Public Science Day 2000

"The Science of Everyday Things"

February 17, 2000: In sites across the US, students celebrated National Public Science Day 2000. These site scrapbooks showcase the regional events:
Chicago | Los Angeles | Buffalo | Portland | Orlando | Miami | Austin | Boulder | Syracuse

January 26, 2000: Recipients of "The Unisys Prize - Online Science Education" have been announced.

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in collaboration with The Franklin Institute Science Museum and Unisys Corporation, is pleased to announce that Public Science Day was celebrated on February 17, 2000.

The mission of Public Science Day is:

• to raise the public awareness about the importance of science education in the U.S. and abroad, and
• to heighten the enthusiasm for science and technology learning and understanding across all demographics.

The Public Science Day 2000 program fosters an increase in the public understanding of science by facilitating partnerships between formal and informal science institutions. The partners investigated "The Science of Everyday Things," the theme for Public Science Day 2000.

In connection with Public Science Day, Unisys Corporation is proud to announce the inauguration of "The Unisys Prize — Online Science Education Excellence." This competitive award was presented on Public Science Day in recognition of outstanding use of the web as a tool for science investigation.

"The Unisys Prize — Online Science Education Excellence" program provides a complementary incentive for PSD partnerships to use the web as their science workbench. The prize also offers science centers and schools a chance to distinguish themselves in the online educational community.

In order to participate, a science center needs to identify a partner school. That partnership becomes a PSD team. Working as a team, the science center and the school plan and conduct an inquiry-based science investigation around the theme ("The Science of Everyday Things.") Meanwhile, a project webspace is created simultaneously to provide an online exhibition of how the web can be used as a workbench for science education. On Public Science Day, the teams showcase their work in their local communities.

In September, two representatives of each team (one from the science center and one from the school) attended an orientation conference in Washington, DC. At that conference, each team received a mini-grant in the amount of $2,500.00 to be used to support the program activities.

In January 2000, the panel of judges evaluated the project webspaces in competition for "The Unisys Prize." One team was selected to receive the prize. The team was invited to attend the prize presentation ceremony in Washington, DC on February 19, 2000. "The Unisys Prize — Online Science Education Excellence" carries a cash award in the amount of $10,000, with the proceeds to be split between the team members.

The following documents provide useful information about the program.

Criteria for the Project Webspace

Guidelines for creating the project webspace have been provided. These same guidelines were used as criteria for judging the winner of "The Unisys Prize."

Credit Statement for Project Webspaces

All project webspaces must include the PSD2000 credit statement.

Timeline of Program Events

The timeline helped plan the logistics of each team's activities.

Websites related to "The Science of Everyday Things"

The hotlist of handy websites should help you locate resources related to the program theme.

If you have any other questions about the program, please contact:

AAAS
Gaynelle Bowden
1200 New York Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20005
TEL: 202.326.6674
FAX: 202.371.9849
EMAIL: gbowden@aaas.org