Education & Public Outreach for Earth & Space Science Program Abstracts of selected proposals (NNH11ZDA001N-EPOESS)
Below are the abstracts of proposals selected for funding for the Education & Public Outreach for Earth & Space Science program. Principal Investigator (PI) name, institution, and proposal title are also included. 75 proposals were received in response to this opportunity, and 19 were selected for funding.
Nancy Alima Ali/University of California Berkeley Five Stars Pathway: Engaging Girls in Science through Multigenerational Mentors
The Center for Science Education at the Space Sciences Laboratory (CSE@SSL) at the University of California, Berkeley proposes to partner with Girls Incorporated, a national afterschool program provider for girls, to develop "Five Stars Pathway: Engaging Girls in Science through Multigenerational Mentors". The overall goal of the "Five Stars Pathway" project is to increase the representation of females in Heliophysics by engaging girls in relevant STEM content and providing them with female role models.
Our three objectives to achieve the project's goals are: (1.) Develop a Heliophysics-related, multigenerational mentorship afterschool program model which is implemented at two Girls Inc. affiliates in the San Francisco East Bay Area. (2.) Provide professional development training for afterschool program professionals on the multigenerational program model at an additional five Girls Inc. affiliates nationwide. (3.) Disseminate the multigenerational program model to the broader afterschool provider community via a national training workshop, a website which provides resources and training materials, and conferences.
The "Five Stars Pathway" project creates a model in which five "generations" of females engage in science together in an afterschool setting, with each "generation" representing one stage in the pathway of pursuing a career in science, technology, engineering, or math (STEM). The five "generations" are elementary school girls, middle school girls, undergraduate students, graduate students and research scientists.
The model uses a Heliophysics core curriculum supplemented by additional resources which is presented in an 8-session format to middle school girls in an afterschool setting. Each 2-hour session is presented jointly by female undergraduate and graduate students in Heliophysics-related studies (i.e. physics, astronomy, etc.) who are paired with a trained afterschool program instructor. During the course of the 8-sessions, the undergraduate student instructor will share with the middle school girls her experiences transitioning from high school to college and choosing her major. The graduate student instructor will speak about her area of research and her path to pursue graduate studies. Female scientists whose research is funded by NASA Heliophysics will videoconference with the afterschool program remotely (via Skype or similar technology) to answer questions about the Sun. For the culmination of the program, the middle school girls will choose one aspect of the Heliophysics curriculum to teach to elementary school girls in an afterschool setting. Thus, a pathway of female mentors is established.
The model will be field tested in existing Girls Inc. programs, then afterschool program professionals nationwide will be trained on the model both directly through a national workshop and conferences, and indirectly through a project website.
This project is carefully designed to align with the goals and objectives of NASA's Informal Education portfolio. Through direct contact with middle and elementary school girls in an informal education setting, this project will enhance participants' skills and proficiency in STEM disciplines as well as inform them about STEM career opportunities. Through dissemination of NASA resources at training workshops and conferences, this project engages informal educators in NASA SMD content and increases their ability to engage their audiences in STEM.
Edgar Bering/University of Houston The Mars Rover Model Celebration: Enhancing Formal and Informal STEM Education in Grades 3-8 and Improving Teacher Training Using the Excitement of NASA's Latest Mars Missions
The proposed project aims to incorporate up-to-date SMD education resources and science and mission data relating to NASA's explorations of Mars into the Mars Rover Celebration (MRC), an existing low-cost curriculum enhancement program for grades 3- 8. The MRC prototype focuses on the adventure of learning and discovery, asking participating teams to propose their own scientific mission to Mars, design a rover to carry it out, and present a mock-up at an open house. The overarching goal of this program is to leverage the strong hold on children's imagination and intellectual curiosity that NASA missions in general and Mars landers in particular have possessed for decades to inspire and educate on STEM career choices. The current prototype of the program is already extremely popular in the greater Houston area, with more than 180 teams of 2-6 students from 36 schools participating in 2012, ranging from low income inner city schools to outlying rural schools. Programs are beginning in Massachusetts and the Texas Hill Country. MRC is designed to offer a flexible, budget conscious alternative to science fair activities, in order to attract participants from underrepresented groups in low-income communities. We propose to modify and refine this prototype program by enhancing the NASA content and instructional strategies employed, and strengthening the training and support provided so thateducators may more effectively and successfully teach, engage and motivate students in SMD related STEM subject areas. To accomplish these objectives, this proposed program will: 1) Expand and improve the program curriculum to provide more cross referencing to appropriate SMD curriculum materials, MER, MSL and other NASA E/PO activities and updated, more complete alignment with State and National standards; 2) Specifically tackle effective instruction issues by incorporating comprehension, cooperative learning, scaffolding and modeling practices in the curricular materials developed; 3) Expand the current professional development workshops for K-12 teachers to include more STEM/ SMD content training, including training about the results from recent NASA Mars missions and in teaching the engineering design process; and 4) Develop parent education workshops to train parents and community informal educators on how best to support the program. In addition, a detailed formal evaluation process will provide evidence of the program’s effectiveness and guide its expansion process, including assessment of both improvement in teacher skills and in student affect toward STEM disciplines, NASA Mars missions and SMD content/activities. The immediate outputs of the proposed project will include detailed lesson plans, evaluation reports, and teacher training materials. To disseminate these materials, the project team will utilize the existing network of participants as well as reach out to national partners such as AIAA. The long term outcomes of this proposed program will be to test and mature the MRC into achieving permanence and expand widely across the nation as a NASA E/PO activity. This project addresses NASA Strategic Goal 3, by engaging students in the design and development of activities aimed at achieving science outcome 3C.3, and in the process of spacecraft design and interesting them in aerospace engineering careers (Subgoal 3F). Not only will these students learn about scientific fields relevant to the mission (space science, physics, geology, robotics, and more), they will gain an appreciation for how this knowledge is used to tackle complex problems. It provides activities that provide professional development to educators, and provides family opportunities for involvement in K-12 student learning as required on page E.4-3 of the NRA.
