Explore awards

Use the filter menu and interactive map to explore the past competitions offered and grants awarded through the Environmental Literacy Program.

To learn more about project findings and outcomes, view the summaries of our grantees’ summative evaluation reports.

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Linking Evidence to Explanation in Global Science

Lawrence Hall of Science offsite link · Berkeley, California
Funding: $299,759
Year: 2008
The University of California, Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), in partnership with the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI, propose to develop and evaluate curriculum-based content modules for spherical display systems. These modules will combine successful research-driven curriculum materials with the compelling nature of a spherical display to engage and inform museum visitors in the process of observing and interpreting patterns of global climate data.

The University of California, Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS), in partnership with the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI, propose to develop and evaluate curriculum-based content modules for spherical display systems. These modules will combine successful research-driven curriculum materials with the compelling nature of a spherical display to engage and inform museum visitors in the process of observing and interpreting patterns of global climate data.

Award Number: NA08SEC4690036
Grant Dates: 07/01/2008 to 06/30/2011
PI: Barbara Ando
State: California   County:   Alameda District: CA12
Partners: Bishop Museum ·

Installation of Science On a Sphere at Discovery Science Center of Orange County (Priority 1)

Funding: $199,943
Year: 2009
Discovery Science Center of Orange County (DSC) proposes a cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to install Science On a Sphere (SOS) spherical display system showing Earth system science in DSC's informal educational science center under Priority 1 of this funding opportunity. With the closest SOS display system located in Northern California, installation of this technology at DSC will provide access to NOAA's data by over 400,000 students, their families and educators from Southern California annually.

Discovery Science Center of Orange County (DSC) proposes a cooperative agreement with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to install Science On a Sphere (SOS) spherical display system showing Earth system science in DSC's informal educational science center under Priority 1 of this funding opportunity. With the closest SOS display system located in Northern California, installation of this technology at DSC will provide access to NOAA's data by over 400,000 students, their families and educators from Southern California annually. As partners, DSC will ensure that NOAA data sets are incorporated into educational resources that align with California State Science Standards and will meet NOAA educational plan goals.

Award Number: NA09SEC4690004
Grant Dates: 09/01/2009 to 08/31/2010
PI: Kellee Preston
State: California   County:   Orange District: CA46
Partners: University of California at Irvine ·

Worldviews Network: Ecological Literacy Programming for Digital Planetariums and Beyond

California Academy of Sciences offsite link · San Francisco, California
Funding: $311,847
Year: 2010
The Worldviews Network - a collaboration of institutions that have pioneered Earth systems research, education and evaluation methods - is creating innovative approaches for engaging the American public in dialogues about human-induced global changes. Leveraging the power of immersive scientific visualization environments at informal science centers across the US, we are developing transformative educational processes that integrate the benefits of visual thinking, systems thinking, and design thinking.

The Worldviews Network - a collaboration of institutions that have pioneered Earth systems research, education and evaluation methods - is creating innovative approaches for engaging the American public in dialogues about human-induced global changes. Leveraging the power of immersive scientific visualization environments at informal science centers across the US, we are developing transformative educational processes that integrate the benefits of visual thinking, systems thinking, and design thinking. This "seeing, knowing, doing" approach empowers educators with tools and techniques that help audiences to visualize, comprehend, and address complex issues from a whole-systems perspective. The Worldviews Network will make explicit the interconnections of Earth's life support systems across time and space as well as inspire community participation in design processes by providing real-world examples of successful projects that are increasing the healthy functioning of regional and global ecosystems.

Award Number: NA10SEC0080017
Grant Dates: 10/01/2010 to 09/01/2013
PI: Ryan Wyatt
State: California   County:   San Francisco District: CA11
Partners: American Museum of Natural History · Denver Museum of Nature and Science · Institute for Learning Innovation · Fort Worth Museum of Science and History · NASA Ames Exploration Center · NASA Goddard Space Flight Center · Bell Museum · Elumenati · Journey Museum & Learning Center · University of Michigan / Museum of Natural History · University of North Carolina at Asheville · WGBH Educational Foundation ·

Embedding NOAA in a Public Learning Laboratory - The Environmental Scientist-In-Residence Program at the Exploratorium

Exploratorium offsite link · San Francisco, California
Funding: $522,280
Year: 2010
The Environmental Scientist-in-Residence Program will leverage NOAA's scientific assets and personnel by combining them with the creativity and educational knowledge of the pioneer hands-on science center. To do this, the program will embed NOAA scientists in a public education laboratory at the Exploratorium. Working closely with youth Explainers, exhibit developers, and Web and interactive media producers at the Exploratorium, NOAA scientists will share instruments, data, and their professional expertise with a variety of public audiences inside the museum and on the Web.

