 higher education institutions and one school system across the country, with St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, PA serving as the lead institution (other collaborators are from Colorado School of Mines, Ithaca College, Santa Clara University, Duke University, and Virginia Beach School System). The primary goal is to attract and retain students in computer science, especially women and underrepresented minorities (including two EPSCoR states). To this end, the project will use Alice, a software program that utilizes 3-D visualization methods, as a medium to create a high-level of interest in computer graphics, animation, and storytelling among high school students, hence to build understanding of object-based programming. Such an IT focus on media and animation is aligned with national computer science standards. The project will build a network of college and high school faculty, who will offer workshops and provide continuing support during the academic year. In each site, pairs of teachers from each participating school (total = 90) will learn with university faculty via a 3-week summer program in which an introduction to using Alice for teaching will be followed by teacher development of materials for students that will then be used to teach high school students. An experimental start at one site will be followed by implementation at four additional sites and culminated with revised implementation at the sixth site (1-4-1 design).
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences (NSF 03-509) project is based on the PI's current NSF award: SBE-0545361- ADVANCE: Determining national science faculty demographics in order to empower women and guide solutions. This project will help address the need for underrepresented female faculty as role models and mentors in science and engineering. Although the number of female under-represented minority students (URM) in college has been increasing, there are astonishingly low numbers of female URM faculty in each science discipline. This project would produce a series of female URM faculty biographical videos to substitute for the lack of personal contact young women have with these role models. The videos would be widely disseminated through schools, colleges, and minority serving organizations to reach young women.
John Carroll University, Cleveland's International Women's Air and Space Museum and Cleveland Public Schools are partnering in a three-year project to provide a cross-age, collaborative exhibit development experience to increase young peoples' science understanding and interest in science and teaching careers. The program exposes 120+ high school and undergraduate women to the skills of educational program planning and implementation. Content includes science, technology, engineering and math related to flight, and the history and role of women in flight related careers. The project proposes a highly supportive learning environment with museum, science and education experts working alongside students at secondary and undergraduate levels to design exhibits that will meet the interest and needs of the museum, and the young children and families from Cleveland schools who visit. Through qualitative and quantitative methods, the evaluation will measure change in participant career interests, content understanding and perception of science, technology, engineering and math subjects, and skill development in presenting these concepts to public audience members. Public and professional audience experiences will also be evaluated. More than nine hundred local elementary school age children, their families and 15,000 general public audience members will participate in student-designed, museum-based exhibits and programs. Deliverables include a model for university/museum partnerships in providing exhibit development and science learning experiences, three team-developed permanent exhibits about flight and women in science, a set of biographies about women and flight in DVD format and three annual museum based community events. The model program will be informed by national advisors from museum/university partners across the United States who will attend workshops in connection with the projects public presentations in years one and two. These meetings will both provide opportunities to reflect on the program progress and to develop new strategies in the evolution of the program design. Workshop participants will develop plans to implement similar programs in their home locations, impacting another layer of public audiences. The transferability of the model to these new sites will be measured in year three of the proposal. An additional 25,000 participants are expected to be impacted in the five years following the grant period. Beyond the implementation sites, the model's impact will be disseminated by the PI and participants in the program through peer reviewed journals and presentations at national conferences.
A national facility a three-system ground-based mobile radar fleet, the Doppler On Wheels (DOWs). The three systems include two mobile X-band Doppler on Wheels and the 6 to 12 beam "Rapid Scan DOW". These radar systems have participated in research projects that have covered a broad range of topics including individual cumulus cloud studies, orographic precipitation and dynamics, hydrologic studies, fire weather investigations, severe convective storms and tropical cyclones at landfall. DOWs can be frequently utilized on site for educational activities, such as being part of a university atmospheric instrumentation courses. The DOWs can be operated by students with minimal, often remote, technical supervision. The DOWs add significantly to the facility infrastructure of the atmospheric sciences community.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Joshua Wurman
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This is a two-session science communication workshop targeted to undergraduate students participating in university-based research programs such as NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, which typically occur during the summer months. University faculty and science museum staff integrate the sessions into the research program curriculum to enhance the students’ science communication skills, with an emphasis on professional oral, powerpoint, and poster presentations. Each session takes a half-day, but they can be shortened.