Julie Blumenthal/WGBH Educational Foundation Beyond the Moon
WGBH requests support for BEYOND THE MOON, a transmedia education initiative for youth ages 9-12 that will focus on the science and engineering involved in exploring our astronomical neighborhood. Key features include: 1) Hands-on science and engineering challenges designed for out-of-school settings but with connections for the classroom; 2) Leader notes for educators; 3) Activity sheets for home/family use; 4) Short instructional videos, optimized for mobile devices; 5) Inspirational video profiles of young NASA scientists and engineers, also for mobile; 6) Collaborators to provide content support and for disseminating the resources across the country; 7) Delivery of all resources online through the highly trafficked websites of DesignSquad, PBS Teachers, and Teachers Domain; 8) Real-time educator training opportunities that will build skills and confidence; 9) A self-paced on-line video tutorial for educators; and 10) Evaluation to assess the impact of the project on both youth and educators.
WGBH, a leading national producer of educational programs and services, is uniquely qualified to create and implement this initiative. For more than a decade, WGBH has used this hands-on approach to extend the impact of its popular STEM programming including NOVA, Building Big, ZOOM, and others. In 2008, the WGBH award-winning initiative, Design Squad teamed up with NASA to bring the excitement of living and working on the moon to youth in out-of-school venues. The result was On The Moon, an educational resource that will serve as a model for BEYOND THE MOON. On the Moon has been wildly popular. It has been downloaded from the Design Squad website 12,756 times, with 58,725 downloads of the individual activities. In addition, we received requests for all 15,000 copies of the printed version within a few months.
Through our work on this and other projects, WGBH has gained experience and built a solid track record producing popular and effective formal and informal STEM resources. In addition, our collaborators for this project--science, engineering, and education experts--will further guide our activities and ensure they are in line with education standards and appropriate for the target audiences. Specifically, we will work with several NASA-affiliated individuals as well as representatives from the National Girls Collaborative Project, the National Summer Learning Association, and a classroom teacher. These individuals and groups will also help to disseminate the resources to their constituents, and work to integrate them into program offerings.
The objectives of BEYOND THE MOON are closely aligned with NASA's strategic plan to attract and retain students in STEM disciplines and to inspire and engage Americans in NASA's mission.
The specific goals for educators are to: 1) Increase knowledge and understanding of solar system exploration as it relates to NASA's activities; 2) Enhance skills, knowledge, and confidence to facilitate hands-on, inquiry-based science and engineering activities with youth; and 3) Provide free user-tested resources that support the curriculum and are educational and engaging for youth.
For youth (ages 9-12): 1) Provide opportunities to use science, engineering, and math to solve challenges related to exploring our solar system; 2) Build and hone critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and design process skills; 3) Increase knowledge, curiosity, and awareness of space exploration; 4) Introduce a range of NASA-related careers; and 5) Enhance interest in pursuing STEM studies.
And for all participants: 1) Promote an understanding of space exploration as a vital step in understanding Earth, the solar system, and the universe--and our place in them; 2) Create awareness of the vibrancy of space exploration in a post-shuttle era; and 3) Increase knowledge and understanding of the types of explorations NASA is engaged in, especially as it relates to the Year of the Solar System.
Lin Chambers/NASA Langley Research Center The Planeterrella: a visual experiment explaining the aurora at Earth and other planets.
The objectives of this proposal are to create a Planeterrella at NASA Langley Research Center's official visitor center: the Virginia Air and Space Center (VASC), and use it to show and explain the basics of the formation of planetary aurorae to a variety of audiences. The Planeterrella, an evolution of Birkeland's Terrella, is a vacuum chamber where an electric current is applied between two magnetized spheres. The resulting discharge creates glowing plasma that follows the magnetic field lines. The overall effect is an emission of light, easily visible by the public, which simulates the auroral oval at the Earth. Such an apparatus will bolster the local education and public outreach (E/PO) activities in Heliophysics, for all education levels: - For children: discovery of the notion of Aurora, and of solar wind energy and flux. - For high-schoolers: study of the notion of plasma, fluorescence, interaction of energy with matter. - For undergraduate students: plasma physics, spectroscopy. - And above: complex plasma interaction between magnetized spheres, simulation of auroral emissions for other planets...
Lynn Cominsky/Sonoma State University S4: Small Satellites for Secondary Students
We propose a unique three-part pilot program to fill an important "missing link" in NASA's secondary school K-12 educational pipeline. Our program will also be applicable to informal education settings, including summer programs, museums and technology centers, and after-school clubs.
1) We will develop a standards-aligned Educator Guide for secondary-school classrooms and informal education groups that will teach the design and experimentation skills needed to build, fly and analyze data from small scientific payloads on a variety of launch platforms, including high-powered rockets and high altitude balloons.
2) We will use the Guide and additional resource materials to conduct a week-long training session for participating formal and informal educators, in which they build their own small satellites, helping us to develop and test the materials in the Guide. The educators will then be able to guide the students' work during the next year, facilitating the use of the Educator Guide activities in classrooms and informal education settings. Training materials will be freely available on-line for future use and will meet NASA's communication and accessibility standards.
3) Once completed, student-built small satellite payloads will be able to be launched by partners including: California's AeroPac prefecture of the Tripoli Rocketry Association, the LUNAR chapter of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) and the Rocket club of California (ROC), as well as through programs such as Balloon Fest. Students will be able to view many of the flights through the use of the Virtual Classroom, and will be able to collect and analyze the resulting data. This program will provide unparalleled access to the design, development and flight process for hundreds of students involved in the pilot teams, while allowing thousands of additional students to participate online in the flight events and data collection and analysis.