The Environmental Scientist-in-Residence Program will leverage NOAA's scientific assets and personnel by combining them with the creativity and educational knowledge of the pioneer hands-on science center. To do this, the program will embed NOAA scientists in a public education laboratory at the Exploratorium. Working closely with youth Explainers, exhibit developers, and Web and interactive media producers at the Exploratorium, NOAA scientists will share instruments, data, and their professional expertise with a variety of public audiences inside the museum and on the Web. At the same time the scientists will gain valuable skills in informal science communication and education. Through cutting-edge iPad displays, screen-based visualizations, data-enriched maps and sensor displays, and innovative interactions with visitors on the museum floor, this learning laboratory will enable NOAA scientists and Exploratorium staff to investigate new hands-on techniques for engaging the public in NOAA's environmental research and monitoring efforts.

Award Number: NA10SEC0080019
Grant Dates: 10/01/2010 to 09/30/2013
PI: Mary Miller
State: California   County:   San Francisco District: CA11
Partners: Oregon State University (OSU) / Hatfield Marine Science Center ·

Teen Conservation Leadership

Monterey Bay Aquarium offsite link · Monterey, California
Funding: $453,622
Year: 2010
Teen Conservation Leadership is a major integration and expansion of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's existing teen education programs (Student Oceanography Club, Young Women in Science and Student Guides).

Teen Conservation Leadership is a major integration and expansion of the Monterey Bay Aquarium's existing teen education programs (Student Oceanography Club, Young Women in Science and Student Guides). The project is growing and enhancing these programs through the following activities: Service Learning and Leadership Activities – including: 1) Guest Service Track: professional development and training as interpreters 2) Camp and Club Track: serving as a mentor for other participants 3) Program Track: assisting in the delivery of programs - Conservation and Science Activities, including participating in and leading projects with local organizations, and participating in technologically facilitated outdoor learning experiences – Teen Network and Technology Activities, including onsite networking and information sharing through Web 2.0 technology The project will reach 930 teens. Each teen will provide 200 service-learning hours per year. The sequential nature of this project will encourage many teens to participate for multiple years.

Award Number: NA10SEC0080022
Grant Dates: 10/01/2010 to 09/30/2013
PI: Rita Bell
State: California   County:   Monterey District: CA19
Partners: Fresno Chaffee Zoo · Save the Whales · Wild Farm Alliance ·

Empowering Climate Change Resiliency through Education in an Underserved Community

Ocean Discovery Institute offsite link · San Diego, California
Funding: $500,000
Year: 2018
Understanding climate change and its exacerbating effects on local environmental phenomena (e.g., increase in frequency and/or intensity of drought, ocean acidification, water shortages, degraded fisheries) and how to create resiliency is critical for underserved communities as they are disproportionately impacted by these hazards and yet, have the least capacity to actively respond.

Understanding climate change and its exacerbating effects on local environmental phenomena (e.g., increase in frequency and/or intensity of drought, ocean acidification, water shortages, degraded fisheries) and how to create resiliency is critical for underserved communities as they are disproportionately impacted by these hazards and yet, have the least capacity to actively respond. To address this issue, Ocean Discovery Institute and its partners will build understanding of climate change and impacts on local hazards, human-nature interactions, and individual and community capacity for resilience through place-based education in the underserved community of City Heights, San Diego, CA. This project, titled “Empowering Climate Change Resiliency through Education in an Underserved Community,” will involve a wide range of partners, including California Sea Grant, the California Nevada Climate Applications Program, NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego Canyonlands, RECON Environmental, Inc., and the San Diego Unified Port District. Project activities encompass the design, piloting, and implementation of multi-grade level, integrated curricula that incorporate hands-on student climate science research, innovative solution building, and teacher professional development. This project will serve 1,500 middle school students annually and is expected to increase students’ understanding of scientific concepts and processes and human-nature interactions, improve their ability to make science-informed decisions, and contribute to local resilience efforts.

