Great lakes science center (glsc) and NASA glenn research center (GRC) are dedicated to sharing NASA content to inform, engage, and inspire students, educators, and the public. To further this goal,…

Great lakes science center (glsc) and NASA glenn research center (GRC) are dedicated to sharing NASA content to inform, engage, and inspire students, educators, and the public. To further this goal, glsc and GRC will partner to create digital experiences showcasing existing NASA content for the NASA glenn visitor center (ngvc) at glsc and for use in GRC s six-state educational region. For use in the ngvc, glsc with assistance from GRC will develop a digital experience called mission to stem. This initiative will create digital and interactive content to enhance important GRC artifacts on display in the visitor center. These missions will focus on collaboration and teamwork, and emphasize the benefits of a systems approach or the process of understanding how things, regarded as systems, influence one another within the whole. Visitors will embark on an exciting mission of discovery, working in teams to collect real data from NASA objects and experiences. Mobile devices will become scientific tools as students, teachers, and families take measurements, access interviews with NASA scientists, analyze results from GRC test facilities, and link to NASA resources in real time to assemble mission-critical information. Meanwhile, to expand reach outside of the ngvc footprint, GRC will highlight the multidisciplinary nature of research at their northeast ohio site, demonstrating systems thinking in a real setting. The educational programs office at GRC will create a touch- screen application and supporting mobile tablet lab that presents an interactive, virtual tour of GRC s campuses at lewis field and plum brook station. GRC has core research competencies critical to the success of many NASA missions and which represent a major contribution to our nation s scientific research base. GRC s interactive digital tour will share facts, statistics, and capabilities of key GRC research facilities through video clips and interactive content, sharing the GRC experience with diverse audiences across the GRC six-state region and beyond through its use in outreach events. Wireless access, digital media and smart technology are fundamentally changing the way teaching and learning occurs today. As glsc and GRC adapt to the changing landscape, these digital experiences will meet the following three goals: 1. Audiences will experience excitement, interest and motivation to learn about space exploration; 2. Visitors will generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations; 3. Glsc and GRC will share the important research of GRC with the general public. Glsc will also partner with lifelong learning group (LLG) at the center of research & evaluation @ cosi. LLG specializes in evaluating data and recommending strategies to help informal learning organizations better serve lifelong learners. Their expertise in this area is crucial to evaluating the process toward meeting the project s objectives, and in guiding the development of the digital layer through front-end evaluation, concept, usability and pilot testing of the technology, and summative evaluation. Together, these initiatives will provide experiences that demonstrate how knowledge and practice can be intertwined, a concept at the core of the next generation science standards. Glsc s digital missions will engage students and families in stem topics through the excitement of space exploration, and GRC s interactive digital tour will showcase the facilities in operation in ways that cannot be done in typical on-site tours. In addition, this project has the potential to inform the design of future networked visitor experiences in science centers, museums and other visitor attractions.