Matthew Fillingim/University of California, Berkeley Art in Science Promoting Interest in Research and Exploration (ASPIRE)
Many out-of-school time (OST) providers already incorporate successful arts programming, but a relative few currently offer science content. Through Art in Science Promoting Interest in Research and Exploration (ASPIRE), we propose NASA-focused arts-based OST programs for motivating more diverse young people to learn about Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) topics and careers. This effort will be led by a collaborative team from the University of California, Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, Astronomy Department, and Lawrence Hall of Science working side-by-side with the YMCA of the Central Bay Area, which is looking to increase and strengthen its STEM offerings. We will focus on reaching African Americans, who comprise up to 30% of our local communities, but less than two percent of the total UC Berkeley STEM student body. Our proposed OST youth programs include intensive summer-long programs and twice-monthly drop-in afterschool programs. By bringing NASA science into OST arts programs, and connecting program participants to diverse scientists, graduate students, science educators, and science artists, the youth in our OST programs will use their imagination and creativity to explore these topics and envision themselves in STEM careers. The general public will be engaged as well through outreach and a series of public presentations that highlight participating youth's experiences. We contend that our methodologies, based on lessons learned and best practices (including the importance of mentors and advantages of learning through art), and the great breadth of experience, diversity, and enthusiasm on our team (as well as our program participants' connections to their work and to them personally), give us the exceptional capacity to meet our goals and objectives. In total, the ASPIRE team intends to develop and implement the following five deliverables over the next three years: 1) an intensive, summer-long arts and science-based youth workshop at a new YMCA Teen Center that focuses on current, high-profile NASA science, the need for astronomy visualizations, and the general education needs to become successful in these fields; 2) an every other week drop-in afterschool workshop that meets during the regular school year and enlists summer youth participants as peer mentors; 3) an astronomy visualization- focused traveling activity booth taken to various fairs, festivals, and other events; 4) a series of free star parties and public presentations focusing on the need for astronomy visualizations in current NASA science, as well as the project's youth-derived outputs (e.g., artwork, highlights of youth-scientist collaborations, etc.); and 5) a website and a number of social networking strategies that highlight our youth's artwork, invites others to create and submit their own art, advertises project opportunities, and links to current NASA missions and other E/PO programs. In addition, we will share our findings (including the strengths, challenges, and lessons learned of our university/OST provider collaboration) with other colleagues both locally and nationally.
Pamela Gay/SIUE Zooniverse: Guerrilla Citizen Science
In today's technology driven science, researchers often find themselves inundated with data requiring human eyes for full analysis while not having the time (or perhaps graduate students), to classify all the data on their own. Coming to the rescue of these researchers are citizen scientists - everyday individuals who through programs like Galaxy Zoo, Solar Storm Watc,h and Moon Zoo have contributed tens of millions of image classifications. The Zooniverse project, parent to the above projects, has shown through roughly 20 journal articles that the classifications are not only useful, but citizen scientists can also make unexpected discoveries (e.g. a new class of star forming galaxies and the light echo from a quasar). They also find that while citizen scientists are making classifications in the needed numbers, recruitment of new people is needed to grow the field in anticipation of larger citizen science projects coming in the future. With this project, we seek funding to: 1) create a booth that allows us to engage new users at large public events, 2) and to do teacher training in association with those public events.
We seek to meet this need by creating a program to take citizen science to the people and to educators. We propose to create a portable system for doing fully-online citizen science in three specific venues: Public events, where members of the public are enticed to do citizen science; at conferences where we can introduce teachers and researchers to the educational tools and datasets emerging from our projects; and as a teacher training facility. By increasing public exposure to citizen science and by increasing the number of teachers using it in their classrooms, we can grow our population to better face the future's data flood.
In doing guerrilla citizen science, we will take our booth - complete with computers, museum-style educational walls, and a 3G network - to public events. We will specifically target non-science events, such as Dragon*Con, where, for instance, we can lure audiences interested in science fiction into science fact. Other target events include: ideaFestival, USA Science and Engineering festival, AstroZone, and Balticon. Participants will be given (and emailed) login information and we will track the rate at which users visit our online sites once they are home.
We will also engage teachers who can show kids that science is for everyone and that anyone can make a discovery. Through teacher training at workshops held in conjunction with meetings, we will introduce teachers to our projects, provide them statistics exercises they can do at middle and high school levels, and demonstrate ways to encourage their students to do independent research, such as for Science Fair, using our online data mining tools. We will evaluate 3 outcomes of working with teachers: How many teachers use citizen science in their classroom? How many students assigned citizen science tasks go on to participate for fun? What materials, beyond those we design, do teachers come up with to use with their students?
By holding our teacher training in conjunction with major meetings, we are opening the door to also use our same equipment to create an exhibit hall booth to introduce educators and scientists to educational materials and research data they may not be familiar with.
The materials we create (display walls, and software) will be made available online, allowing anyone to replicate our facility locally.
Our central goal is to provide as many people as possible with an experience contributing to science. With computers, a 3G network, booth displays, and human elbow grease, we can directly reach at least 10,000 people a year directly. We can also reach scores of teachers who can in turn show students anyone can do science.
