SciSpotlight: NYSCI News Digest

Animals are a part of our daily lives. Whether you wake up to see your dog holding his leash in his mouth, hear birds chirping outside your window, or have a squirrel steal a bite of your food when you’re not looking, you share your space with animals. But do animals think, or are they governed only by instinct? 

A new exhibition exploring this question is currently being developed by a team of experts headed by NYSCI’s science interpretation consultant, Martin Weiss. Dr. Weiss helped create the NYSCI traveling exhibitions Charlie and Kiwi’s Evolutionary Adventure and Molecules & Health … The Shape of Science. Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the new animal cognition exhibition, titled Wild Minds – What Animals Really Think, will premiere at NYSCI and the Staten Island Zoo in October. It will then tour the country with stops planned in Oregon, California, Indiana and Ohio.

Creating Wild Minds has been a large undertaking, involving many people and institutions. The project’s development team includes Diana Reiss from Hunter College’s Department of Psychology, who is best known for her work on mirror self-recognition among dolphins and elephants; and John Fraser, a conservation psychologist and educator currently serving as Director of the Institute for Learning Innovation’s New York office. Partner institutions include the Staten Island Zoo, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, the Oregon Zoo, the California Science Center, Santa Barbara Zoo, Science Central, Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo, COSI (Center of Science and Industry), and the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium.

Programming planned for Wild Minds will include NYSCI-style hands-on, do-it-yourself activities that you can try with animals in and around your home. What do you think your pet will think of that?

Studying E-Books at the New York Hall of Science by Zachary Levine | Jul 18, 2011, published in The Cooney Center Blog.

Just over a week ago, I had the pleasure of assisting members of the Cooney Center staff in a two-day research study at the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI) in Queens, NY. The study, conducted in corroboration with NYSCI, focused on the interaction between children (ages 3-5) and their caregivers when reading two different science books: one regular book and one on the iPad. Would the iPad serve as a distraction to children or would it actually promote as much parent-child conversation and interaction as the print book?

In order to answer these important questions, the children and their caregivers were asked a series of questions after each book was finished as well as at the end of the session. In theory, the research study seemed like a fantastic idea but you can never be certain until you try it out in the field. So, off we went to Queens. When we arrived at NYSCI for the study, Dr. David Kanter, who is founding director of SciPlay, warmly welcomed us. (SciPlay, formally known as The Sara Lee Schupf Family Center for Play, Science, and Technology Learning, was launched in 2010 as a design and research center fpr teaching children about science through play.) He then brought us to the Preschool Place, where we would be conducting our study. I was assigned the job of recruiting and signing up families for the study—a worthy job for a first time researcher! As families starting pouring into the museum I thought that recruiting would be a piece of cake. Boy was I wrong!

The main problem seemed to be that both the parents and their children didn’t want to sit down and read two books. They either didn’t have enough time or the kids refused. After all, a science museum with cool gadgets and a mini golf course is kind of hard to compete with! Nevertheless, once I got people to sign up for the study, everything went pretty smoothly thanks to the Cooney Center’s great research staff. Of course, a few families walked out in the middle of the study because their child couldn’t sit still, but overall, most families were very cooperative. In addition, I found that this type of research really excited a lot of families and many even asked us to put them on our mailing list so that they could see the study when it was finished. In the coming weeks we will be reviewing the results of the study and I think they will be quite fascinating. We hope to share them soon! I want to give a special thanks to Dr. David Kanter, Alice Stevenson, and the staff at the New York Hall of Science for their help at the museum. It was truly the perfect setup.

Zachary Levine is an intern with the Joan Ganz Cooney Center this summer. He is a rising sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is studying international relations. In summer 2010, he worked at E-line Media as a playtester for Gamestar Mechanic and during the Spring 2011 semester, he worked at the Morgridge Institute for Research as a playtester for a newly released iPad game called Virulent.

When you think of a coach, images of push-ups and laps around the track may come to mind. At NYSCI, our coach doesn’t carry a whistle or make you do jumping jacks, but she will help you think differently about science.

Jasmine Maldonado has been a Science Coach Specialist at NYSCI since 2007. She provides teachers with different approaches for their science lessons.

“The NYSCI approach is more hands-on and inquiry-based as opposed to just teaching out of a textbook,” says Jasmine. “We encourage teachers to ask their students questions that require explanations, not just yes or no answers.”

As a Science Coach Specialist, Jasmine is an integral contributor to The Partnership for Inner-City Education, which works to improve science education at Catholic schools in New York City. Jasmine visits schools new to the program on a weekly basis and checks on existing schools on a biweekly basis.

