PI: kirk johnson/colorado museum of natural history, the methods of increasing awareness of comparative planetology and climate science with science on a sphere in museum settings summary: the…

PI: kirk johnson/colorado museum of natural history, the methods of increasing awareness of comparative planetology and climate science with science on a sphere in museum settings summary: the denver museum of nature & science (DMNS) proposes to acquire and install science on a sphere (SOS). Utilizing one unique combination of scientific expertise in planetary science and spacecraft exploration, along with our considerable experience in digital media development, informal science education, exhibit design, educational research, and museum evaluation, we will: (1) develop visually exciting and compelling SOS programming on comparative planetology and climate science using NASA mission data; (2) test different modes of presentation of SOS to determine how this technology can be best utilized in informal science contexts; (3) begin a preliminary investigation into how visitors perceive and understand scientific data presented on SOS; and (4) create teacher professional development workshops to reach K-12 formal educators both locally and nationally. Our objectives in pursuing these goals are to: (1) boost literacy in climate science, (2) build awareness of NASA's space science missions and the relevance of NASA earth observing satellites to contemporary issues of global change, and (3) provide new knowledge of the effectiveness of different modes of employing these innovative, rapidly proliferating, visually compelling but inadequately tested display systems. Our target audience will include DMNS visitors, middle and high school science teachers, school groups participating in earth systems and environmental education classes at DMNS, and the community of informal science educators interested in best practices of using SOS to teach about earth and planetary science. The demographics of the urban school districts in the denver metro area mean that a sizeable fraction of the more than T million visitors and school classes impacted by this program will belong to underrepresented groups. We will widely disscminate our research results at scveral phascs of this work. Our NCW programming for SOS along with ancillary educational materials will be made available to the growing network of institutions using SOS.