Edward Maibach/George Mason University Enhancing the Effectiveness of Climate Change Education and Outreach through Audience Research
Creating compelling educational and outreach climate change communications is an important, yet challenging task. NASA is uniquely positioned to engage and inform the public about climate change, and in this proposed research we seek to discover methods of optimizing NASA's online climate change educational space, http://climate.nasa.gov, while simultaneously building understanding of climate change communication strategies. We draw from decades of research about science communication, social marketing, and public health campaigns to distill and test principles about effectively informing and engaging the public. We build upon our work of segmenting the American public into meaningful issue publics (Global Warming's Six Americas) and propose to examine how these segments respond to NASA's education efforts. Furthermore, we look at how current users of NASA's primary climate change website can serve as informational opinion leaders, employing the interest of these individuals to activate information dissemination through social networks. Additionally, we draw from work on framing and tailoring to develop and test messages that resonate with the previous knowledge and values of audience segments to optimize content for maximum ability to inform. To this end, we propose a three pronged research project that focuses on maximizing the educational and outreach impact of climate.nasa.gov. This research will be conducted over four years and will include: 1. A survey of the general public's perceptions of the NASA website, conducted in Year 1: After establishing baseline attitudes and behaviors, we will direct them to spend time exploring climate.nasa.gov, we then will survey participants about their perceptions and assessments of the site. 2. A survey of users of the website, conducted in Year 2: Users will be asked their perceptions of the website, their off- and on-line communication about climate change, and the ways in which they utilize the site. We will segment users to develop profiles of the typical visitors to the NASA site, and compare them to the general U.S. public. 3. Randomized message experiments, conducted in Years 3 and 4: Messages tailored for different audience segments will be tested for their effectiveness in educating and engaging the public. Each year, findings will be analyzed and result in (a) a report detailing findings and recommendations for climate.nasa.gov, (b) a presentation of the findings at NASA's Education and Outreach annual staff retreat, and (c) a peer-reviewed research article interpreting the findings and applying results to communication and outreach theories.
Scott Miller/Sam Houston State University ASSET - Astronomy Summer School of East Texas
We propose the creation of a summer astronomy workshop to be held at Sam Houston State University for area teachers and pre-service educators. The two-week workshop will provide these educators with some of the tools necessary to instruct their students on the nature of science.
Sam Houston State University is located in Huntsville, Texas, within a geographic region known as the Piney Woods of East Texas. Distinctly separate from the more affluent surrounding regions, Region 6 consists of rural, poorer school districts with a large percentage of minority students. We are targeting this region not only because it is economically disadvantaged, but also because the school districts in this area are severely lacking in their math and science resources. According to the 2006 figures from the College Board, Texas ranks 46th out of the 50 states in math SAT scores.
Participants for our proposed two-week-long summer program will be secondary science educators or pre-service teachers. It is during these secondary grade levels (6-12) that science offerings include units or even entire courses devoted to astronomy. Attendees will engage in activities that allow them to explore the most fundamental astronomical questions and gain experience using real NASA data. Learner-centered activities and project-based learning will be based on current pedagogical research regarding some of the most effective ways for students to learn both astronomy and the nature of science. These activities will also incorporate existing NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) education resources. By the end of the workshop, participants will have a binder full of lesson plans that they have practiced and can incorporate into their own classrooms.
This workshop will help educators learn how to convey the nature of science to their students. By experiencing active learning for themselves, they will be better prepared to promote this strategy within their classrooms, engaging their students and encouraging meaningful skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and scientific reasoning, all of which are key aspects of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science (TEKS) standards. By teaching their students to be better thinkers, these teachers will help improve the science literacy in the region.
Margaret Pippin/NASA Langley Research Long-term Engagement in Authentic Research with NASA (LEARN)
Long-term Engagement in Authentic Research with NASA (LEARN)
We propose a new model for long term engagement between pre- and in-service teachers and authentic NASA SMD R&A related and mission-based research. Using the Backwards-Faded Scaffolding method to introduce scientific inquiry, teachers will extend training in the GLOBE atmosphere protocols to contribute to ongoing research at the NASA Langley Chemistry and Physics Atmosphere Boundary Layer Experiment (CAPABLE) site co-located with the VA Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) air monitoring station for the Hampton Roads area. They will then develop authentic research ideas to implement in their classroom, with ongoing support through regular interactions with the LEARN team during the following school year. Applications from teachers in the regions planned for DISCOVER-AQ flights (Houston, California) will be especially encouraged.
The LEARN model will include long-term (2 week) onsite sessions for in-service teachers and longer term (10 week) sessions for pre-service teachers. Pre-service teachers will engage in research topics with NASA scientists during the summer, overlapping with in-service teachers as they participate together on research teams. By leveraging ongoing training at the GLOBE Atmosphere Training Center at NASA Langley Research Center, during the first week teachers will gain hands-on experience with multiple instruments to measure atmospheric parameters. During the research phase in week 2 teachers will participate in measurements at research sites, using column, in- situ and vertical profile sondes, and analyze data for a better understanding of temporal and spatial resolution when compared with satellite data. Through a joint effort with Langley Aerospace Research Summer Scholars (LARSS) students during the summer app building contest, teachers will have an opportunity to develop a smart phone application relating to their research to implement in their classroom. Interactions will continue at a distance for in-service teachers through the rest of the summer (6 weeks) and fall (4 months), culminating in a virtual poster session where participants will share what they have accomplished. Teachers will then be supported to attend an appropriate science team meeting or conference in the following year, where they can present their work to a wider community.
This project will leverage SMD's investments in E/PO activities such as GLOBE, MY NASA DATA, S'COOL, and ozone bio-indicator gardens; and in research & analysis activities such as AERONET, CAPABLE and DISCOVER-AQ, and A-Train satellite missions to impact science instruction in the middle and high school classroom.
Kellee Preston/Discovery Science Center "NASA Explores the Universe" Visitor Kiosk Upgrade
"NASA Explores the Universe" is an interactive and fun way for 420,000 annual visitors of all ages to learn about NASA missions, the technology of its exploration vehicles, and planetary science. Created by Discovery Science Center (DSC) with grant funds from NASA under Grant #NNX10AC97G, the formative evaluation proves this new exhibit has a positive impact on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) learning, impacting a diverse audience. DSC seeks grant funds under NNH11ZDA001N-EPOESS to improve the exhibit design to allow for more NASA missions to be featured.
