The Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Network) is a national infrastructure that links science museums and other informal science education organizations with nanoscale science and engineering research organizations. The Network’s overall goal is to foster public awareness, engagement, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. As part of the front-end effort, this report, Part IIB, documents 19 nanoscale STEM programming, media, and school-based projects that have been completed or are in development as of 2005.
The Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Network) is a national infrastructure that links science museums and other informal science education organizations with nanoscale science and engineering research organizations. The Network’s overall goal is to foster public awareness, engagement, and understanding of nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. As part of the front-end effort, this report, Part IIA, documents 11 nanoscale STEM exhibits that have been completed or are in development as of 2005.
This article summarizes summative evaluation of the impact on public radio listeners of Earth & Sky, a short-format science radio program airing daily on more than 1,000 commerical and public radio stations in the U.S. as well as on satellite and Internet radio outlets. Earth & Sky’s goals are to make science accessible and interesting and to increase science literacy by providing daily doses of science to listeners with a range of science backgrounds, knowledge and interest. Subsequent to listening to Earth & Sky, the producers hope listeners may be motivated to turn to other sources of
Earth & Sky is a daily short-format science series for both commercial and public radio. Produced by EarthTalk, Inc. of Austin, TX, the series is hosted by Deborah Byrd and Joel Block and consists of 90-second programs on a wide variety of topics mostly drawn from environmental sciences, earth sciences and astronomy. With support from the National Science Foundation, Multimedia Research presents the second study of a two-part summative evaluation on the impact of Earth & Sky on public radio listeners, focusing on traditional formats as well as the new “Edge of Discovery” programming that
The VOSI questionnaire elicits details of learners’ ideas of what scientists do in the production of valid scientific knowledge. Understanding about scientific inquiry is an integral component of scientific literacy, along with NOS. The VOSI is useful alone, or in combination with the VNOS to gain in-depth insights into respondent’s epistemological views of science. The VOSI targets aspects unique from, but complementary to, the VNOS instrument.
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Renee' SchwartzNorman G. LedermanJudith S. Lederman
This survey was designed to assess preservice teachers' perceptions of how their mentoring in science teaching has influenced their ability to teach science. The tool measures personal attributes, system requirements, pedagogical knowledge, modeling, and feedback as factors that comprise beneficial mentoring for science teachers.
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Peter HudsonKeith SkampLyndon Brooks
ITR: A Networked, Media-Rich Programming Environment to Enhance Informal Learning and Technological Fluency at Community Technology Centers The MIT Media Laboratory and UCLA propose to develop and study a new networked, media-rich programming environment, designed specifically to enhance the development of technological fluency at after-school centers in economically disadvantaged communities. This new programming environment (to be called Scratch) will be grounded in the practices and social dynamics of Computer Clubhouses, a network of after-school centers where youth (ages 10-18) from low-income communities learn to express themselves with new technologies. We will study how Clubhouse youth (ages 10-18) learn to use Scratch to design and program new types of digital-arts projects, such as sensor-controlled music compositions, special-effects videos created with programmable image-processing filters, robotic puppets with embedded controllers, and animated characters that youth trade wirelessly via handheld devices. Scratch's networking infrastructure, coupled with its multilingual capabilities, will enable youth to share their digital-arts creations with other youth across geographic, language, and cultural boundaries. This research will advance understanding of the effective and innovative design of new technologies to enhance learning in after-school centers and other informal-education settings, and it will broaden opportunities for youth from under-represented groups to become designers and inventors with new technologies. We will iteratively develop our technologies based on ongoing interaction with youth and staff at Computer Clubhouses. The use of Scratch at Computer Clubhouses will serve as a model for other after-school centers in economically-disadvantaged communities, demonstrating how informal-learning settings can support the development of technological fluency, enabling young people to design and program projects that are meaningful to themselves and their communities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mitchel ResnickJohn MaedaYasmin Kafai
Public funding agencies are increasingly requiring “broader impact” components in research grants. Concurrently, national educational leaders are calling for scientists to partner with educators to reform science education. Through the use of survey and interview data, our study examined the participation of researchers, faculty members, and graduate students from federal research laboratories and a Research I university, who were involved in K-12 and public outreach activities. We found that scientists were often recruited into K-12 outreach activities by local departmental liaisons
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Elisabeth AndrewsAlex WeaverDaniel HaneyJeffrey Hovermill ShamathaGinger Melton
The "Mentored Youth Building Employable Skills in Technology (MyBEST)" project, a collaboration of the Youth Science Center (YSC) and Learning Technology Center (LTC) at the Science Museum of Minnesota, is a three-year, youth-based proposal that seeks to engage 200 inner-city youngsters in learning experiences involving information and design technologies. The goal of the project is to develop participants' IT fluency coupled with work- and academic-related skills. The program will serve students in grades 7 through 12 with special emphasis on three underrepresented groups: girls, youngsters of color, and the economically disadvantaged. Project participants will receive 130 contact hours and 70% will receive at least 160 hours. Each project year, including summers, students participate in three seasons consisting of five two-week cycles. Project activities will center on an annual technology theme: design, engineering and invention; social and environmental systems; and networks and communication. The activities that constitute project seasons include guest presenter workshops; open labs facilitated by guest presenters, mentors and adult staff; presentations of student projects; career workshops and field trips. The project cycles feature programming (e.g., Logo computer language; Cricketalk), engineering and multi-media production (e.g., digital video; non-linear editing software). Each cycle will interface with an existing museum-related program (e.g., the NSF-funded traveling Cyborg exhibit). Mentors will work alongside participants in all technology-based activities. These mentors will be recruited from university, business, community partners and participant families. Leadership development is addressed through teamwork and in the form of internships and externships. Participants obtain work experience related to technology in the internship and externship component. The "MyBEST" project will serve as a prototype for the Museum to test the introduction of technology as central to the design and learning outcomes of its youth-based programs. An advisory board reflecting expertise in youth development, technology and informal science education will guide the program's development and plans for sustainability. Core elements of the "MyBEST" program will be integrated into the Museum's youth-based projects sponsored by the YSC and LTC departments. The Museum has a strong record of integrating prototype initiatives into long-standing programs.
Hidden Villa is a non-profit 1,600-acre organic farm and wilderness preserve dedicated to inspiring a just and sustainable future through multicultural and environmental education programs for children, youth and the community. In 2004, Hidden Villa hired an evaluation specialist to develop and implement an evaluation framework, and to design appropriate evaluation instruments for its environmental education programs. The following report documents in detail the process of and findings from the 2004 evaluation activities with the Hidden Villa Environmental Education program or HVEEP.
These front end studies were done before the gallery reopened and show how visitors perceive particular habitat cases. The findings were later used to inform what species would be illustrated on guide cards for the habitat cases.
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Oakland Museum of CaliforniaDana Neitzel
In this chapter we want to examine the reality behind these labels by examining the place of emergent technologies in the lives of young people. In doing so, we review and synthesize some of the key research in this area, highlighting the principal topics and potential issues of interest for future study. Although much has been published in the popular media, until fairly recently relatively little had been written from a more scholarly perspective. The overview we offer here is based on a wide range of academic research dispersed through a variety of disciplines including geography, sociology
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Susan McKayCrispin ThurlowHeather Zimmerman