Initial Evaluation Results from Bioregional Community Dialogues

This is the web version of the poster (PDF, one page, 2.1 MB), for screen readers and small screens. The text is as printed; charts and pictures are described in words.

Figure. WORLDVIEWS NETWORK www.worldviews.net Description: The Worldviews Network logo, a teal and green swirl of curved petals beside the name, with the web address underneath.

The Worldviews Network is a nationwide collaboration of scientists, artists, and educators developing best practices for using immersive virtual environments to increase ecological literacy using live presentations, interactive scientific visualizations, and community sustainability dialogues.

• Ka Chun Yu, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, kcyu@dmns.org
• Healy Hamilton, University of California, Berkeley, hhealyh@gmail.com
• David McConville, The Elumenati, id@elumenati.com
• Rachel Connolly, NOVA/WGBH, rachel_connolly@wgbh.org
• Ned Gardiner, NOAA Climate Program Office, ned.gardiner@noaa.gov
• Ryan Wyatt, California Academy of Sciences, rwyatt@calacademy.org

Figure. Description: The NOAA logo, a white seabird over a blue circle ringed with the words National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

The Worldviews Network is funded by NOAA NA10SEC0080011 and NA10SEC0080017
Learn more at worldviews.net

SEE / KNOW / DO

1. Background and Goals

• Develop a unique approach to ecological literacy that enables informal science institutions (ISIs) to inspire audiences to visualize, comprehend, and address complex global change issues from a whole systems perspective.
• Train planetarium professionals in Earth systems science and the Seeing-Knowing-Doing approach to ecological literacy education.
  • SEEING : Harness the power of Visual Thinking, using 3D models, time-series satellite observations, and other scientific data to visualize the conditions that support life across cosmic, global, and bioregional scales
  • KNOWING : Utilize the depth of Systems Thinking, creating stories to help audiences comprehend the scientific principles underlying global change phenomena in culturally relevant ways
  • DOING : Engage with the practicality of Design Thinking, empowering ISIs, audiences, and local organizations with dialogue and design processes that lead to informed decisions and appropriate regional solutions.

2. Education Guiding Principles

• Climate literacy principles³
• Earth systems science education recommendations^2,4
• Informal science education recommendations¹
• Planetary boundaries: identifying the “safe operating space for humanity” for different Earth systems⁵
• Bioregional perspectives that connect participants cognitively and affectively with global issues

Figure. Description: The planetary boundaries diagram from Rockström and colleagues (2009): a globe split into ten wedges, with a green inner circle marking the safe operating space and red wedges showing how far each Earth system has gone. The wedges are climate change, ocean acidification, stratospheric ozone depletion, nitrogen cycle and phosphorus cycle (biogeochemical flow boundary), global freshwater use, land system change, biodiversity loss, atmospheric aerosol loading (not yet quantified) and chemical pollution (not yet quantified). The red wedges for biodiversity loss, the nitrogen cycle and climate change reach past the green circle.

3. Technology

• The Worldviews Network uses digital fulldome planetariums that are increasingly prevalent in ISIs and schools (N>1000 worldwide).
• Portable GeoDomes™ are used for outreach and professional development.
• The Uniview visualization platform is employed across our network for showing data at multiple spatial scales using Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) standards to share datasets.
• “Domecast” technology is used to simulcast presentations to partners.

Figure. Description: A grey inflatable portable dome photographed at night, with a blue projected image of Earth visible through its arched entrance.

DIALOGUES

4. Quarterly Bioregional Community Dialogues (BCDs)

• Each partner ISI works with researchers, the private sector, governmental / non-governmental organizations, and community based organizations to develop their own BCD.
• Each ISI develops strategies with their local partners for engaging local audiences with bioregionally relevant narratives.
• Public audiences can attend the BCD locally or remotely via domecasting technology.

Figure. Description: An audience seated in the dark under a planetarium dome, watching a projection of Earth among stars and sweeping translucent bands of light.

• A Global Water Story
  May 17, 2011
  Denver Museum of Nature & Science
  Denver, CO

  Figure. Description: A visualization of Earth seen from space, with small spheres beside it labelled All_Water comparing the planet with the volume of its water.