"NASA Explores the Universe" was intended as a showcase for a variety of NASA missions: In the center, a model of an exploration vehicle is on display, and the visitor is invited to learn more through three interactive kiosks, each with a different program as follows: (Kiosk 1) the NASA mission; (Kiosk 2) the vehicle's technological features; and (Kiosk 3) the scientific data collected from the planet, star, or other under study by this NASA mission. The original intent of the exhibit was to change the model, and update the kiosks with the corresponding information about every six months or so. Also, DSC envisioned this exhibit would be the showcase for high profile models which NASA is touring for short periods of time (for example, DSC hosted the Mars Science Laboratory for about two weeks to promote awareness and a naming contest for children).
NASA is a very eager and helpful partner: Through our membership in the Museum Alliance, they have readily agreed to loan models of space exploration vehicles, and offered a wealth of data, images, videos and more free of charge. From August 1, 2010 through February 28, 2011, DSC successfully educated the public about Curiosity: Mars Science Laboratory. However, when the time came for Curiosity to move on to another museum, our team encountered a challenge. The way the software had been designed by the original exhibit fabricator did not allow DSC to replace one video with another, or replace images or update text easily. We are seeking grant support to correct this issue by hiring a software development consultant to create a more flexible program.
The goals of this project are to: (1) Develop a centralized Kiosk System which integrates the three interactive Kiosk Programs. The Kiosk System will allow for an unlimited number of interactive kiosk program, and not be limited to the Mars Rover display; (2) Develop visually attractive and engaging pages which draw visitors in and entice them to explore and learn more; (3) Develop an Administrative Page with a user-friendly interface which allows non- technical Graphics and Education Department personnel from DSC to update images, video and text; and (4) The Kiosk System will include a dashboard interface that provides real time and retrospective metrics on which Kiosk Programs and individual pages are most utilized. DSC can use this information to evaluate the relative success of various offerings and ways to best structure future Kiosk Program updates.
DSC is uniquely qualified to achieve the proposed objectives. Since receiving a grant to assist with the opening of DSC to the public, we have had a history of collaborating with NASA on several successful projects, including receiving loans of models, videos and robots from nearby JPL. Through this relationship, DSC has secured a commitment from JPL to provide new models of spacecraft each year over the next decade. As new spacecraft and their missions are introduced to "NASA Explores the Universe," it will achieve a number of the NASA Strategic Goals and Research Objectives specific to each mission. Overall, the exhibit and its accompanying educational programming would achieve NASA's Education Strategic Coordination Framework Outcome 3, to promote STEM literacy and awareness of NASA's mission, and it would achieve it through a sustainable, long-term program.
John Radzilowicz/Carnegie Science Center SolarQuest: Exploration of the Sun-Earth System
Carnegie Science Center (CSC), located in Pittsburgh, PA, is recognized for its expertise in translating science and technology into hands-on learning experiences that excite, educate, and inspire diverse audiences. "SolarQuest: Exploration of the Sun-Earth System" builds on this expertise, marrying CSC's track record of developing and delivering effective school outreach programming with its leadership in astronomy and space science education through the Buhl Planetarium & Observatory (established in 1939) and the Buhl Digital Planetarium.
"SolarQuest: Exploration of the Sun-Earth System" will be developed for CSC's Science on the Road program, which currently delivers standards-based educational experiences to 200,000 K-8 students and teachers annually in 150 locations across 5 states. The primary premise of the SolarQuest project is to provide students in grades 4-8 with high- quality, high-technology learning experiences in heliophysics that would not otherwise be accessible to them. SolarQuest will incorporate formats that have proven to be successful in engaging young minds and imaginations, utilizing NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) mission data, imagery, and experts to portray the environment in which the Earth travels and the ways in which the Sun and its interactions with the planet affect human life.
The primary components of the project include a 45-minute, immersive assembly program that incorporates a 10-minute digital planetarium show, and hands-on activities that reinforce the scientific concepts presented in the assembly show. Teacher resources will be provided on the CSC web site. All program content and activities will be age/grade adapted and aligned with National Science Education Standards; the most in- depth connections will be with Content Standards B: Physical Science; D: Earth and Space Science; and E: Science and Technology.
Like other Science on the Road assembly shows (e.g., "Ion Jones and the Lost Castle of Chemistry" and "Captain Green's Time Machine"), SolarQuest is conceived as an adventure story delivered through a lively mix of large-scale props and costumes, chemistry and physics demonstrations, video, and audience participation. All assembly shows are led by an experienced CSC educator/presenter. In the case of SolarQuest, students will board an imaginary spacecraft, led by a CSC "commander," and blast off to explore the Sun and its impact on planet Earth. Along the way, they will visit (via videotape) NASA satellites engaged in heliophysics research and encounter NASA SDO scientists and experts who discuss their work and their careers. The program will be organized around major themes, such as ultra-violet light, sound, color, satellite design, and space weather, among others. These themes, and corresponding scientific concepts, are reinforced in 10 hands-on activity stations that students will experience following the assembly show.
The 10-minute digital planetarium show, delivered to school audiences via a portable digital planetarium system, brings heliophysics to life in a unique and powerful way--a stunning "you are there" perspective that is not possible through other presentation formats. Audiences will literally "fly through" the Sun-Earth environment, experiencing the Sun-Earth system through the lens of actual NASA SDO mission data. The digital planetarium show will have a second outlet as part of CSC's regular programming in the Buhl Digital Planetarium. CSC also proposes to distribute 50 full-dome digital copies of the show to digital-capable planetariums around the world.
"SolarQuest: Exploration of the Sun-Earth System" is projected to have a 5-year life span following its full launch in 2013. Approximately 850,000 young people and adults could be served by the project: 250,000 students and teachers through Science on the Road; 100,000 through presentation at the Buhl Digital Planetarium; and 500,000 at planetariums worldwide.