Award Number: NA18SEC0080004
Grant Dates: 10/01/2018 to 09/30/2024
PI: Lindsay Goodwin
State: California   County:   San Diego District: CA52
Partners: Birch Aquarium at Scripps · San Diego Unified School District · NOAA Research Lab / Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory · National Sea Grant College Program / University of California at San Diego / California Sea Grant · City of San Diego · U.S. National Park Service / Cabrillo National Monument · Port of San Diego · RECON Environmental · San Diego Canyonlands · California Nevada Applications Program (CNAP) · San Diego Unified School District / Clark Middle School · San Diego Unified School District / Wilson Middle School · UC San Diego / Scripps Institution of Oceanography ·

Planet Earth Decision Theater

Science Museum of Minnesota offsite link · Saint Paul, Minnesota
Funding: $504,386
Year: 2010
Through the Planet Earth Decision Theater project, the Science Museum of Minnesota and its partners will upgrade the museum's current SOS exhibit with new SOS learning experiences, produce for the SOS community a new SOS film about the role of humans as the dominant agents of global change and two new presenter-led SOS programs based on the film with one version utilizing an audience feedback mechanism called iClickers.

Through the Planet Earth Decision Theater project, the Science Museum of Minnesota and its partners will upgrade the museum's current SOS exhibit with new SOS learning experiences, produce for the SOS community a new SOS film about the role of humans as the dominant agents of global change and two new presenter-led SOS programs based on the film with one version utilizing an audience feedback mechanism called iClickers. SMM also will complement its Planet Earth Decision Theater and the Maryland Science Center's SOS exhibit with the addition of Rain Table (a new interactive scientific visualization platform) at both locations to further reinforce the Anthropocene messages of the new SOS film and programs. SMM will conduct extensive evaluations of the new SOS film, programs and Rain Tables. SMM's partners on this project include the NOAA Environmental Visualization Lab, University of Minnesota's National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics, University of Minnesota's Antarctic Geospatial Information Center, University of Minnesota's Institute on the Environment, Maryland Science Center, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Institute for Learning Innovation, George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication, and the Electronic Visualization Laboratory at University of Illinois-Chicago.

Award Number: NA10SEC0080021
Grant Dates: 10/01/2010 to 09/30/2014
PI: Patrick Hamilton
State: Minnesota   County:   Ramsey District: MN04
Partners: Boonshoft Museum of Discovery · Institute for Learning Innovation · Maryland Science Center · Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) Chicago · Lawrence Hall of Science · University of Colorado Boulder / Fiske Planetarium · Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts · George Mason University / Center for Climate Change Communication (4C) · University of Minnesota / Institute on the Environment · University of Minnesota / National Center for Earth-surface Dynamics (NCED) ·

Climate Strong—Building Tribal Youth Leadership for Climate Resiliency

Funding: $499,407
Year: 2018
Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in partnership with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, 1854 Treaty Authority, University of Wisconsin Extension’s G-WOW program, and Lake Superior Estuarine Research Reserve are proud to provide the Climate Strong-Building Tribal Youth Leadership for Climate Resiliency program.

Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College in partnership with the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, 1854 Treaty Authority, University of Wisconsin Extension’s G-WOW program, and Lake Superior Estuarine Research Reserve are proud to provide the Climate Strong-Building Tribal Youth Leadership for Climate Resiliency program. Our three-year project aims to increase the knowledge and readiness of middle to high school students to deal with the impacts of extreme weather and environmental hazards that face the Ojibwe Ceded Territories (Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan) and build capacity for increased climate change community resiliency curriculum in the classroom. Climate change impacts everyone, but for indigenous peoples it threatens culturally significant traditions, such as wild rice harvesting, that relies on sustainable fish, plant, and wildlife resources. These resources are critical for subsistence, spiritual and cultural needs, and treaty rights. Culturally relevant, place-based education is an important tool to involve students, in particular, underrepresented students, in developing critical thinking skills to assess the issue of community resiliency to extreme weather events and engaging in action to help resolve it. In order to achieve our objectives, we will aim our educational efforts toward youth first, as well as reaching the communities we serve. Each year, six residential youth camps (18 total) will be hosted within the Ojibwe Ceded Territories. Each three-day camp will be focused on investigating issues of community resiliency, adaption, and mitigation associated with increasing extreme weather events as well as natural environmental hazards. Camps will use place-based, experiential lessons to teach resiliency issues demonstrated by climate change effects on Ojibwe culturally important natural resources. Our project will train formal and informal educators throughout the Ojibwe Ceded Territories on how to use indigenous climate curriculum using tribal traditional ecological knowledge and NOAA assets to investigate community climate resiliency issues. Using both teacher “train the trainer” workshops and our camps, this project will create a network of formal K-12 and informal educators trained to become leaders in providing culturally relevant climate resiliency outreach to students. We will increase community resiliency literacy through six community outreach events each year (18 total) that will highlight resiliency issues facing our region and the research being done on landscape and ecological vulnerabilities through NOAA and tribal assets. Our goals are increased community resiliency literacy and adaptation of stewardship behaviors that reduce climate change impacts and increases adaption and mitigation behaviors by our participants. These behaviors will help increase stewardship practices reducing extreme weather impacts affecting the sustainability of culturally relevant resources, thereby preserving important cultural, spiritual, subsistence, and treaty rights practices.

