In a country where approximately a quarter of the population doesn’t know the earth rotates around the sun,1 roughly half still don’t accept evolution,2 and about 20% don’t think climate change is happening,3 the importance of these findings cannot be overstated. Yet these evaluation results provide the empirical evidence that beyond being capable of attracting, maintaining, and growing a dedicated group of citizens interested in science, these shows-with their diverse content provided on a variety of media channels-are capable of sparking new interest in science, raising public awareness of the importance of science, and maintaining and growing that interest over time. NOVA’s broadcast audience and ratings have always indicated that a large portion of the population is interested in and engages with educational science media on a weekly basis. These findings provide clear evidence that large-scale science media projects like MS2 are an effective means of “moving the needle” on attitudes about and excitement for science. Efforts to create an online community of practice were also successful: the quality of collaboration increased, and community members felt supported while using Maker pedagogy. CEG reported that the MS2 series and website content were successful in raising awareness and sparking interest in innovation, and increased public awareness that basic research leads to technological innovation this interest was also sustained over a six month period. The final evaluation conducted by Concord Evaluation Group (CEG) confidently concluded that the broadcast, website, and outreach activities were successful at achieving the project’s intended impacts. A summative evaluation of the MS2 project indicates that overall, these activities helped make a significant impact on the viewers, users, and participants that NOVA reached. NOVA’s goal to engage the public with such technological innovation and basic research extended beyond the broadcast series, including a variety of online, educational, and promotional activities: original online science reporting, web-only short-form videos, a new online quiz-game, social media engagement and promotion, an educational outreach “toolkit” for science educators to create their own “makerspaces,” an online community of practice, a series of nationwide Innovation Cafés, educator professional development, a suite of teacher resources, an “Idealab,” participation in national conferences, and specialized station relation and marketing. Making Stuff Season 2 (MS2) combined true entertainment with educational value, creating a popular and engaging series that brought accessible science into the homes of millions. Each of the four one-hour programs gave viewers a behind-the-scenes look at novel technologies poised to change our world-showing them how basic research and scientific more » discovery can hold the keys to transforming how we live. Levitating trains, quantum computers, robotic bees, and bomb-detecting plants-these were just a few of the cutting-edge innovations brought into the living rooms of families across the country in NOVA’s four-part series, Making Stuff: Faster, Wilder, Colder, and Safer. Over the course of four weeks in fall 2013, 11.7 million Americans tuned in to PBS to follow host David Pogue as he led them in search of engineering and scientific breakthroughs poised to change our world. The work centered on three main objectives: 1) documentation of findings from the completed GCSE 2021, culminating in the publication of a synthesis report 2) development and vetting of integrated use cases that illustrate synthesis methods and enable scientific outreach, communications, and translational discussions among universities and the broader research community and 3) strengthening the scientific basis for energy education research by sharing findings in university-educator = , These efforts helped inform and enhance the societal relevance of the knowledge that has been generated through the conference and, at the same time, advance the scientific insights acquired through synthesis and scientific translation efforts. Support from the Department of Energy proved instrumental in supporting the work of Global Council for Science and the Environment (GCSE) on synthetic research, analysis, and community engagement, oriented around the themes and discussions from the GCSE Drawdown 2021 Conference - Research to Action: Science and Solutions for a Planet Under Pressure.
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