Since it’s start in 2007, the program has worked with approximately 100 teachers and 3,000 students. Participating schools have seen increased use of the school’s science labs, an increase in hands-on and inquiry-based science teaching across the grades, increased student participation in regional science and technology competitions, and improved state science exam scores.

Interest in the program is high. Two more schools were just added to the program during the 2010 – 2011 school year, with more expected next year. Due to demand, NYSCI is hoping to expand by bringing on another Science Coach Specialist. 

In a study looking at the efficacy of the coaching model, The Partnership for Inner-City Education stated:

“NYSCI’s work with our schools has transformed the way science is being taught. Students are so engaged during and inspired by their science classes that they are dreaming about pursuing careers in science. The teachers are highly motivated by the children’s enthusiasm and want to continue to expand their knowledge in this subject.” 

Now, go run another lap around the microscope.

This Saturday, July 16, we’ll be celebrating NYSCI’s first Dragon Boat Family Day.

Learn about dragon boats, test your strength and race on rowing machines, experience traditional Chinese dances including a Lion Dance, watch kung fu masters perform Chinese martial arts, and decorate a lion mask to take home.

A 40-foot-long dragon boat will be on display. This dragon boat will be participating in the boat races of the annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Dragon Boat competitors from all over the North East coast will be manning these ”ergometer” machines that have been modified to have paddles, and are hooked up to large display screens so visitors can race against each other.

For the full schedule click here.

Presented by NYSCI and the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in New York. This program is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Sciences.

Via Amazon:

Charlie and Kiwi: An Evolutionary Adventure

Is that a bird?

Where are its big, feathery wings?

Why does it have whiskers like a cat?

A kiwi can’t be a bird, can it?

The answer, Charlie learns is simply evolutionary.

Presented by Peter Reynolds and FableVision and supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, this is an easy to understand scientific adventure. Charlie and Kiwi (with help from great, great, great, great, great Grandpa Charles Darwin) take you on a journey through time and through a huge scientific principle. The story of evolution—and that strange little Kiwi bird—reminds us that sometimes what seems like a raw deal (a bird that can’t fly) turns out to be just perfect!

The New York Hall of Science is New York’s hands-on science and technology center. They promote science and technology as important tools that help us understand ourselves and the world we live in.

Visit the exhibit behind the book, Charlie & Kiwi’s Evolutionary Adventure in person or online http://www.nysci.org/explore/ontour/charlieandkiwi.

FableVision is an award-winning children’s media developer and book packager founded by Peter and Paul Reynolds. 

Peter H. Reynolds is the bestselling author and illustrator of The Dot and Ish and illustrator for the New York Times #1 bestseller Someday by Alison McGhee. He is also the illustrator of Little Boy, Charlie and Kiwi and the Judy Moody series. He lives in Dedham, Mass. where he is co-owner of the Blue Bunny bookstore. Visit Peter online at peterhreynolds.com.

This week at the International Society for Technology in Education
(ISTE) annual conference in Philadelphia, a team of NYSCI Explainers and Interns presented the Virtual Hall of Science (VHOS) at the student showcase. VHOS is a virtual science center curated by NYSCI’s Instructors, Explainers and collaborating middle school students from our neighboring schools.   

Teachers from the United States, Mexico, China and Japan expressed interest in learning more about VHOS and are eager to connect with NYSCI in this new medium. We are already planning our presentation for next year’s ISTE conference in San Diego. 

Congratulations to Valeria, Charisse, Lauren and Alexious. Their great work is already being recognized. Lauren’s VHOS exhibit on renewable energy, earned her an invitation to mentor high school students in a technology program at Rutgers University. And the entire team was invited to attend the Science Online conference in North Carolina this coming January. 

A research center connected with Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization behind Sesame Street, has partnered with NYSCI to study differences in learning between e-books and traditional print books.

Researchers from the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop arrived at NYSCI yesterday to conduct the first day of their research with young visitors in Preschool Place. Studies will also be conducted on Friday and Saturday.

The research focuses on science books for children ages 3-5 and uses both traditional print and iPad platforms. The NYSCI-based studies comprise the first piece of a three-part R&D project driven by the following questions:

• How does the co-reading experience differ on print and electronic platforms?
• What implications do these differences have for science learning?
• How can e-books be designed to maximize parent-child interactions?

The research at NYSCI examines the design of print and electronic science books. Design elements that are found to support parent-child interactions and child comprehension will be used in prototypes for the second phase of the study. The third and phase consists of the creation of an e-book maximizing parent-child engagement.

