Start/End Dates: November 2009-November 2012 Program Officer: Sandra Welch PI: Maureen Raymo Institution: Trustees of Boston University Program: Informal Science Education (ISE)
The purpose of this Communicating Research to Public Audiences project is to develop a suite of media products to raise awareness about global-warming-induced sea level rise and how scientists study it. The project will focus on Dr. Maureen Raymo's NSF funded research which looks to the Pliocene era thought to be the most recent time in geologic history with a concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere with levels as high as today.
The multimedia materials including video footage, photographic images, and audio recordings will be widely distributed on the internet, on kiosks in science centers, and through podcasts.
Collaborations with numerous organizations will ensure widespread dissemination of the multimedia materials. Some of the collaborators include Climate Central, a new nonprofit science and media organization; Encyclopedia of Earth, a peer-review, open access electronic reference about the Earth; and Audubon magazine among others.
The project will also disseminate its resources through organizations and websites that reach teachers and students in classrooms.
Rockman Et Al will evaluate the project impacts conducting both formative and summative evaluations. Focus groups and online surveys will be conducted at various stages providing feedback to the project team as well as a summative evaluation of audience impacts.
This project created research project outreach materials and the major product on which we spent the most effort is a web site called SealevelStudy.org. This web site include numerous videos and materials all aimed at public education. The content focused on a research project called PLIOMAX which aims to determine how high sea level rose during past warm intervals in Earth's history. Specifically, web site is titled: Sea Change: How High will the Sea Rise? URL: http://sealevelstudy.org/ Description: Earth is getting hotter. As a result, sea level is going up. Sea Change explains the research of a team of scientists who hope to improve predictions of future sea level by learning how high the sea rose in the past. The future height of the sea concerns people all around the world. Billions of people, about 40 percent of the population of the world and 55 percent of the population of the US, live near a coast. The sea laps against the land of eight of the world’s top ten cities. Higher water will alter the lives of many of these people in coming decades. By exploring the Sea Change web site, users will learn what scientists know now and how they’re learning more. Included on the web site are three 15 minute videos explaining the scientific techniques and strategies used by geologists to study sea level. These were produced as part of the grant and are already being used in classrooms for teaching. They are titled: "In the Field", "In the Lab", and "Interpreting the Results". This website is likely to have an impact in classrooms and in on-line community. Excerpts will be linked on other climate change websites likely driving traffic to Sea Change web site.
