HR: 0800h
AN: ED11A-0113    [Abstracts]
TI: NEW Planetarium Programs for Polar Informal Science Education
AU: Sumners, C
EM: csumners@hmns.org
AF: Houston Museum of Natural Science, One Hermann Circle Drive, Houston, TX 77030, United States
AU: * Schloss, A L
EM: annette.schloss@unh.edu
AF: University of New Hampshire, Coplex Systems Research Center, Durham, NH 03824, United States
AU: Reiff, P
EM: reiff@rice.edu
AF: Rice Space Institute, 6100 Main Street, MS 108, Houston, TX 77005, United States
AB: The modern planetarium is an immersive full-dome theater that can take audiences to Polar Regions in the past, present, or future and can simulate dynamic polar events. With the goal of public engagement and education, we are producing two programs: Night of the Titanic and Ice Worlds. Night of the Titanic uses a famous tragedy to uncover the science that could have saved the ship and the changing conditions in the North Atlantic over the last century. This program also fosters discussion about how humans evaluate data and make critical decisions related to the changing condition of polar ice. Ice Worlds uses comparative planetology themes to present Earth in the context of all ice worlds in the solar system, thus providing a broader perspective for analysis of changes in Earth's Polar Regions. Both programs rely on themes of high public interest to drive attendance and engagement. Both programs are being developed for the large dome theater or planetarium market and for portable Discovery Domes, which can reach urban and rural audiences throughout the world. This paper focuses on techniques for presentation of rigorous science content in a context that will engage the general public as well as school groups over a wide age range.
DE: 0700 CRYOSPHERE (4540)
DE: 0732 Icebergs
DE: 0815 Informal education
DE: 0845 Instructional tools
DE: 5462 Polar regions
SC: Education and Human Resources [ED]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting