About Explore!

Introduction

Explore! Fun with Science is designed to engage youth in space and planetary science in the library and other informal learning environments. Through video explorations, related hands-on activities, and supporting resources, children of all ages are immersed in the wonders of rockets, space colonies, our solar system, how our planets were shaped, and more!

Each Explore! Fun with Science topic has supporting materials, including:

A short video in which Marcie, Explore! Librarian, investigates children's questions about the topic content with images, animations, video clips, and models
A PowerPoint presentation that encompasses the main points for the topic
Hands-on activities, demonstrations, and extensions that help children explore and experience the content
Lists of recommended books, videos, and Web resources for further exploration

Explore! Fun with Science was created for the library setting and other informal educational venues. Hands-on activities are easy to do, use readily available materials, and require little preparation time. The topics are designed to be flexible and can be incorporated in any program involving children, including summer sessions, after-school programs, festivals, science days, and family events. Activities are one to two hours in length and children can take their creations home with them. Explore! Fun with Science provides opportunities for partnering libraries with volunteer groups, local businesses, community programs, and schools.

History

Libraries have long been known as inviting environments for lifelong learning. In many instances, libraries are the hub of their communities, meeting the particular needs of the public and school communities they serve. Libraries are places that all types of people use in the everyday course of their lives. They offer classes, meeting spaces, discussion groups, and programs for children and teens all year long. By their basic structure, libraries offer the perfect setting to obtain guided research by information professionals who foster continued learning in any topic.

In 1998, the Lunar and Planetary Institute, believing that libraries have the potential to play a vital role in bringing space science to everyone, developed Explore!, a program intended to bring space science resources into libraries.

In 1999, the Lunar and Planetary Institute recognized the tremendous potential for making more direct connections with children through ongoing youth programs in libraries. They began collaborating with the State Library of Louisiana to design an after-school science activity program for use in public libraries or other informal education settings, including museums and planetariums. Fun with Science was seen as a new and exciting way to partner public libraries, community entities, and scientists to bring space science into neighborhood libraries. The format was intended to be flexible — materials could be presented in myriad venues, short or long, including summer youth programs, family days, after-school programs, and festivals, to name just a few. The first workshop was held in 1999 in West Baton Rouge Parish. Of the twenty librarians attending, ten hosted Explore! Fun with Science workshops that fall, reaching approximately 300 children. By the end of the summer of 2000, Explore! library members numbered 253, and reached more that 9000 children through Explore! Fun with Science activities and exhibits.

Explore! Fun with Science was originally supported through the Lunar and Planetary Institute by a grant from the NASA Office of Space Science for the Support Network of Broker/Facilitators and Forums. Explore! was only one component of the Lunar and Planetary Institute's Broker/Facilitator Program. A grant in 2001 from the National Science Foundation broadened the Explore! Fun with Science program resources and extended its reach.

Explore! Fun with Science has evolved to include several space science topics and includes hands-on activities, crafts, suggestions for learning extensions, videos, presentations, and book and Internet resource lists to provide children with additional learning opportunities. What began with twenty librarians has grown to a community of more than 600 individuals trained to share Explore! Fun with Science — and hundreds of Explore! Fun with Science events.

Contact Explore!

Explore! Fun with Science
Department of Education and Public Outreach
Lunar and Planetary Institute
3600 Bay Area Boulevard
Houston TX 77058
explore@lpi.usra.edu

Credits, Acknowledgments, and Awards

Congratulations Wildcatter Productions!

“Shaping the Planets” — an Explore! Fun with Science video that investigates asteroid impacts, volcanos, and other processes that shape our planets — won a 2004 Telly Award for Wildcatter Productions!

Telly Awards are intended for “ . . . Honoring outstanding local, regional and cable television commercials and programs & the finest video and film productions . . ." " . . . Founded in 1978, the Telly Awards is the premier award honoring outstanding local, regional, and cable TV commercials and programs, as well as the finest video and film productions. The Telly Awards annually showcases the best work of the most respected advertising agencies, production companies, television stations, cable operators, and corporate video departments in the world.”

TERC reviewed and revised the Explore! Fun with Science activities presented under Explor-ations. TERC is a not-for-profit education research and development organization. Their mission is to improve mathematics and science teaching and learning and develop applications of technology. TERC has emphasized an innovative, inquiry-based approach to learning by students from every background, searching for ways to include more students in meaningful learning experiences in science and mathematics in formal and informal educational settings.

Wildcatter Productions of Houston, Texas, produced the eight-part Explore! Fun with Science videos and PowerPoint presentations. Wildcatters has been creating award-winning children's educational videos since 1990.

Explore! Fun with Science is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0125693. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

LPI logo

Copyright 2005, Lunar and Planetary Institute
LPI Contribution Number 986
The Lunar and Planetary Institute is operated by the Universities Space Research Association under Cooperative Agreement Number NCC5-679 issued through the Solar System Exploration Division of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Last updated
December 4, 2006