Award Number: NA18SEC0080009
Grant Dates: 10/01/2018 to 09/30/2022
PI: Courtney Kowalczak
State: Minnesota   County:   Carlton District: MN08
Partners: Bell Museum · National Sea Grant College Program / University of Minnesota (UM) / Minnesota Sea Grant · National Sea Grant College Program / University of Wisconsin / Wisconsin Sea Grant · National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) Lake Superior · University of Wisconsin–Extension / Environmental Outreach · Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission · Fond du Lac Environmental Program · 1854 Treaty Authority · Climate Generation · University of Minnesota–Duluth · Conservation Corps Minnesota & Iowa ·

Science On a Sphere in the Forces of Nature Exhibition

Funding: $198,744
Year: 2008
Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is developing a new permanent public exhibition gallery focusing on environmental and earth systems science to be called Forces of Nature. With NOAA support, Science On a Sphere will be the centerpiece for this new gallery. A collaboration is planned between Whitaker Center and the Department of Meteorology at The Pennsylvania State University in which existing datasets provided by Penn State researchers with NOAA data and meteorological models will be prepared for presentation on spherical display systems.

Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is developing a new permanent public exhibition gallery focusing on environmental and earth systems science to be called Forces of Nature. With NOAA support, Science On a Sphere will be the centerpiece for this new gallery. A collaboration is planned between Whitaker Center and the Department of Meteorology at The Pennsylvania State University in which existing datasets provided by Penn State researchers with NOAA data and meteorological models will be prepared for presentation on spherical display systems.

Award Number: NA08SEC4690034
Grant Dates: 09/01/2008 to 12/30/2009
PI: L. Bishop
State: Pennsylvania   County:   Dauphin District: PA10
Partners: Pennsylvania State University (PSU) / Department of Meteorology ·

Science on a Sphere and Flood Forums: Education to Action

Nurture Nature Center offsite link · Easton, Pennsylvania
Funding: $341,274
Year: 2010
The Nurture Nature Center (NNC) in Easton, PA, a joint project of the multi-state Nurture Nature Foundation and NNC, Inc., will install a Science on a Sphere and develop a new SOS module about climate and flooding. Working with the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, PA, and science advisers from NOAA and research universities, NNC will use existing SOS datasets, as well as new data formats, to create a docent-guided program that explains the connections between climate patterns and flooding.

The Nurture Nature Center (NNC) in Easton, PA, a joint project of the multi-state Nurture Nature Foundation and NNC, Inc., will install a Science on a Sphere and develop a new SOS module about climate and flooding. Working with the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, the Da Vinci Science Center in Allentown, PA, and science advisers from NOAA and research universities, NNC will use existing SOS datasets, as well as new data formats, to create a docent-guided program that explains the connections between climate patterns and flooding. The Flood Forums: Education to Action program will engage audiences in deliberative forum programming to promote public understanding of the atmospheric, oceanic, and other climatic factors affecting flooding in some regional communities. Project deliverables include a program on climate change and flooding for SOS users; the same program calibrated for Magic Planet users; Forum models on issues related to climate change and flooding; project and evaluation reports; and training materials for SOS network members and other informal educators.

