WNET is conducting planning for Wild TV, a new environmental education public television series for children ages 8-13. The planning activities consist of post-production and evaluation of a new version of the pilot episode of the series. WNET will reversion the pilot episode to address concerns raised by the reviewers to a previous proposal, as well as incorporating recommendations from the formative evaluation conducted by RMC Research Corporation. During the planning phase, the producers will work closely with Dr. Betty Faber and Mark Testa, two environmental educators with expertise in extra-curricular settings. These educators have been added to the advisory committee and Dr. Faber will serve as lead content advisor to the project. After production of the revised pilot is completed, RMC Research Corporation will conduct another evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the revisions to the project.
This project creates and implements a national parent engagement and education campaign. It provides a framework for all parents to explore existing and alternative forms of assessment within the context of changes in current classroom math curriculum and practices. The campaign also provides a mechanism for enhancing communication between teachers, schools and parents in order to ensure support for math strategies and practices by all members of learning communities nationwide. Project products include: * A thirty-minute documentary on mathematics reform and assessment, to be broadcast by public television stations, that will also include a viewer's guide and local publicity materials. * A Community Education Kit containing a Leader's Guide, Parent's Handbook, and short videotapes. Project materials and activities are designed for parents of elementary-age children, with a specific emphasis for materials on grades 3-5.
The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) is requesting $50,000 to investigate and report on education activities linking science centers with schools. The research will examine the nature and levels of service currently provided by science centers, and produce a report that describes the current status with an emphasis on understandings that provide insight for program planning. The study will gather information from both museums and schools and museums where collaborative efforts are not occurring to investigate the barriers that have discouraged linkages.
The Children's Museum of Manhatten is requesting $267,220 over two years to create a 2,500 sq.ft. interactive exhibition about the physical and acoustic properties of sound. The exhibition will use music as a high-interest point of entry into learning about science, and also as a demonstration of science as part of our everyday lives. The entire exhibit will be displayed for two years. Certain elements will then be retired, others displayed indefinitely. Target audience is children in kindergarten through sixth grades.
CTW is approaching completion of the fifth and final season of new show production for Square One TV -- a daily PBS television series designed to promote interest in and enthusiasm for mathematics among eight- to twelve-year-olds, with special attention given to girls and minority children. Research has shown that Square One TV is educationally effective, and the series has received numerous awards, from both the educational and broadcasting communities.
The program producers at the World Media Foundation seek $550,000 over three years to produce and present to listeners vital stories about scientific inquiry and technological developments related to environmental change. These presentations, entitled Living on Earth, are broadcast weekly on more that 240 National Public Radio member stations in the United States. The producer intends to develop the program into a one-hour format from the current 30 minute broadcast. Audience participation will be encouraged through call-in question and answer sessions about science and ecology.
The Vermont Center for the Book in collaboration with the Vermont Council on the Humanities, Montshire Museum, and other Vermont science activity centers propose to develop a national model of a four-part book discussion/science activity program of early science literacy for parents of preschool children. Parents will be trained to gain confidence in their ability to do science activity kit to keep. The project expects to reach 1200 parents and 240 professionals during this three year project.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Sally AndersonJoan NagyGregory DeFrancis
The award winning, computer animated, broadcast quality videotapes on a number of mathematics topics developed at California Institute of Technology under two previous NSF grants are the basis of this project that produces interactive multimedia lessons distributed on CD-ROM. The videotapes use live action footage to relate mathematics to the real world and the interactive, multimedia version moves these materials more firmly into the hands of students.
The Attitudes Toward Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) is a 40 question, 4-factor survey designed to measure high school and college students’ attitudes toward mathematics. Unlike other math assessments, the ATMI was designed to be brief while also capturing multiple factors that contribute to one’s attitude about math.
