A Self-supporting Science Exhibition to Serve Rural Communities.

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

The Pacific Science Center will design, circulate, and evaluate a major travelling science outreach exhibition and accompanying program, Science Carnival, designed to reach rural populations not easily served by urban science museums. A 3,000 square foot exhibition on basic science topics combined with public demonstration programs and teacher training activities in science will travel to 15 sites throughout Washington, Idaho, and Montana during a three year period, reaching more than 500,000 people with limited access to science museums and to modern science education methods. The traveling museum will be designed to work within communities as small as 10,000 population, and will fit into many different facilities, ranging from schools to county fairs and exposition centers. A special effort will be made to insure the participation of Native American, Hispanic, and Black minority families from the communities the exhibit will reach. The majority of operating expenses will be covered by earned income, insuring the long term viability of the program. A variety of evaluation activities will monitor the success of the project and determine both marketing opportunities and educational impacts of the visit to each community. Following its successful demonstration, the Pacific Science Center will share essential planning information with science museums nationwide and hold a dissemination conference for interested museum staff. Overall, more than $2.0 million in local support and earned income will be added to this NSF award.//