With major funding from the National Science Foundation, the Museum Film Network and NOVA/WGBH in conjunction with MacGillivray Freeman Films have produced an IMAX/ OMNIMAX film called Stormchasers. Stormchasers follows scientists as they investigate the dramatic weather effects of monsoons, hurricanes, and tornadoes. A quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test nonequivalent comparison group design was used with middle school students to evaluate the film and ancillary schoolroom activities. Intact school classes were assigned to one of two treatments: viewing the film only (FILM) and viewing
With major funding from the National Science Foundation, the Museum Film Network and NOVA/WGBH in conjunction with MacGillivray Freeman Films have produced an IMAX/ OMNIMAX film called Stormchasers. Stormchasers follows scientists as they investigate the dramatic weather effects of monsoons, hurricanes, and tornadoes. A quasi-experimental separate-sample pretest/posttest design was used to evaluate the film in its natural theater setting, focusing on the following major outcomes with adult audiences:
• To what extent did the program appeal to adult viewers? • To what extent did the
In this paper, Kersti Krug of the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver explores how hypertext can contribute to postmodern issues of visitor research. Krug argues that hypertext has potential to present new ways of "seeing and influencing change by enhancing access to knowledge about visitors."
In this paper, Britt Raphling from the Adler Planetarium discusses how evaluation can be used to help focus interactive multimedia options so that exhibits meet both content objectives and visitor experience objectives. This paper outlines an "ideal" evaluation process tailored specifically to the challenges of developing interactive multimedia elements in museums. It requires exhibit developers, programmers, visitors and the evaluator to participate in a series of five steps designed to ensure the most effective possible outcome.
In this article, Annette Noschka-Roos discusses a study of a computer-supported information system (CIS) touch-screen interactive in the "New Energy Techniques" gallery at the Deutsches Museum. The objective of the study was to gather systematic data on how the medium is used by visitors. Noschka-Roos provides key findings from the study.
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Annette Noschka-RoosVisitor Studies Association
Bill Nye the Science Guy is a widely-viewed, children's television series on science. Designed for eight-to-ten year olds, this series is shown in late afternoons Monday through Friday on PBS stations and on commercial television over the weekends. Rockman et al, an independent research group in San Francisco, was contracted by KCTS, Seattle, WA, to undertake an evaluation of the Bill Nye the Science Guy television series. The evaluation was charged with exploring the impact of the series on children at home, in school, and in other settings where children can watch television. Both the
The Franklin Institute proposes to establish the Science Learning Network (SLN), a unique online collaborative of science museums, industry and schools to support the teaching and learning of science, mathematics and technology (SMT) in grades K-8. The SLN will integrate the educational resources offered by science/technology centers with the power of telecomputing networking to provide powerful new support for teacher development and science learning. By December 1997 the SLN will develop and evaluate the following: UniVERSE - an online SMT database and software package which will provide interactive capabilities to actively and intelligently assist K-8 classroom teachers in their Internet explorations, much like an electronic "librarian." Online Museum Collaborative - a national consortium of science museums (The Franklin Institute, the Exploratorium, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Museum of Science - Boston, and Science Museum of Minnesota) that will pool their resources and expertise to create online assets and provide ongoing professional development on telecomputing networking for precollege SMT teachers. Online Demonstration Schools - a network of K-8 schools, working in collaboration with consortium museums and Unisys Corporation volunteers as demonstration sites for online teaching and learning in SMT. Over the course of three years, the SLN will provide direct support to 180 teachers and 3,000 K-8 students in the online demonstration schools. Through existing teacher networks, each museum will offer professional development for an additional 200 teachers each year. The Urban Systemic Initiatives in Philadelphia and Miami offer the potential for broader, systemic impact in those cities. By the end of the grant period, the SLN will provide field- tested models of a new kind of online SMT community through the collaboration of science museums with industry and schools. The sustainable impact of the SLN will be assured by UniVERSE's status as a publicly accessible database and software package and the development of the national consortium of online museums, whose network resources will be made available on an ongoing basis to educators. The three-year formative development of the online demonstration schools will contribute vital data to precollegiate school reform in SMT, showing how schools build capacity to become members of the online community and demonstrating how teaching and learning are enhanced by online resources. Unisys Corporation has pledged its support to this project and will provide matching funds for up to 40% of the total NSF award.
