MY HOME, PLANET EARTH

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DESCRIPTION (Adapted from the applicants abstract): The Children's Museum of Houston (CMH) and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) propose to create and travel a museum exhibit on children's environmental health for a target audience of children 5-10, their parents, caregivers and teachers. The proposed Phase I and II exhibit and support programs project, My Home Planet Earth (MHPE), will be based on the NIH-funded, interdisciplinary My Health My World educational program developed at BCM and disseminated nationally. The aims of the project are to: (1) expand understanding by children (ages 5-10) and their caregivers of the health consequences of human-induced changes in the environment and increase their abilities to make healthful decisions through informal self-directed activities in a museum setting; (2) encourage linkages between formal and informal education settings by providing a model for connecting classroom-based curricula to museum-based exhibits and informal learning programs, based on the My Health My World educational materials and the My Home Planet Earth exhibit and support programs; (3) help parents provide additional environmental health-related informal learning experiences for their children, and promote awareness of science and health careers; and (4) Partner scientists and educators in the creation of a model environmental health sciences exhibit and support program for the field of family-centered informal learning that will encourage the development of additional traveling and long-term exhibits and programs on topics relevant to environmental health issues. The exhibit and support programs will visit 18 youth museums, science centers and health museums over six years of travel (four years beyond requested NIH support). An estimated 1.5 million visitors will participate in the project. In addition to these visitors, 1,000 families will participate in a MHPE Family Learning Event, 9,000 teachers will be introduced to the My Health My World curriculum-360 of whom will participate in a day long MHMW workshop, 36 scientists will partner with host museums to enhance the learning and community impact of the project, and 180,000 children will visit the exhibit during a school field experience. Special efforts will be made to facilitate museum attendance by under represented minority students and their families through contractual agreements with host sites, the use of bilingual Spanish- English signage and printed materials and links to local schools.