Gail Ringel/Boston Children's Museum My Sky: A traveling museum exhibit, program, and training designed to engage families in foundational astronomical science skills
Boston Children's Museum (BCM), in partnership with the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), proposes to create "My Sky," a traveling exhibit designed to engage adults and children ages 5 - 10 in building skills and discovering content fundamental to later appreciation and understanding of astronomical science. This exhibit will focus on interactive explorations of objects and phenomena visible in the sky, encouraging families to "look up" not only when they visit the exhibit, but also as a practice they adopt in their everyday lives. By exposing young children to the science of astronomy, this exhibit experience will introduce family learners to foundational science skills that are age appropriate, creating a platform for successful elementary school-age science learning and a base for science literacy. The exhibit will be geared toward "informal learning" centers, such as small science and children's museums, that are typically underserved by other science learning opportunities. In addition, this project will connect the hosts of the exhibit with professional development opportunities and NASA- supported resources for public programs, such as the Museum Alliance, the Night Sky Network, Sun-Earth Day resources, and Amazing Space materials. Principal components of the project work will include:
- A 700 square foot traveling exhibition designed for families with young children; - Strategies for hosting public programs connected with the exhibition; - Professional development for staff at host organizations; and - Evaluation assessing the effectiveness of the exhibition and accompanying programs and professional development efforts.
The project has three intended audiences: young children ages 5 - 10; their adult companions; and informal educators working at host sites for the exhibition. The project will connect to science and education resources from NASA's programs in astrophysics, heliophysics, and planetary science, and it will focus on two of NASA's major education goals: attracting students to STEM content and disciplines; and engaging Americans in NASA's mission using hands-on interactive educational activities to increase science and technology literacy. One of the key assumptions of this project is that adult and family engagement in elementary-age learning is critical for support and success of young students in STEM disciplines. While the content of the exhibit will focus on phenomena, identification, and interpretation of visible objects in the sky, the activities will introduce and reinforce foundational science skills relevant to all STEM learning: observing, comparing, measuring, discussing/reporting, and experimenting. While many adults may not feel prepared or able to guide learning in astronomy, the exhibit will engage entire families in hands-on, group learning designed to appeal equally to adults and young children.
The project team builds on the strengths of both project partners. BCM has been a leader in developing foundational science exhibits for adults and young children for nearly 100 years; the SAO conducts research related to children's scientific misconceptions and has a strong record of exhibit, media, and program development in the areas of astronomy and astrophysics. In addition, BCM has an excellent reputation as a provider of traveling exhibitions to children's museums and other centers of informal science learning nationwide. Together, these two institutions are proposing a project to build capacity for STEM learning in small informal science learning centers, reaching audiences that are typically underserved, yet critical for improving the science skills of elementary aged and older children.
Christine Shupla/Lunar and Planetary Institute STEP: Creating a Sustainable Trainer Engagement Program for Earth and Space Science
In Houston, as in many other areas of the United States, science specialists and lead teachers are increasingly responsible for training teachers, sharing quality resources, and assisting teachers in conducting activities. While many have attended NASA-sponsored workshops on individual Earth and space science (ESS) topics, their efforts--and those of the teachers they serve--would be significantly advanced through long-duration support designed to build both deeper knowledge in ESS content and pedagogy, and capacity in their delivery of professional development in ESS.
The Lunar and Planetary Institute, in partnership with 4 Texas Regional Science Collaboratives, the Harris County Department of Education, 6 Houston-based school districts, and 10 Earth and space scientist mentors, proposes to build the capacity of Houston area science specialists and lead teachers through the Sustainable Trainer Engagement Program (STEP). STEP will provide 6-8th grade science specialists and lead teachers--who already are charged with training their districts teachers--with in- depth content that integrates NASA activities and resources in conjunction with modeled pedagogy for the ESS standards for which educators are responsible in Texas. The participants will continue to be supported as they work in teams to implement their own workshops with teachers, and given multiple networking opportunities, in person and online, building a sustainable Community of Practice.
Professional development workshops relying on the Train-the-Trainer model are ubiquitous, not just within NASA education efforts, but internationally. In spite of the frequency of its use, there is little information in the literature regarding the overall validity of this training method in any discipline, and it incorporates many potential points of failure. We propose to modify and test a model of Train-the-Trainer, in which STEP participants are given faded scaffolding support for their own workshops. The results will provide useful information for future NASA education efforts using the Train-the-Trainer model.
At the end of the project, 60 Texas middle school science specialists and lead teachers will have received extensive ESS content, activities, and relevant pedagogy. These participants will, within the lifetime of the grant, be able to lead content-rich workshops and provide continued support in Earth and space science for approximately 800 additional middle school science teachers, who, in turn, will be able to share NASA activities and resources with up to 100,000 students! The participants and partnering scientists will serve as sustained resource for the Houston region.
Objectives: 1. Increase the ESS knowledge and pedagogy, and skills and confidence in providing professional development of 60 middle school science specialists and lead teachers by providing 15 days of intensive professional development over a period of 18 months each for two cohorts of participants; 2. Integrate local scientists into the project to provide content in the context of ongoing research, to mentor teams of participants, and to establish sustainable partnerships; 3. Provide faded scaffolding support for the participants who, in their roles as science specialists and lead teachers, will provide their own workshops and support for "their" teachers during and after the grant period; and 4. Determine elements of success, through ongoing and longitudinal evaluation, for replicating the effort in the future and informing other projects that may adopt the model.
Overall, these activities will build an active Community of Practice. We anticipate that, with the ongoing efforts of collaborating partners, this Community of Practice will be sustainable. STEP will ultimately improve ESS instruction for middle school students throughout the Houston region.
Ted Sicker/WGBH Educational Foundation Year of the Solar System: Digital Media for the Planetary Sciences
Year of the Solar System: Digital Media for the Planetary Sciences
Proposal Summary/Abstract
The WGBH Educational Foundation (WGBH) proposes to partner with WNET/New York and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) to develop and disseminate a collection of media resources targeting "The Year of the Solar System" for featured presentation on the acclaimed and recently expanded Teachers' Domain digital library platform. Drawn from NASA sources, including its archives and websites, and contextualized to address commonly taught planetary science curriculum needs at the K-12 level, these materials will be designed for use by both students and teachers in classrooms, professional development settings, and/or independent study.
We propose to work with NASA officials and a national advisory board of scientists and educators to identify a featured set of video, interactive, and other media resources currently presented on websites such as "NASA e-Clips" and "Year of the Solar System." Some will be presented through Teachers' Domain for direct access, others will be selected for customized reversioning and expanded development (e.g., background essays, standards alignments, teaching tips, etc.), and all will be considered for inclusion in a set of self-paced activities that will enable active engagement with the data presented in these materials.
Teachers' Domain (www.teachersdomain.org) is a free online service that currently boasts over 3,300 such purpose-built resources, selected, organized and presented to address the challenges and opportunities of education in the 21st century, especially in the sciences. It is predicated on the now well-tested premise that teachers and students are eager to access rich media resources that engage the learner in ways that text alone cannot, providing opportunity to observe what cannot be seen in daily life, hear authentic commentary, visualize processes in action, and control the mode and pace of how content unfolds. Developed over the past decade, the service has attracted over 600,000 currently registered users from 193 countries (including over two thirds of the public schools in the U.S.). Reach and impact promise to rise exponentially in the next year, as Teachers¿ Domain has recently merged with PBS's Digital Learning Library, expanding not only the quantity and breadth of available resources, but also the extent of dissemination support through the national PBS network of 365+ affiliate stations.
The proposed initiative will leverage NASA's current investment in several related WGBH projects, including the NOVA television program "Life Beyond Earth," the "Inspiring STEM Educators" project now in development with our sister station WNET, and an ever-expanding array of efforts to promote widespread dissemination of NASA resources through both Teachers' Domain and PBS's Digital Learning Library.
The project will be led by Principal Investigator Ted Sicker, Executive Producer of Teachers' Domain for the past decade. WNET contributions will be coordinated by Sandra Goldberg, Director of the NASA-supported "Inspiring STEM Educators' K-12 Education project, and Lauren Goldenberg will manage the external evaluation by the Education Development Center's Center for Children and Technology.
Timothy Slater/University of Wyoming Faculty INstitutes for Earth and Space Science Education (FINESSE)
Faculty INstitutes for Earth and Space Science Education (FINESSE) A Collaborative Effort to Improve Diversity by Enhancing Earth and Space Science Teacher Preparation Proposal to NASA SMD Solicitation NNH11ZDA001N-EPOESS
National STEM education reform calls for special attention to be paid to increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce, with particular attention paid to increasing K-12 teachers¿ ability to successfully teach science to a more diverse population of students. In response, a unique collaborative of scientists and science education specialists working in pre-existing, rich partnerships with and individuals representing the NASA Lunar Science Institute (NLSI), Association for Science Teacher Education (ASTE), American Astronomical Society (AAS), American Geophysical Union (AGU), National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and the California Science Teachers Association (CSTA) proposes to develop and provide innovative and transformative professional development institutes to college and university faculty engaged in the preparation of future STEM teachers among highly diverse and underutilized populations. This target group of influential faculty represents an unusual, yet critically important, component in the STEM pipeline that rarely have opportunities for professional development and who often do not have strong science backgrounds in the Earth and space sciences. The investigators are leveraging prior NASA investments in new expertise and new resources to work with higher education faculty from education and the sciences who are charged with delivering science teaching methods courses for future teachers working with diverse student populations. Perhaps more time critical, the newest version of Common Core Standards for K-12 Science is soon to be released and these faculty will need support in integrating the revised Earth and space science content into their undergraduate courses for future teachers. These targeted two-day institutes will: 1) immerse 75 participants each year (3 institutes per year with 25 faculty in each) in best science education practices for use in K-12 STEM teacher preparation with a focus on issues surrounding better addressing diversity in the STEM pipeline; 2) utilize appropriate curricular support resources for teacher educators by leveraging NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) content and data focusing on resources based on scientific data from the NASA Lunar Science Institute to enhance student skills and proficiency in STEM disciplines, and better communicate information about SMD mission activities; and 3) create a linked network of Earth and space science teacher education faculty from minority-serving colleges and universities nationwide to support ongoing engagement. The significance of this project is that it will greatly strengthen the abilities of teacher preparation faculty in preparing future educators to effectively teach Earth and space science to diverse student populations. As such, this project directly supports the NASA SMD Education and Outreach Portfolio by addressing Higher Education and Teacher Education needs. The future teachers these faculty prepare will be much better equipped with the skills and knowledge to attract and retain a diverse range of students in STEM disciplines and deeper content understanding and confidence in teaching Earth and space science. The assembled team has a long history of effective dissemination and unique access to teacher preparation faculty engaged with diverse populations, and the team will disseminate lessons-learned about effective faculty training. Ultimately, the proposed efforts will build a network of experienced faculty at minority-serving institutions who can mentor incoming junior faculty in implementing the exemplary teacher education models identified.
David Williams/NSSDC Science on a Sphere: Life!
