Environmental Literacy on the Web Carrie McDougall Office of Education NOAA WebShop November 2007

We’re using the web to… Enhance the incorporation of NOAA science into the classroom and other educational venues The web: a tool to deliver education products Education.noaa.gov redesign Online education resources database Virtual worlds Science On a Sphere Web casting

A “one-NOAA” effort Environmental literacy spans across NOAA programs Most education users seek information on topics--not along NOAA’s program/office structure Weather & Water Commerce & Transportation Climate Ecosystems

Education.noaa.gov redesign Redesign site that primarily serves external audiences Offer a one-NOAA collection of resources sought by these audiences –Lesson plans –Grant/funding opportunities –Student scholarship information –Program descriptions –Science resources to bring recent research and real-time data into the classroom

Searchable database of online lesson plans Organization will be primarily by topic/theme, but searchable by several other parameters Metadata alignment with other external sites Online education resources database Education Materials by Theme NOAA Education Programs For Educators and Students Opportunities Ocean Literacy Office of Education Governance NOAA Education Activities About HomeEducation MaterialsCalendarDisclaimer NOAA themes for example NOAA Office of Education Weather Ocean Satellites Fisheries Climate Research Coasts Charting & Navigation Ordering Searching Weather Climate Ocean Coasts Research Types of materials include: Select education materials by theme. Posters Activity Books Learning Modules Objects Each should have a brief description of the category of materials Fisheries Satellites Charting & Navigation Lesson Plans

Process for collaboration Both of these efforts involve extensive collaboration with several programs within NOAA Ed Council is the primary forum: broad representation across NOAA, field and HQ Why participate? Programs want to maximize the use of their products by their intended audience and being part of a one- NOAA site helps to do this Educators/site users seek information on Earth system science and how topics interrelate How do we collaborate? Monthly meetings of the Ed Council 2-day workshop to create basic site architecture Metadata working group

Support for similar efforts This effort is funded by discretionary funds provided by Congress for NOAA’s education initiative Education Mini-Grants Purpose: to support projects that build education capacity across NOAA. FY08 Mini-Grants will focus on regional priorities. Grants are made to NOAA entities and typically range $50K-$100K. We plan to make up to $500,000 available for all projects. Required: coordination with the Regional Education Coordinator. Each region may submit up to five proposals to the national review panel. Tentative deadline for submission of proposals to RECs: Jan 31, 2008 More information will be posted at

Exploring new technologies: Virtual Worlds A new tool that offers great potential for bringing NOAA’s products and services to audiences in a new way OEd has helped to fund the further development of NOAA’s virtual world We are interested in understanding how educators could use this relatively new technology in classrooms or in a museum setting

Exploring new technologies: SOS OEd funded 11 museums and science centers to create permanent public exhibits around Science On a Sphere Collaborating network--17 participating institutions reaching 11M people/year These museum partners see the power of SOS to bring real and current science into venues where the public seeks science information

Exploring new technologies: SOS Networking the Spheres To enhance our ability to use SOS to bring real science to the public, the SOS team, in Boulder, CO is developing a method of linking all of the spheres in the collaborative network together –The scientists/lecturer controls networked spheres all over the country –Web broadcast of lecture

Conclusions We are very interested in new technologies and how we might use them to enhance the use of NOAA science by educators and the general public We collaborate with several NOAA programs to create one- NOAA products to best serve our audiences’ needs by integrating all that NOAA has to offer in one place We would like to hear your ideas for other ways we can achieve these goals Thanks! Carrie McDougall Office of Education

Back-up Slides

Museum Partners The Office of Education has funded installation of 11 SOS in science centers and museums Locations (Current & Pending) Bishop Museum, Honolulu, HI Imiloa Astronomy Center of Hawaii, Hilo, HI Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN Maryland Science Center, Baltimore, MD The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, CA NASA Goddard Space Flight Ctr, Greenbelt, MD Nauticus, Norfolk, VA Great Lakes Maritime Center, Alpena, MI McWane Science Center, Birmingham, AL Fiske Planetarium, Boulder, CO Orlando Science Center, Orlando, FL Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY National Sever Storms Laboratory, Norman, OK Lawrence Hall of Science, Berkeley, CA National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico, Mobile, AL Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC Reaching ~11M visitors a year

Where we’re headed… Utilize the expertise of the SOS network to develop an understanding of how to create content that is scientifically rigorous, visually stunning, and comprehensible to the general public –Funding Opportunity Create content that is useable in many different display technologies ID Best practices for using this technology Improve our understanding of how these types of technologies impact learning about the Earth (evaluation across network) Enable museums, science centers, and aquariums to become Earth System Science providers with the most cutting edge technology and content Maximize the impact this technology can have on science education and creating an informed society that understands the interconnectedness of our planet and the interdependency of the planets’ ecosystems.

Online education resources database The general public Data & information Data collection Analysis Scientific Expertise Context & Annotation Audience-appropriate presentation Mass dissemination Collect Feedback from audience Areas of Expertise Trusted provider of science information 30% of U.S. survey respondents said they had visited such a museum in the last 12 months, compared with 16% of Europeans, 13% of Japanese, 14% of Chinese.

Photo credit: Hampton University Power to present Earth System Science in a way that captivates viewers…