• Living Maps: From Cosmos to Community
  September 29, 2011
  RENCI / NEMAC
  Asheville, NC
• Valley Oaks: An Ecological Journey through Time
  December 8, 2011
  California Academy of Sciences
  San Francisco, CA

  Figure. Description: A circular fisheye photograph looking up at a large valley oak, with the sun shining through its branches and a fence and fields around it.

• Where Condor Meets Eagle
  March 17, 2012
  Bell Museum & Phillips Indian Educators
  Minneapolis, MN

  Figure. Description: The Milky Way spread across a starry sky, with the edge of Earth rising at the bottom of the picture.

• June 2012: NASA Ames / NASA Goddard
• August 2012: NOAA’s Climate Program Office, Asheville, NC
• October 2012: Exhibit Museum & Planetarium, Ann Arbor, MI
• November 2012: American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY
• March 2013: Journey Museum, Rapid City, SD
• June 2013: RENCI/NEMAC, Asheville, NC
• August 2013: Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Fort Worth, TX
• September 2013: California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, CA

PD & EVALUATION

5. Professional Development

The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) framework is used for all Worldviews Network training activities.

Figure. Description: The TPACK diagram: three overlapping circles for Technological Knowledge (TK), Pedagogical Knowledge (PK) and Content Knowledge (CK), set inside a larger circle labelled Contexts. The overlaps are Technological Pedagogical Knowledge (TPK), Technological Content Knowledge (TCK) and Pedagogical Content Knowledge, and the centre where all three meet is Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK).

Training products are available on the partners’ professional development website, including roadmaps for producing BCDs, instructions for initiating collaborations with CBOs and NGOs, and guidance for incorporating multi-cultural perspectives into presentations.

6. Evaluation

Evaluations include interviews with community partners, external advisors, and production staff. End-audience evaluation is accomplished through written surveys and focus groups to assess the impacts of the dome visualizations on their level of understanding of program content and their reaction to the presentation.

The bar chart shows that most respondents said seeing the information in the dome changed how they understood it.

88% of 104 initial respondents felt that seeing information on the dome helped them to understand it better, with reasons including:

1. The visual nature of the information
2. The perspective and sense of scale possible in the visualization software
3. Being able to see datasets in context with one another as well as the cosmos and Earth as a whole

The bar chart shows that audiences at both Denver and RENCI mostly rated the visualizations 6 or 7, easy or very easy to understand.

When asked what statements were most representative of their experience of the presentation, the top responses were:

1. It made me think about the complex interrelations in Earth systems
2. It helped me to visualize certain concepts of time and scale
3. The dome helped me to understand global processes
4. I felt a sense of how small the Earth is compared to the greater universe

7. Future Steps

We will adopt and adapt the Science Café outreach program⁶ (WGBH/NOVA) as a model for guiding BCD dialogues. These Worldviews Network Design Science Cafés will be developed in partnership with the Buckminster Fuller Institute,⁷ producing a toolkit that addresses the Worldviews Network objectives of engaging local communities in dialogues concerning whole systems design-oriented solutions to local and global challenges.

8. REFERENCES

1. NOAA (2009a). Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Sciences
2. Hoffman & Barstow (2007). Revolutionizing Earth System Science Education for the 21st Century
3. NOAA (2009b). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Education Strategic Plan 2009-2029
4. Bell et al. (Eds.) (2009). Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits.
5. Rockstrom et al. (2009). "A safe operating space for humanity." Nature.
6. www.sciencecafes.org↗ (opens in a new tab)
7. www.bfi.org↗ (opens in a new tab)

Figure. Description: A row of partner logos along the bottom of the poster: NOAA, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, California Academy of Sciences, NOVA, The Elumenati, RENCI at UNC Asheville, UNC Asheville NEMAC (National Environmental Modeling and Analysis Center), American Museum of Natural History, The Journey Museum, NASA, The Minnesota Planetarium Society, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, Exhibit Museum of Natural History Planetarium (University of Michigan), ILI and the Buckminster Fuller Institute.