The Conservation Trust of Puerto Rico, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, the Interdisciplinary Center for Coastal Studies, New York Botanical Garden, Puerto Rico Youth at Risk, Boy Scouts, and others implemented a citizen science program for age 12 and older. This project targeted local residents, visitors to Hacienda La Esperanza Reserve, and members of community environmental projects on topics including archeology and human impacts on local ecosystems; conservation and restoration of wetlands; and shoreline and costal processes.
This project will develop a comprehensive Space Weather Outreach program to reach students, educators, and other members of the public, and share with them the discoveries from this scientific discipline. The Space Science Institute will capitalize on its prior successes and the success of other education programs to develop a comprehensive and integrated program that has the following five components: (1) the Space Weather Center website that includes online educational games; (2) Small Exhibits for Libraries, Shopping Malls, and Science Centers; (3) After-School Programs; (4) Professional Development Workshops for Educators, and (5) an innovative Evaluation and Education Research project. Its overarching goal is to inspire, engage, and educate a broad spectrum of the public and make strategic and innovative connections between informal and K-12 education communities. Partners include UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory; the American Library Association; Macerich: a mall developer with nationwide impact; and the Math, Engineering, Science Achievement program. The project brings together a creative collaboration between exhibit designers, graphic artists, formal/informal educators, and research scientists. The project spans a full spectrum of science communication strategies (formal, informal, and public outreach). The evaluation part of the project will examine how well the project elements work together and a pilot research study will explore the efficacy of online digital games for communicating complex space weather content. Results will be published and the findings presented at professional meetings and online. The three-year project is expected to impact well over two million people, including exhibit and website visitors and outreach visitors at various venues such as libraries and malls.
This Communicating Research to Public Audiences (CRPA) proposal is based upon Dr. Donald DePaolo's research utilizing deep drilling technology to create a continuous rock record of the lavas ejected from Hawaii's Mauna Kea volcano (#9528544 "Collaborative Research: Scientific Drilling in Hawaii: Physics and Chemistry of Mantle Plumes" and # 0408521 "Structure of the Hawaiian Mantle Plume: Geochemical-isotopic mapping using post-shield lavas"). The CRPA request will support the production of a half-hour documentary film and podcast-based tour of the geology of Hawaii's famous volcano for both actual and virtual visitors to Hawaii, as well as a supporting web site. The film will be produced by Earth Images Foundation, distributed by Bullfrog Films, and evaluated by Diana Curiel.
The NJ Watershed Watch Network is a program acting as an umbrella for all of the volunteer monitoring programs within New Jersey. The goal of this new program is to provide acceptable protocols and QA/QC requirements for volunteers if they chose to submit their data to the NJDEP, to assist volunteers in designing and building upon their existing programs and assist data users in gathering sound data for their uses.
H2O Chelsea is a community-based water research and surveillance program developed collaboratively by the Municipality of Chelsea, the University of Ottawa’s Institute of the Environment and Action Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE). The goal of the program is to develop a better understanding of ground and surface water resources in Chelsea that will inform municipal planning and management decisions. The project is volunteer-driven, relying on the commitment of over 70 local residents, municipal employees and professors and students from the University of Ottawa.
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Municipality of ChelseaUniversity of OttawaAction Chelsea for the Respect of the Environment (ACRE)Isabelle Pitre
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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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.
This guide provides information and resources for planning and hosting a Sharing Science Workshop & Practicum for early career researchers that will enhance their science communication skills, engage their interest in education and outreach, and prepare them for providing effective and rewarding education outreach experiences.
Troy Dassler's 12 minute TEDx presentation about how he came to introduce nanoscience into his elementary school. Based on his experiences at Aldo Leopold Elementary School working with scientists at the University of Wisconsin MRSEC.
The NISE Network content map articulates the key ideas for our educational products, including programs, exhibits, and media experiences. It presents the content knowledge the network has identified as the most important for engaging the public in learning about nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. Content map resources include the full written text document, a powerpoint presentation outlining the map, and a one-page graphic summary of the map.
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NISE Network
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
The Department of Education of the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, with broad participatory support from free-standing, university-based and regional natural history museums across the nation will conduct a 3-day national conference on informal science learning in natural history settings. The goal of this conference will be to develop and disseminate a sustained, collaborative learning research agenda that begins to address the role of natural history museums in natural history learning and establish an infrastructure for communication and collaboration to pursue the research agenda. The conference builds on recent meetings among museums and informal learning professionals to this topic. Executive and Leadership Committees will implement a scaffolded project design involving a sweep of evaluation reports and audience research from the field, a foundational literature review, Committee workshops to review the field, conference planning and call for participation, and pre-conference dialogue through professional organizations and activities. The conference, to be held in Washington, DC in Spring-Summer 2012, will be followed by broad post-conference dissemination of findings and a call to action around the conference-generated research agenda. The conference will be evaluated by Oberg Research, an external audience research and evaluation firm. Oberg will develop an evaluation process that measures the quality, relevance, and impact of pre-conference, conference, and post-conference activities using an ethnographic fieldwork methodology involving in-depth interviews and participant observation of conference activities. The intended outcomes and impacts of this national conference are to develop, initiate, and disseminate a collaborative and sustained learning research agenda about how the 800 natural history museums in the United States can best use their resources for STEM learning. Among the topics to be considered by the Conference are new models for interaction among educators, curators, collection managers, exhibit professionals and museum leadership; audience research to more fully understand audiences and their needs; new technologies for discovery and learning regarding rapid response and current science; public participation in scientific research (citizen science); and collaboration in learning research across the Natural History field.