Sea Studios Foundation will extend the Strange Days on Planet Earth multimedia initiative to raise public science literacy on pressing environmental issues. Based on pioneering Earth System Science research, Phase Two will be a media and outreach project focused on the ocean and water issues. The goal of the project is to increase public awareness and understanding of the scope and scale of key issues affecting the ocean. At the core of the project is a four part television documentary series for PBS primetime entitled Strange Days, Ocean. The programs will concentrate on four content areas: overexploitation of ocean resources, pollution, coastal development, climate change and the role of the ocean in Earth's system. Each episode is structured around a compelling scientific questions designed to engage the audience in a search for answers based on the most current research from the varied Earth System Science disciplines. The series focuses on explaining how scientists come to know what they know. The series will be complemented by activity-based learning supported by a national consortium of informal learning institutions, a citizen science program, training sessions for informal educators, and a project website. Collaborators include the National Geographic and three new major partners: Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Program to expand citizen science programs around invasive species; Americans for Informed Democracy (AID), dedicated to organizing college campus educational events; The Ocean Project (TOP), a network of 600 organizations; plus the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum and eight other informal science institutions. Knight Williams Research Communications, and Public Knowledge and Cultural Logic will assess the impact of the series. The project will contribute to the field of informal science education by providing widely applicable communication lessons on ocean and water issues and a model methodology for creating science education media that is credible, informative, and relevant. The results of two unique adult learning case studies will be shared with the field through presentations at national meetings and workshops, and posted online.
, an award-winning production of Sea Studios Foundation, is a cross platform media project that raises awareness and understanding of pressing environmental issues, particularly in the oceans and near shore systems.  Highlights of Phase Two included:  2 prime time PBS television specials branded by National Geographic:  Deadliest Catch and Dirty Secrets about the impacts to marine systems by what we are putting in and taking out of our world’s oceans. Companion website at www.pbs.org/strangedays Theatrical Feature Film, Otter 501, a 90 minute theatrically released feature film using the Southern Sea Otter as a case study to explore the role science can play in understanding the factors affecting recovery of this keystone marine mammal.  The film features a young woman aspiring to be a marine biologist and follows her passion and curiosity for science. A primetime PBS NATURE special, Saving Otter 501, scheduled to air in October, 2013 A companion website, www.otter501.com An interactive webStory (www.otter501webstory.com) allowing users to navigate through the story linearly or delve deeper.  The webStory was designed to reach audiences age 12 to 20’s by breaking the story into shorter, web-friendly segments. An innovative social media campaign through Facebook integrated into the film story and hosted by the film’s female lead. The page currently has over 8000 “likes. An outreach campaign that included a YouTube Channel with 31 “mini-documentaries, â€trailers and “sizzle†clips.  The channel has over 1.25 million views and over 1200 subscribers. 108 educational and public screenings held at schools, libraries and other community organizations, including those serving young women and Hispanics.  Innovation and Outcomes: The independent evaluation firm, Knight Williams Inc., conducted a summative evaluation for both Phases 1 and 2 of Strange Days on Planet Earth.  The Phase 2 evaluation included five studies of the Otter 501 film and related media platforms, including:  Study 1 (an evaluation of the Otter 501 film premiere screening);  Study 2 (a comparison study of theater and screening viewers’ experiences  with  the film); Study 3 (an evaluation of the screening events directed at public and underserved audiences), Study 4) an evaluation of the project’s use of Facebook and related media, and Study 5 (a separate ample pretest/posttest control group evaluation of youth learning from the film). The Phase 2 evaluation demonstrated that the Otter 501 film appealed to the more than 350 adult and youth viewers who attended the film on their own accord, whether through a theatrical exhibition or educational screening, and completed surreys about their experience. Overall, the viewers consistently liked the program, thought the story was interesting, felt the program was visually exciting and clear, and struck the right balance in terms of the amount of science provided.   Moreover, viewers with and without prior knowledge of otters demonstrated they learned new information about otters, relating to their: grooming/feeding behavior, survival threats, importance as a keystone species, rehabilitation, and need for conservation.  Study 2, which compared the viewing experiences of adults that viewed the film in a theater versus an educational screening, further found that the project generally achieved its goals of motivating both types of viewers to: a) recommend the film to others and to b) visit the Otter 501 Facebook and homepages.  Most viewers indicated they were extremely likely to do each of these activities, or reported they had done so already. Viewers also indicated they were likely to watch otter videos on YouTube and follow-up on ways they could help sea otters, or had already done so.  Despite their willingness to explore these social media and take some action, however, the viewers as a whole indicated they were unlikely to follow the project on Tumblr or Twitter.  Relatively few subgroup differences were found across the Study 2 viewer screening and theater findings. The few that were found involved older viewers tending to rate aspects of the film significantly higher than younger viewers.  At the same time, when asked about their future intentions of exploring Otter 501 online media after seeing the film, overall, younger viewers indicated they were significantly more likely to visit the Otter 501 Facebook page than were older viewers.  In each case though, the median ratings spanned 6-7 on a scale of 1 (lowest rating) to 7 (highest rating).  Therefore, taken together with the film’s lack of other major subgroup differences, the results overall indicate that the Otter 501 film was well received by and successful with both males and females ,and with individuals of varying ages, and in diverse settings.
