The Magic School Bus Museum Collaborative, requests through Discovery Places, Inc., NSF support for six science museums and Scholastic Productions, Inc., to develop science education materials that capitalize on the interest and excitement in the forthcoming Magic School Bus television series and the Magic School Bus books. Over a three year period the collaborative will provide basic science education activities and demonstrations through museum educational programming. The collaborative will provide tools and support for teachers to use the Magic School Bus themes in their science curriculum and provide hands-on science classroom experiences using mobile museum exhibits. Working with the National Urban League, ASPIRA, the AAAS Black Church Project, and other youth serving organizations, the collaborative will encourage multi-ethnic participation in these museum programs. The numbers of children and their families who will be reached by the Magic School Bus Museum Collaborative are significant. The components of the project are a planetarium program (100 copies), two 1200 square feet traveling exhibits, and activity and programming guide, table-top exhibits and program, and 2 teacher enhancement workshops. Collectively, these components can reach conservatively over 5 million museum visitors in the first year. Coupled with the new television series, the Magic School Bus can have a tremendous impact on the education of young people in the sciences.
National Public Radio is seeking to expand its coverage of scientific issues in two ways: through the creation of a new Environmental Reporting Unit, and through the introduction of SCIENCE FRIDAY, a two hour call-in talk show dedicated to scientific issues. Each of these projects will be supported by an extensive outreach effort targeted at local schools, community groups, science museums, and nature centers. Through the Environmental Reporting Unit, NPR plans to produce eight to ten half hour documentary reports per year on critical environmental issues. Each of these reports will be available to listeners on cassette and will be accompanied by supporting documentation. The SCIENCE FRIDAY team will engage NPR's audience in a lively debate on questions ranging from nuclear physics to archaeology. In addition, SCIENCE FRIDAY will travel to high schools and museums across the country and engage in question and answer sessions with students, teachers, parents and school administrators. These "on the road" segments will be supplemented by live broadcasts from annual meetings of the National Association for Science (NAS) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Through these efforts, NPR will be able to draw listener attention to the need for improved science and mathematics education, while helping listeners make informed evaluations of current public policy in these areas.
The Science Museum of Minnesota will produce a 38- minute IMAX/OMNIMAX film on the topic of tropical rainforests. The objectives of the film include: To illustrate the key scientific concepts relating to rainforest ecology including biological diversity, biological change and human impact; To expose a wider audience to ecological thinking than might normally be exposed through traditional means of science education or science media; To communicate the complexity of conservation issues related to the rainforests. In addition, the film will portray science as an attractive career, particularly for minorities and women. The museum will create an integrated program of science enrichment materials that will accompany the film and will be used for both school groups and general audiences. Linking an education program to an IMAX/OMNIMAX film is a first for the industry and will extend the learning potential of the project. Tropical Rainforest will be distributed to IMAX/OMNIMAX theaters located in museums and science technology centers; it has the potential to be seen by more than 14 million people in its first four years of distribution.
The Challenger Center for Space Science Education located in Alexandria, Virginia, a nonprofit organization with a mission to increase the number of youth interested in science and space, is requesting $303,170 over two years from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to develop a new scenario for its Challenger Learning Centers. Located in science centers. museums and schools around the country. Learning Centers house equipment and educational programming for hands-on training during a simulated mission. Scenarios use mathematics, science and problem-solving skills to provide participants with simulated experiences of working in a space laboratory and a "Mission control" laboratory. Challenger Center requests assistance and partnership from NSF to develop, field test, implement and evaluate a new scenario on the environment, "Mission to Planet Earth" scenario. This project will involve collaboration of expert scientists, educators, Challenger staff, and science museum professionals. Annually more than 180,000 students and between 10,000 and 15,000 adults will participate in the scenario at Learning Centers, using space as a format for learning about environmental issues. Challenger is working on the preliminary planning stage between June and December 1991. Two years of funding are requested from NSF beginning in January 1992.