The collaboration between NYSCI and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center is undertaken by NYSCI’s Sara Lee Schupf Family Center for Play, Science, and Technology Learning (SciPlay). SciPlay was launched last September to build a national center of expertise in play-based learning. SciPlay researchers investigate how people of all ages can learn science, technology, engineering and math through play.

Collaborations with researchers such as those at the Joan Ganz Cooney Center play an important part of how SciPlay studies how to transform play into lifelong science learning.

More than 30 parent-child pairs will be recruited to participate in the first phase of this project. Cookies will not be provided.

This summer NYSCI unveils NYSCI Neighbors, a new membership category available to residents of our 11368 zip code. NYSCI Neighbors combats summer learning loss by providing families with unlimited access to NYSCI, along with a suite of resources including a guided orientation to NYSCI’s exhibits and programs, a reading list for the Science Technology Library, and a Field Journal to guide and document summer learning experiences at NYSCI.  

In partnership with local schools, parent-teacher associations, and parent coordinators, NYSCI Neighbors deepens our connection with local families, excites parents and children about out-of-school learning, and positively influences how science—and NYSCI—are perceived in our community.

Josett Pacheco, Parent Coordinator at PS 19 in Corona says,

“Our parent community is very excited about the opportunity to participate in this program for the upcoming summer. Due to many budget cuts in our schools and community programs, something like this could not have come at a better time.”

The multilingual orientation sessions and printed resources will address language and access barriers, and the field journals give students an opportunity to demonstrate their learning and encourage them to think of NYSCI as a fun destination within their community.

Local businesses are also offering prizes to students. Junior Scientists of the Week will be able to win free ices from the Lemon Ice King of Corona, get a behind-the-scenes lesson in tortilla making at Tortilleria Nixtamal, explore the Queens Museum of Art, and more.

For decades, parents and educators have recognized the challenge of “summer learning loss”, a phenomenon where students lose from one to three months of learning progress during summer months. NYSCI Neighbors will keep students and their families engaged with fun and learning during school vacation months and also introduce NYSCI to new audiences, who will hopefully become year-round visitors. At the end of the summer, participants will be able to apply their NYSCI Neighbor status to an upgraded annual membership

.

While focused on Corona in this inaugural year, NYSCI intends to expand the NYSCI Neighbors program beyond our immediate community next year.

The only way to spend a weekend of DIY & Mayhem at the original World’s Fair site: Get your tickets for World Maker Faire New York, September 17 - 18, HERE!

With a little help from technology, people can see better, run faster, and do things more efficiently. NYSCI is currently working on an exhibition that will explore the user-focused engineering process that’s used to design products that enhance people’s abilities, from sneakers to eyeglasses, to wheelchairs and prosthetics. The exhibition, called Human+ (“Human Plus”), is a collaboration with the Quality of Life Technology Center (QoLT) and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). The end user figures prominently in building assisted technology products, so engineers have to consider the user at every stage of design. It is this process of asking, imagining, creating and testing that the exhibition will investigate.

Human+ won’t open until 2013, but NYSCI staff are already hard at work identifying projects to test with visitors. Working with a group of advisors that includes academics, engineers, and people with disabilities, NYSCI staff are searching for stories and projects that will capture the attention of museum visitors. A “soft-touch” robotic arm, a wheelchair with a snowplow attached, and prosthetic legs designed for running are some of the projects under consideration.

The exhibition’s main messages will include:

• Engineering is a creative process that can design technologies to meet human needs and improve people’s lives.
• Everyone can design something that helps people use their abilities to achieve their goals.
• Users should be central to the design process.
• Whether it’s sneakers or eyeglasses, or wheelchairs or prosthetics, everyone uses technology to accomplish things.

Opening in fall 2013 at NYSCI, Human+ will include examples of assisted technology projects, narratives from people with disabilities about how they have modified or designed technology to help them reach their goals, and stations where visitors can design and build products of their own.

NYSCI educators will be testing three educational games this June and July. Produced by SciPlay, NYSCI’s Sara Lee Schupf Family Center for Play, Science, and Technology Learning, the games will be prototyped with middle school students, and will eventually be adapted for use in NYSCI’s Science Playground.

The goal of the games is to have the students use experimentation to understand science concepts such as rotational and linear motion, force, velocity, friction, and kinetic and potential energy. In the Rotational Motion Game, kids explore circular motion by moving a small bowling ball in a circle using a mallet, while a camera and projector track and display the ball’s path. In the Cart Activity Game, students are challenged to create either constant velocity or acceleration by pushing a cart on a linear track. In the Slide Game, light sensors positioned at the top and bottom of a playground slide help calculate each student’s speed down the slide, allowing participants to investigate friction, and kinetic and potential energy.

The three games are part of research about playful learning that is at the core of SciPlay. SciPlay aims to create hands-on experiences that instill an understanding of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The activities created as a result of prototyping sessions and other research at SciPlay will be adapted for use in classrooms and playgrounds throughout the country.

The Design Lab, a project of NYSCI’s Verizon Center for STEM Learning, was profiled in the May 12 edition of Education Daily, a national publication for education professionals and policymakers. Dorothy Bennett, NYSCI’s director of design-based learning in schools, described the Design Lab as “a place where teachers can think outside the box and take some risks” with a goal of getting students engaged with science “in a kinesthetic way.”

Twenty Design Lab Fellows are working now through the summer on developing a suite of educational resources that will be available to teachers beginning in the 2011 – 2012 school year. A second class of Fellows will begin work in the fall.

“I learned to embrace the chaos and let the kids have fun,” says Brett Murphy, a student at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. 

Learning to love the chaos resulted from a day of prototyping at NYSCI for Brett’s thesis project, SoundStage. 

SoundStage is an ambisonic surround sound mixer. By moving objects around the table, users can pan audio around the room and immerse themselves within a soundscape of their own creation.

In collaboration with SciPlay, Brett introduced SoundStage to NYSCI visitors, giving kids and parents an opportunity to put his prototype through its paces.

The outcome? SoundStage has potential for immersive storytelling with older kids. But for preschoolers, what Brett ultimately discovered is that SoundStage creates an environment for a unique sonic experience that leverages kids’ innate curiosity and tendency to play.

See video from the prototyping on Brett’s Vimeo page. 

The New York Times featured NYSCI’s Science Playground in an April 15 article about the most extraordinary play spaces in New York City. And the April 23 edition of the Times quoted both Margaret Honey and Maker Faire’s Dale Dougherty in an article about online instructions for do-it-yourself kits.

NYSCI’s Chris Lawrence checks in to recap last week’s My Carbon Footprint 3D Design Jam… 

To mark Earth Day, NYSCI teamed up with the New Youth City Learning Network, The Mozilla Foundation, The MacArthur Foundation, Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors and the National Science Foundation for the first annual Earth Day My Carbon Footprint 3D Design Jam.

Seventy-five tweens, teens, adults, NYSCI Instructors, and Explainers got together to experiment, play, design and yes hack the Virtual Hall of Science, various websites, digital photographs and even good ‘ole markers on paper. 

Like a music jam, Design Jam participants worked on many different kinds of projects and then riffed off of each other to produce a collaborative online 3D exhibition space. 

Here is a recap from NYCLN’s Creative Director, Jessica Klein

Mozilla’s Matt Thompson weighs in here

Here is the Hackasaurus blog that houses both the above and additional stories on Mozilla’s Hackasaurus project.

Huge thank-yous and congratulations to the team at NYSCI and all our partners for helping make the Jam a reality. Great kickoff to My Carbon Footprint! 

The future is clear, bright and green: NYSCI is taking a unique approach in exhibiting the Earth’s health: Nick Hirshon’s article on NYSCI’s plans for our 50th Anniversary exhibit in The Great Hall: 

Hall of Science sees future: $2M award opens way for 2014 exhibit

Nearly a half century ago, the Hall of Science opened at the 1964 World’s Fair with exhibits on “recent and imminent advances” in space exploration, a key issue in the Cold War era.

Now, as the museum plans for its 50th anniversary in 2014, hall officials are focusing on what they believe is today’s most pressing scientific challenge.

“It’s the well-being of the mother ship, of planet Earth,” said museum President Margaret Honey.

The exhibit is part of a slate of programs and smart phone apps the museum is creating on the global nature of science thanks to a $2 million award from Google.

The display, which is still being fleshed out, will cover “powerful predictors” of a person’s well-being, which often depends on where he lives, Honey said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2011/04/26/2011-04-26_hall_of_science_sees_future_2m_award_opens_way_for_2014_exhibit.html#ixzz1KdohzIly

Today, NYSCI unveiled a new project to boost climate change education in New York City schools. 

The two-year project, funded with a grant from Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, is called My Carbon Footprint.  It will result in a new set of educator resources as well as a series of student-produced exhibits for the online Virtual Hall of Science, where NYSCI is exploring the educational potential of virtual environments.

Students will gain experience designing for both digital and real environments, collaborating through social networks, and practicing basic 3D modeling, while helping to develop a climate change curriculum that will roll-out in NYC classrooms in Fall 2011. 

My Carbon Footprint is presented by Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors: Know The Number

Read the press release here.