A “Global Viewport” for Virtual Exploration of Deep-sea vents: Using Spherical Displays to Advance Public Literacy in Earth System Science

The Global Viewport project was an integrative collaboration between the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and. the New Bedford Oceanarium Corporation dba Ocean Explorium at New Bedford Seaport (hereafter, Ocean Explorium). The main thematic area that was addressed is Improving Public Earth System Science Literacy. A main objective of the Global Viewport project was to address Goal 1 of the GEO Education and Diversity Strategic Plan (2010-2015): “Advancing public literacy in Earth System Science.” For this evaluation the public interacted with spherical display content in an informal educational setting in order to increase their understanding of interconnected and inter-dependent non-living and living systems. The project’s content was developed for spherical display systems, and was specifically evaluated on the Science On a Sphere® (SOS) system. To evaluate the projects effectiveness an anonymous self assessed post test survey format was chosen that could be accessed by participants online, on handheld devices using a QR code, or as a printed copy. An internet survey website, eSurveys Pro, was used to build a survey with seven questions. The first three questions were related to demographics. These three questions were made mandatory by the survey software. The next three questions related to the literacy principles that were addressed by newly developed SOS productions. These three questions were designed to self assess awareness, knowledge, or understanding of new content knowledge. The final question was a self measure of engagement or interest in the new knowledge presented.

Appendix includes instruments.