Award Number: NA10SEC0080020
Grant Dates: 10/01/2010 to 07/31/2013
PI: Catherine Brandes
State: Pennsylvania   County:   Northampton District: PA07
Partners: Maryland Science Center · Da Vinci Science Center · Lehigh University · NOAA Regional Climate Center / Northeast Regional Climate Center ·

CREATE Resilience: Community Resilience through Education, Art, Technology, and Engagement

Nurture Nature Center offsite link · Easton, Pennsylvania
Funding: $429,420
Year: 2018
CREATE Resilience: Community Resilience through Education, Art, Technology and Engagement, is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between youth and community to 1) improve environmental hazards literacy, and 2) increase engagement in resiliency actions by youth and adult residents in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. CREATE Resilience is designed to increase community knowledge about weather and climate science, risks from local hazards, and strategies for hazard mitigation, while co-creating a vision for community resilience.

CREATE Resilience: Community Resilience through Education, Art, Technology and Engagement, is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between youth and community to 1) improve environmental hazards literacy, and 2) increase engagement in resiliency actions by youth and adult residents in the Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. CREATE Resilience is designed to increase community knowledge about weather and climate science, risks from local hazards, and strategies for hazard mitigation, while co-creating a vision for community resilience. Developed by Nurture Nature Center (NNC) in Easton, PA, the four-year project will work with local, state and federal partners in three hazard-prone communities in the Lehigh Valley (Easton, Bangor and Wilson areas). Hazards, particularly weather-related hazards including flooding, have had major impacts in these communities historically and recently, causing extensive damage to property and disruption to community services. Damaging river flooding along the Delaware River in 2004, 2005 and 2006 highlighted major planning and safety challenges for many municipalities in the area with high flood risk, and a recently updated regional Hazard Mitigation plan highlighted other hazards – as well as the need for public education about hazards and mitigation. CREATE Resilience’s advisory board will work with NNC to bring education and engagement events to teach the science of these hazards, as well the household and community-level strategies and tools available for resilience. Partners include the National Weather Service (NWS) Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center and Mt. Holly, NJ Weather Forecast Office, and Weather Prediction Center, as well as LV Planning Commission, Northampton County Emergency Management Agency, LV Community Foundation, Lafayette College, and FEMA Region 3 Mitigation Division. In years 1 and 2, the project will form CREATE Youth Ambassador teams, in which student interns from area high schools will meet NWS meteorologists, engage in community storytelling events, develop local hazard and resilience tours, and learn from climate and other scientists about hazards and strategies for resilience. Ambassadors will also develop and lead programming for community residents. Simultaneously, residents will participate in active-learning education events, dialogue forums, arts-based activities, technology-based programs using NOAA assets, and hands-on preparedness activities. Each community will build a collective understanding of local hazards and mitigation strategies, and co-create a vision for resilience, represented in traveling visual artist-designed murals in the third year of the project. This education and shared vision will build community support for planning and resilience and help households in making better preparedness decisions. Dissemination through Science on a Sphere® and guidebooks will share the replicable model with other organizations and communities, extending the reach of the project. Close cooperation with NWS offices helps the project meet key goals of NOAA’s Education Strategic Plan, related to safety/preparedness and a science-informed society. Through public events and print materials, the project will showcase and interpret NOAA-related science and data with area residents, while creating collaborative learning opportunities for youth and community to interact with NOAA scientists. CREATE Resilience also engages youth and adults in preparing for hazards, and in multi-generational learning to improve community awareness and involvement in preparedness and mitigation.

Award Number: NA18SEC0080005
Grant Dates: 10/01/2018 to 09/30/2023
PI: Rachel Carr
State: Pennsylvania   County:   Northampton District: PA07
Partners: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center · City University of New York (CUNY) / Hunter College · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) / National Centers for Environmental Prediction · NOAA Climate Program Office (CPO) · Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast (CCRUN) · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) Mount Holly, NJ Weather Forecast Office · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) State College, Pennsylvania Forecast Office · Lehigh Valley Community Foundation · Lafayette College / Civil and Environmental Engineering · Easton Area School District · Wilson Area School District · Northampton County Emergency Management Services · Lehigh Valley Planning Commission · Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency · NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) / Middle Atlantic River Forecast Center (RFC) · Bangor Area School District · American Society of Civil Engineers / Lehigh Valley Section · Northampton County Conservation District · Northampton County Parks & Recreation Division · City of Easton · Martins-Jacoby Watershed Association · Borough of Wilson · PAZA, Tree of Life · Williams Township Municipal Building ·