Improving Earth System Science Literacy Through Fundamental Exhibits

奥兰治县发现科学中心(DSC)正在建设一个致力于提高地球系统科学素养的“动态地球”画廊。这笔赠款用于购买和安装由探索博物馆、展览服务公司开发的三件展品，该公司是全国展品设计的领先者。构造盆地、裂谷带和辫状流旨在教授基本的地球科学概念，让参观者了解另一个展览--球体上的科学--的复杂概念，这是美国国家海洋和大气管理局(NOAA)开发的一个戏剧性的视觉展示。志愿教育人员通过口头和视觉介绍动手活动，向所有类型的学习者提供补充的桌面演示。这种多层次、多方面的方法(A)提高了对70 000多名参加有组织的实地考察的K-12岁以下学生(包括7 000名低收入少数族裔学生参加奖学金)的非正式地球科学教育的质量；(B)通过在现场专业发展讲习班上为1 000名教师充当教学道具，增加在课堂上教授地球科学有关概念的K-12教育工作者的数量和能力；以及(C)向公众宣传地球科学的重要性，并通过每年为超过420 000名所有年龄段的访问者提供服务，提高公众对地球系统科学的认识。项目效果由加州州立大学富勒顿数学与科学教学研究促进中心进行评估，该中心汇集了两所学院和七个系的科学和数学教育专家，以推动数学和科学教育(包括非正规教育)的整个教学领域的研究。

Discovery Science Center of Orange County (DSC) is building a "Dynamic Earth" gallery dedicated to improving Earth systems science literacy. This grant funds the purchase and installation of three exhibits developed by Exploratorium, Exhibits Services, a national leader in exhibit design. Tectonic Basin, Rift Zone, and Braided Stream are designed to teach fundamental Earth science concepts, preparing visitors to understand complex concepts from another exhibit, Science On a Sphere, a dramatic visual display developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Volunteer educators delivering supplementary table-top demonstrations reach learners of all types by verbally and visually presenting hands-on activities. This layered, multi-faceted approach (a) improves the quality of informal geosciences education for over 70,000 K-12 students visiting on structured field trips (including 7,000 low-income, minority students participating on scholarship); (b) increases the number and competency of K-12 educators who teach geosciences-related concepts in their classroom by serving as teaching props for 1,000 teachers in professional development workshops onsite; and (c) communicates the importance of the geosciences to the public and increase public literacy regarding Earth system science by serving more than 420,000 visitors of all ages each year. Project effectiveness is evaluated by California State University-Fullerton's Catalyst Center for the Advancement of Research on Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science, which brings together science and math education experts across two colleges and seven departments to advance research in teaching and learning across the entire spectrum of math and science education, including informal education.