The NOVA/WGBH Science Unit will produce a second season of the popular PBS multimedia project, Making Stuff, hosted by The New York Times technology columnist David Pogue. The project follows on the heels of the successful first season, which reached over 14.5 million people, and took the discipline of materials science--a topic that most people rarely think about even though it impacts them every day--and turned it into a highly visible public television event with broad appeal. For the second season, the series content will be expanded to cover not only materials science but also a broader range of STEM topics, including technology and engineering, with an emphasis on innovation. In addition to reaching a large general audience, the project is being designed this season to target new audiences--specifically, underserved teens and college students--thanks to anticipated new partnerships with organizations such as the New York Hall of Science, UC Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science, the National Science Foundation Quality of Life Technology Engineering Research Center, and the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net). Professional organizations, such as the Materials Research Society, IEEE, Alpha Sigma Mu, and the National Engineers Week Foundation, among others, will also provide support.
The centerpiece of the project is a four-part PBS miniseries that will take Pogue and his viewers on a fast-paced odyssey from labs to factory floors, from cities to remote landscapes--in search of the remarkable work coming from multiple fields that is making stuff Colder, Faster, Wilder and Safer. The broadcast series is accompanied by an extensive outreach campaign that expands the coalition of partners from the first season to create a national "community of practice." These new partnerships will be dedicated to increasing public engagement around engineering and innovation through outreach activities, events and science cafes, as well as professional development webinars and educational resources for informal and formal science educators. The project also includes robust digital content and an active social media presence for general audiences. Through these various project components, Making Stuff will show the importance of basic science research and the transformative process by which it yields discoveries and inventions that affect our lives. Evaluation will be conducted by Concord Evaluation Group to determine how successful the project is in achieving its intended impacts.
The project goals are: 1) to increase public understanding that basic research leads to technological innovation; 2) to increase and sustain public awareness and excitement about innovation and its impact on society; and 3) to establish a community of practice that enhances the frequency and quality of collaboration among STEM researchers and informal educators. The second season of Making Stuff is designed to capture the excitement of discoveries at the frontiers of research while making the underlying science accessible to a wide audience
