A Science Information Infrastructure

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Session 29 -- Education
Oral presentation, Monday, 9, 1995, 10:00am - 11:30am

[29.05] A Science Information Infrastructure

C.A.Christian, I.Hawkins, R.F.Malina (CEA/UCB), K.Dow, S.Murray (SAO)

We have created a partnership of science museums, research institutions, teachers, and other centers of informal science education to enable access to the rich resources of remote sensing data available from NASA and other sources and to deliver this information to the general community. We are creating science resource centers in the nation's science museums and planetarium facilities, linking them together through a national Science Information Infrastructure (SII). The SII framework is being founded on Internet connections between the resource centers, which are in turn linked to research institutions. The most up-to-date and exciting science data, related information, and interpretive material will be available from the research institutions. The science museums will present this information in appropriate ways that respond to the needs and interest of the general public and K--12 communities. The science information will be available through the World Wide Web using a Mosaic interface that individuals will use to explore the on-line materials through self-guided learning modules. K--12 teachers will have access to the materials and, in a workshop forum, learn to find and use the information to create lesson plans and curricula for their classrooms. Eventually, as the connectivity of schools and libraries improves, students and teachers will have access to the resource centers from their own locations. The core partnership of the SII includes the Center for EUV Astrophysics (CEA), and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Exploratorium, Lawrence Hall of Science, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Science Museum of Virginia, New York Hall of Science, Adler Museum of Chicago, University of California Museum of Paleontology, Boston Museum of Science, and the Earth Observing Satellite Company (EOSAT). A demonstration of the application of resource center materials in the K--12 community is being conducted through the Science On-Line project at the Center for EUV Astrophysics. This work has been supported by a NASA Astrophysics Division grant and NASA contract NAS5-29298.

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