| NSF Org: |
OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | May 2, 2017 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | May 10, 2022 |
| Award Number: | 1712588 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Elizabeth Rom
elrom@nsf.gov (703)292-7709 OPP Office of Polar Programs (OPP) GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | July 15, 2017 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2023 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $304,414.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $364,873.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
FY 2019 = $60,459.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
4333 BROOKLYN AVE NE SEATTLE WA US 98195-1016 (206)543-4043 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
1013 NE 40th Street Seattle WA US 98105-6698 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Polar Special Initiatives |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.078 |
ABSTRACT
Scientists at the University of Washington's (UW) Polar Science Center and science educators at Pacific Science Center in Seattle, WA will collaborate to create polar science planetarium shows using the new Digitalis projection system in Pacific Science Center's Willard Smith Planetarium. The polar shows will be presented daily at the planetarium, for a total of 700 showings over the course of this project. Polar scientists and graduate students will participate in a course designed to teach skills in public communication of science and then will participate in a smaller number of live presentations of the planetarium shows. Selected polar shows will also be "Domecast" to other planetariums around the country. Researchers will contribute to the study of cognition in the affective realm, looking specifically at how choices made in the presentation style, image selection and content can result in emotional engagement of the viewer and increased interest in the content.
The content for the shows will consist of two parts: (1) general material about the polar regions, made suitable for elementary school children in grades 3-5, and (2) material derived from active research projects, made suitable for general audiences. The proposed activities are meant to inspire greater interest, appreciation, and enjoyment of science; stimulate students to consider careers in STEM fields; inform the public about NSF's contribution to polar science; impart an awareness of the Earth's polar-regions and their role in global climate; and increase participating scientists' comfort and ability to communicate with public audiences. Evaluations will determine the impact of these planetarium shows on the engagement of the public with the polar sciences.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
This project – Engaging Students and the Public in Polar Research through Live Interactive Planetarium Shows – was a collaboration between Seattle’s Pacific Science Center and the University of Washington’s Polar Science Center.
We created a polar science show called Earth: Pole to Pole for Pacific Science Center’s planetarium. The show is presented live by the planetarium operator, who can guide the show in response to audience interest. The general content of the show answers the questions: Where is the Arctic, where is the Antarctic, why are they cold, and how are they similar or different from each other? What is sea ice and what is glacial ice? How do they change over the course of a year, and over the course of the last few decades? Why do the polar regions matter to the global climate?
For certain shows, the planetarium operator was accompanied by a polar scientist who presented her/his research project at the end of the show. The polar scientists who participated in this program were trained through Pacific Science Center’s Science Communication Short Course in how to communicate science effectively to general audiences.
We collected questionnaires from audience members to find out what they had learned, what they had liked or not liked, and how we could improve the show. The responses were analyzed by a professional evaluator and by a graduate student in the UW College of Education.
In February 2020, with supplemental funding from NSF, we convened a workshop at Pacific Science Center for 13 planetarium operators from around the U.S. for the purpose of teaching them how to run Earth: Pole to Pole in their own institutions’ planetariums, and how to involve local scientists by training them in science communication.
By March 2020 we had presented Earth: Pole to Pole about 500 times to about 14,000 visitors. We had also trained 13 polar scientists through the Science Communication Short Course, and those scientists had presented their research in the planetarium shows. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of Pacific Science Center and all science museums around the country. For the next two years we put our project on hold. In July 2022, when Pacific Science Center re-opened for in-person visits, we resumed the project by preparing for future showings of Earth: Pole to Pole and by delivering other educational programs about the polar regions to children and families. Those programs included:
Polar Science Day. This one-day event (December 3, 2022) at Pacific Science Center featured six hands-on activities about polar science, a presentation by the chief scientist of a recent expedition to the Arctic Ocean, and several showings of the IMAX movie The Arctic: Our Last Great Wilderness.
Float Your Boat. In May 2023, in partnership with the International Arctic Buoy Program and the U.S. Coast Guard, 81 campers at Pacific Science Center learned about the circulation of the Arctic Ocean as they decorated 6-inch-long wooden boats that were later taken to the Arctic aboard research vessels and set adrift on the sea ice. Previously deployed wooden boats have been found in Iceland, Greenland, and Scotland. See www.floatboat.org.
Science and a Movie. On May 25 and 27, 2023, two scientists from the Polar Science Center gave presentations and answered questions in connection with showings of the IMAX movie Arctic: Our Frozen Planet at Pacific Science Center. One of the scientists, a biologist who studies polar bears, was featured in the movie.
Polar Predictions. In this Virtual Field Trip through Pacific Science Center, students plot real sea-ice data and make predictions about its future extent. The content of the lesson is aligned with formal learning standards for grades 3-8. The program will be bookable for school groups starting this fall. Delivery time is 40 minutes.
Intellectual merit
(1) Planetariums typically focus on astronomical content; our show focuses on the Earth’s polar regions and their importance in the global climate.
(2) The graduate student in the UW College of Education who analyzed the audience questionnaires has written up his results, which will be published in the September 2023 issue of the journal Planetarian.
Broader impacts
(1) Increased public awareness of the polar regions and what polar scientists do.
(2) Improved science communication skills of polar scientists.
(3) Planetarium show Earth: Pole to Pole will continue to be presented beyond the grant period.
(4) Virtual field trip Polar Predictions will debut in fall 2023.
Publications and conference presentations
* Article to be published in Planetarian, September 2023.
* Article in Oceanography, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5670/oceanog.2022.102.
* Oral presentation at American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, Dec 2022, Chicago.
* Oral presentation at Western Educational Research Association meeting, Dec 2019, Seattle.
* Poster presentation at Western Museums Association meeting, Oct 2019, Boise, ID.
* Oral presentation at Live Interactive Planetarium Symposium, Aug 2019, Garden City, NY.
Last Modified: 08/31/2023
Modified by: Harry L Stern
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