We propose to create a stand-alone, animated, narrated program on the search for life in the solar system and beyond for use on the science on a sphere (SOS) apparatus. SOS is large spherical projection screen with a series of computer-coordinated projectors which excels at giving realistic representations of a planetary surfaces. Developed by NOAA, the system has been set up at some 65 museums and science centers with collective annual viewership in the millions throughout the U.S. and in other countries. These institutions are clamoring for more stand-alone content. Members of this proposal have been involved in the production of two previous programs for the sphere on planetary science ("Largest" and "The Wanderers") and have experience with all aspects of the production. The program, "Life!" will be an educational astrobiology story done in four modules: "Life on Earth", "Mars, our next best hope for life?", "Icy moons - cold havens for life?", and "Life beyond our solar system", which can be shown separately or as one continuous program. The programs themselves comprise video animations for the sphere, NASA mission content, recorded narration, and music. The completed programs and supporting educational information will be delivered, free of charge, to the various museums and science centers housing the SOS. An evaluation is also planned for the program, and revisions can be easily made based on feedback from the evaluator. Effectively we propose to leverage off the existing SOS infrastructure and the unmatched experience here at Goddard Space Flight Center producing SOS programs about the solar system to create a state-of-the-art stand alone educational program on the search for life for viewing by a large nation- and world-wide audience.
Donald York/The University of Chicago NASA All-Stars Professional Development Program on Multiwavelength Astronomy for High School Teachers
The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) | University of Chicago Internet Project (CUIP) at the University of Chicago proposes to create NASA All-Stars (NA-S), a professional development program for high-school science teachers that will prepare them with the in- depth knowledge, instructional approaches, and research skills to incorporate NASA's resources on multiwavelength astronomy and mission databases in their classrooms. The NASA All-Stars program will engage and educate teachers and their students in three summer institutes tied to national standards with follow-up and reinforcement during the school year. It will also result in multiple mechanisms for distributing All-Stars program elements through the CPS Office of Teaching & Learning - Science, CPS Office of E- Learning, and our own Multiwavelength Astronomy website. Our proposed work will be supported by a Project Team of scientists and graduate students in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago and CUIP staff, a group of specialists who perform outreach to the public schools.
The program is aimed at preparing teachers to implement CUIP's standards-aligned modules on multiwavelength astronomy -- GR/XR (Gamma Ray/X-Ray) and UVOIR (Ultraviolet, Optical, and Infrared) -- that were funded in previous EPOESS cycles as the centerpiece of a curriculum joined to NASA Science Mission Directorate content and mission data sets, and integrated with science curricula widely used in CPS, thereby increasing exposure to astronomy in the public schools. Our work will directly involve a total of 44 science teachers and 88 students from CPS high schools that have high rates of low-income and minority students in their enrollments. We will initially engage a small group of teachers as mentors to develop and field test NASA All-Stars, who in subsequent years will deliver the program to their peers in summer institutes and create materials that will be "repackaged" for wider distribution to CPS science teachers district- wide through the CPS Science Academy and as on-demand video lessons in the classroom. As many as 900 science teachers in 122 high schools in the district will have access to these professional development and classroom instructional support opportunities. Collectively these teachers reach approximately 75,000 students each year. The program will develop a cadre of NASA All-Stars, teachers who are coaches to their peers and who help disseminate skills and knowledge locally at their schools.
Alexander Zwissler/Chabot Space and Science Center Space Weather Awareness Center
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), launched just over a year ago, is helping scientists understand the variable Sun and how "space weather" created by solar activity influences the Earth. Chabot Space & Science Center's Space Weather Awareness Center is an innovative solar astronomy exhibit giving pride-of-place to the stunning images of the Sun captured by SDO, continuously uploaded to Chabot by the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory. This solar astronomy exhibit is designed to help our visitors understand the dynamic nature of the Sun, its connection to the Earth and the nature of its effects on human concerns, in furtherance of Chabot's mission to inspire and educate students of all ages about the Universe and our planet Earth.
Chabot, the premier space and science education center in Northern California, draws both national and international visitors, serves over 165,000 visitors annually, including 50,000 students and 2,000 teachers, and is committed to reaching populations historically underserved by informal science programs. The Space Weather exhibit will connect these visitors and students to the compelling images of the dynamic Sun captured by NASA SDO, showing the most recent 24 hours of Sun activity compressed into a ten- second loop, updated hourly; illuminate the nature of these stunning phenomena by explaining the underlying science; and deepen and broaden the experience with interactive introductions to heliophysics as a systems science, emphasizing the Sun's variability, its connection to Earth and the nature of its impact on Earth.
Visitors will witness current solar activity and its effects on the space environment around Earth: the main viewing station, displaying the near-real-time SDO images, will be supplemented by monitors showing recent images from other observatories; space weather conditions in near-Earth space; current effects of solar activity on Earth; and visualizations of events such as a blast from the Sun and the formation of polar aurorae. Interpretive elements and hands-on interactives will guide visitors to an understanding of the Sun's changing features and eruptions, illustrating key concepts of heliophysics that help explain why the Sun behaves as it does. Descriptions and demonstrations relating to the various solar observatory missions will help visitors understand how the images and movies were obtained, helping to build interest in and appreciation for NASA space activities.
Chabot anticipates that Space Weather will be a long-term installation, on view for approximately five years and potentially reaching well over three quarters of a million people. Space Weather uses SDO's rich, awe-inspiring images of the Sun as a springboard to engage audiences in the underlying heliophysics and systems science, leveraging the emotionally compelling, stunning display to draw Chabot visitors into a more substantial exploration of the Sun-Earth connection. By virtue of the ground- breaking, visually stunning nature of the NASA SDO images, this exhibit offers an extraordinary opportunity for not only engaging visitors in solar astronomy, but for building appreciation for NASA activities and encouraging interest in STEM fields as well.
In bringing NASA SDO images to an established science museum visited annually by tens of thousands of school children and over a hundred thousand visitors from the general public, the Space Weather exhibit shares "the story, the science and the adventure of NASA's scientific explorations of (the Sun) ...through stimulating and informative activities and experiences created by experts, and delivered effectively and efficiently to learners of many backgrounds via proven conduits..."(NASA ROSES-2011). Chabot's Space Weather exhibit is in thorough alignment with NASA's E/PO vision and with project activity categories in the Informal Education and Outreach portfolio areas of the EPOESS program element of the ROSES-2011 NRA.