RESEARCH AND GRANT PROGRAMS

MOSI actively participates in institutional research, and is currently involved in three highly visible projects funded by the National Science Foundation, United States Department of Education and the Florida Department of Education.

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PROJECT CLASS: Collaborative Leaders Achieving Science Success
The purpose of Project CLASS is to develop an innovative collaboration between our partnering organizations and targeted teachers and administrators in order to promote exemplary science instruction.

The goals of Project CLASS are:
• To establish a model community of collaborative school leaders
• To increase teacher and student science knowledge cross all Grade levels in the area of   physical sciences
• To promote exemplary science instruction by targeting content, collaboration and leadership skills

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Marketing of Science Teaching and Induction (MOSTI)
Marketing of Science Teaching and Induction (MOSTI) is a collaboration of the University of South Florida Coalition for Science Literacy (CSL), Museum of Science & Industry (MOSI), Tampa, and the School District of Hillsborough County (SDHC).

This project tests a model program that implements innovative marketing to increase the number of career-change professionals teaching middle school science while improving their preparation and support through strongly linked mentoring and content focused teaching workshops. MOSI builds on its local and national visibility to implement an innovative marketing strategy that combines multimedia advertising and public presentations to promote careers in teaching.

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Successful scaffolding strategies in urban museums: Research and practice on mediated scientific conversations with families and museum educators

Successful scaffolding strategies in urban museums: Research and practice on mediated scientific conversations with families and museum educators, seeks simultaneously to advance existing research on learning in informal settings and to improve museum educator practice in mediating understanding with families, in an urban museum.

The three underlying research questions are:

1. What are several underlying characteristics of successful and unsuccessful strategies for     scaffolding understandings of collaborative groups while interacting and talking at life science     based exhibits?

2. How can the strategies for scaffolding understandings of collaborative groups be best     translated into teaching practices in museums using teacher research as the focus?

3. Can these scaffolding strategies be disseminated beyond MOSI in a published and replicable     model for other informal learning centers?

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Girl touches vandergraph generater during Family Fun Night held for participant families of
MOSI's Scaffolding research study.