This award supports cooperative research in science education to be carried out by Sally Duensing of the Exploratorium in San Francisco and Maurice Bazin, Director of Espaco Ciencia Viva (Living Science Space) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The focus of this research will be the investigation of significant cross-cultural issues in informal science education, both for the general public and specifically in working with elementary and middle-school teachers. The work will begin with a comparison of the ways exhibits are used as adjunctive teaching materials by museums in different cultural settings. Because of their work with poor communities in Rio, Espaco Ciencia Viva focuses on more socially relevant issues in exhibits and programs. This can have a powerful effect on the differences involved in the communication of science to different cultural groups, a currently vital need in the U.S. as well as in other countries particularly in a time of global concerns about scientific issues. Then, there is the question of how access to modern technology affects the understanding of science and scientific issues and thus affects approaches to teaching. The museums will exchange staff who are actively involved in the creation of exhibits and educational materials and also in teacher education programs. The visits will be scheduled when teaching programs are under way. Participation in these programs will provide the basis for sharing ideas and for making the cross-cultural observations of the differences in teaching science to students and to teachers of very different background levels. Because both institutions have some exhibits in common, the visiting staff will study how teachers use exhibits with similar overall content and function in different contexts. Clearly, each institution will derive new ideas from the other in areas of materials development, science education, teacher training and public awareness of science.