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Stephen BaumannWayne RansomPaul Helfrich
This materials development project is the result of a joint effort by Miami University and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA). The project will combine the resources of the Univeristy and the publication department of NSTA, to work with schools to produce an innovative science journal for children in grades 3-6, a teacher support manual, a parent support manual, and a supporting computer network that will connect children with scientists and university science students in scientific inquiry. The journal will be the first national journal devoted to research scientists and children with an outlet for publication of scientific investigations conducted by children. Given the strong record of accomplishment of the PI and the publications division of the National Science Teachers Association, the panel feel it is likely that the Dragonfly, Dragonfly Companions. the Dragonfly Net will be a quality product and recommends funding this project at a high priority level. The Program Officer agrees with the panel and recommends funding this proposal.
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Christopher MyersPhyllis MarcuccioR. Hays CumminsChris WolfeCarolyn Haynes
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.
WGBH Educational Foundation is producing a prime time television series and informal education outreach component entitled 'A Life of Science.' Each of the six one-hour programs in the series will profile a contemporary woman scientist: Lydia Villa-Komaroff, biologist; Melissa Franklin, physicist; Misha Mahowald, computational neuroscientist; Marcia NcNutt, geologist; Lynda Jordan, biochemist; and Patty Jo Watson, archaeologist. The stories will present their scientific quests and careers but also will be about scientific lives. An outreach plan, which centers around a national campaign called 'The Missing Persons Investigation,' will target two primary constituencies: girls and boys 11-14 years of age and their adult teachers and youth service community leaders. The project will serve these audiences in formal school-based settings as well as in the informal settings of community-based organizations and institutions. Beyond these immediate target groups, the outreach project will reach a broad and diverse national public through related activities including demonstrations exhibits, community campaigns at local public television stations, and media partnerships. A comprehensive promotion plan has been devised to inform the public of both the series and the outreach component of the project.
The SOUNDPRINT Media Center is producing a series of radio documentaries entitled 'Science and Technology on SOUNDPRINT,' a set of related educational and outreach materials, and multimedia non-broadcast applications. The project will include 16 original science documentaries and 21 programs repackaged as special broadcasts distributed to over 200 public radio stations in the United States, reaching over 750,000 listeners, and ten countries around the world. The programs also will be distributed on Internet Talk Radio. The 16 new Programs will be grouped around three themes: 'The Butterfly Effect' which will bring large scientific concepts describing global change to a more human level, 'Technology and Culture' which will consider the implications of technology, and 'The Consequences of Science' which will look at the broad implications of scientific research. The Executive Producer for the project is Moira Rankin. Neenah Ellis will serve as Senior Producer and will work directly with independent producers in story and script development. The Science Editors will be Ann Finkbeiner, a freelance science writer, and Barbara Culliton, Deputy Editor of 'Nature.'
The Foundation for Advancements in Science and Education (FASE) is requesting a planning grant to explore the feasibility and potential of establishing a specialized educational news service aimed at both commercial and noncommercial news programs. During this planning phase they will: convene an Advisory Board to review and refine the project. This committee will examine such issues as what types of information should be included in such a news service, how stories will be selected and by whom, how accuracy and balance of each story will be determined, and how to assess the effectiveness of the effort in terms of impact on viewers interests, knowledge, and action; conduct market research to ascertain the receptiveness of the television news markets to an information product of this type, analyze the methods by which stories could be effectively and economically distributed, and assuming that feasibility of such a project is established, develop a specific plan for proceeding in a larger and longer-term scope.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Steven HeardKathie HeardJudy TaussigRob Mikuriya