WGBH will develop, produce, and distribute a comprehensive project that will review science of the twentieth century. The major components of the project will be a series of five, two-hour, prime time documentary programs for PBS, an outreach campaign to involve the public through informal and formal science education institutions and organizations, material for use in formal classrooms, and a science museum component. The focus of the series will be to review the science of the twentieth century by telling the dramatic story of the struggle to understand ourselves and our world over the past 100 years -- a time when science advanced further than in previous eras combined and when scientific discipline underwent a revolution. However, because at the close of the century there is an ever-widening gap between what scientists know and what most of the public comprehends, the series will explore the century's most enduring scientific endeavors with each two-hour program probing several related fields of investigation and application: views of the universe and of matter; origins of the Earth and of life; health, medicine, and the human body; human nature and behavior; and technology and engineering. It will offer viewers an opportunity to view 100 years of scientific pursuits as a whole, to recast their perceptions of science and scientists, and to be intrigued and inspired by a view of science as a never-ending and deeply human quest for answers and solutions. The outreach component of the project include: Video-based Components - videocassettes of the series, video modules selected for classroom use, level one videodiscs, and a prototype for a CD-ROM for home learning. A Discovery Challenge Activity - a national campaign targeted primarily for girls and boys 11-14 years of age. The two-phase activities will be offered through middle school science and social studies classes; through youth groups such as Girls Inc., Family Science Programs, 4-H, and Girls and Boys Clubs; at museums and science centers; and through other informal education outlets. Activities will be designed so they can be undertaken by youth with a wide range of interests, learning styles, and skills. Print Components - teacher's guide, video module activity guide, videodisc guide, poster, and a companion trade book. On-line Component - an electronic bulletin board and e-mail center related to the project. Public access sites will be established in libraries, community centers, and schools throughout the country and members of the public with home computers will be able to connect to WGBH at no cost. Service and activities offered on-line will include the ability of viewers to critique programs, ask questions of the production team, download educational materials, and ordering project material. The bulletin board will provide an electronic forum for educators to exchange strategies and ideas as they use the project's resources and enable participants in the Discovery Challenge to tap into the on-line resources and share information. The on-line component will be managed and controlled at WGBH. Museum Component - consisting of a museum tool kit and activities to be incorporated Science-by-Mail. Paula Apsell, executive producer for NOVA and director of the WGBH Science Unit, will serve as executive-in-charge of production. Jon Palfreman will be executive producer and will head up a project team consisting of the executive editor, Thomas Friedman, a senior producer, and two producers. Outreach activities will be the responsibility of Beth Kirsch, Director of Educational Print and Outreach, and Simone Bloom, Outreach Manager.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Paula ApsellThomas FriedmanJon Palfreman
This is a request from Claypoint Productions for 124,700 of a total budget of $526,178 to produce a one-hour prime-time documentary program on the Wright Brothers, the processes of science and engineering used in their work, and the science and technology behind their development of the airplane. The PBS program will cover the subjects of aerodynamics, aeronautics, geometry, algebra, applied mathematics, mechanical engineering, the process of invention, and the history of technology. A teacher's guide will be developed to supplement the film.
Byrd & Block Communication, Inc. is continuing production and distribution of the widely broadcast two-minute radio spots which focus primarily on astronomy, earth science, or environmental science. Some programs also contain information about other sciences such as marine biology or chemistry. The series is carried on 519 affiliate stations in 627 carriage locations in the United States and can be heard in all 50 states. Of these stations, 315 are public radio stations and 204 are commercial stations. It also is broadcast by the Armed Forces Radio network and by the Voice of America. The current grant will enable the producers to enhance the series by: - Adding programs for weekend broadcast, thereby increasing the number of programs produced each year from 260 to 365. - Making a concerted effort to add more stations, particular commercial stations, that carry the series. - Working with Kalmbach Publishing, fulfilling listener requests for free copies of science magazines. - Producing and distributing classroom materials in collaboration with the Astronomical Society of the Pacific - Conducting a second and third annual "Earth & Sky Young Producers Contest." - Expanding "Earth & Sky's" on-line presence on the Internet. The writer/producer/host will continue to be Deborah Byrd and Joel Block, VP of Byrd & Block Communications, Inc., will continue as studio producer and co-host. The principal content consultant for astronomy is Derek Wills, a McDonald Observatory astronomer, and the primary earth content consultant is Cliff Frolich, a research scientist at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.