In this paper, we discuss our approach to teacher-researcher collaboration and how it is similar and different from other models of teacher collaboration. Our approach to collaboration employed design experimentation (Brown, 1992; Design Based Research Collective, 2003) as a central method since it yields important findings for teachers’ pedagogical practices and contributes to the research literature on teaching and learning. We use three key moments in our collaborative practice to highlight how our work impacted student thinking and learning and involved our own shifting identities as
While industries such as music, newspapers, film and publishing have seen radical changes in their business models and practices as a direct result of new technologies, higher education has so far resisted the wholesale changes we have seen elsewhere. However, a gradual and fundamental shift in the practice of academics is taking place. Every aspect of scholarly practice is seeing changes effected by the adoption and possibilities of new technologies. This book will explore these changes, their implications for higher education, the possibilities for new forms of scholarly practice and what
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Martin Weller
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
AccessComputing is a NSF-funded Broadening Participation in Computing alliance with the goal of increasing the participation and success of people with disabilities in computing fields. AccessComputing is in its 10th year of funding. It supports students with disabilities from across the country in reaching critical junctures toward college and careers by providing advice, resources, mentoring opportunities, professional contacts, and funding for tutoring, internships, and computing conferences. For educators and employers, it offers institutes and workshops to build awareness of universal design and accommodation strategies, and to aid in recruiting and supporting students with disabilities through the development of inclusive programs and education on promising practices.
The New Directions in Audience Research Initiative, initially funded by IMLS in 2009, is a special initiative of the University of Washington Museology Graduate Program. New Directions aims to train graduate students in Audience Research & Evaluation within informal learning settings through laboratory style coursework that integrates the strengths of professional and peer mentoring, fieldwork, academics and client-centered experiences. Audience Research & Evaluation is an ever increasing field and one that is integral to all aspects of museum practice. Students who participate in New Directions learn the value of effectively incorporating outcomes based planning and research-based practice into their chosen area of museum practice and become advocates for evaluation within the museum field. Primary partner sites include the Woodland Park Zoo, and the Pacific Science Center who's Evaluation staff assist student teams in designing, implementing and reporting on evaluation projects within their institutions as well as other affiliated partner sites. Past affiliated partner sites include, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture, EMP Museum, Frye Art Museum, Henry Art Gallery, Museum of History and Industry, Northwest African American Museum, Seattle Aquarium, and the Washington Park Arboretum.
The NEES network is comprised of a central management office (NEEScomm) located at Purdue University, and 14 geographically distributed earthquake and tsunami research facilities. We are considered to be a Large Facility within the Engineering division. We have been responsible for the coordination of centralized education, outreach and training activities at each of theses research facilities plus assessment of these activities. We have conducted a very successful REU program for the past 5 years. Additionally we maintain a repository of education modules and learning objects available on our website.
LIGO's Science Education Center is in charge of Education and Public Outreach Component for the LIGO Livingston Observatory. The three prime efforts are: (1) Professional development for teachers utilizing lab facilities and cross-institute collaborations. (2) Outreach to students K-16 (targeting 5- 9th grade), with on-site field trips to the LIGO Lab and Science Education Center, as well as off-site visits & presentations. (3) Outreach to the general public and community groups with on-site tours and Science Education Center Experience, as well as off=site visits and presentations. LIGO's Science Education Center is located at the LIGO Observatory, and has an auditorium, a classroom and a 5000 square foot exhibit hall with interactive exhibits at its disposal to complete its mission. In addition LIGO-SEC staff serve to help press and documentary film makers complete their missions in telling the "LIGO story" and encouraging budding scientists.