The Science Media Group (SMG) was founded by Dr. Matthew H. Schneps at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) to investigate new ways to use television and computer media to communicate science to the public at large. A part of the CfA's Science Education Department, the SMG has grounded its work in state-of-the-art science education research.
One of the most recent SMG productions was Physics for the 21st Century—a course for high school physics teachers and undergraduate students exploring the frontiers of physics. Another recent SMG production was The Habitable Planet: A Systems Approach to Environmental Science—a course for high school teachers and undergraduate students in environmental science. Created in partnership with the Harvard University Center for the Environment and Annenberg Media, The Habitable Planet received the 2010 AAAS Science Prize for Online Resources in Education (SPORE). Other pioneering works created by the SMG are videos, such as A Private Universe, influential in shaping education reform worldwide; television programs, such as the PBS series Minds of Our Own, designed to alert the public to issues of science learning; and television, museum, Internet, and computer materials for children, parents, and teachers.
Project Development
- Executive Director
- Matthew H. Schneps
- Executive Producer
- Alex Griswold
- Project Manager
- Kelly E. Cramer
- Project Administrator
- Linda P. Williamson
Series Credits
- Course Content Developers
- Dr. Kurt Fischer
- Dr. Mary Helen Immordino-Yang
- Dr. Matthew H. Schneps
- Writers
- Alden S. Blodget
- Dr. Matthew H. Schneps, Unit 4
- Sidebar Contributing Writers
- Dr. Joanna A. Christodoulou
- Dr. M. Diane Clark
- Dr. Kurt Fischer
- Catherine Glennon
- Dr. Matthew H. Schneps
- Lysandra Sinclaire-Harding
- Zachary Stein
- Julia Volkman
- Course Evaluation
- Eric Baylin
- Karen Brody
- Buffy Cushman-Patz
- Andrea Darby
- Tara Emery
- Leigh Jenkins
- Michael Kennedy
- Christine Martin
- Brain Mulvehill
- Bernadine Okoro
- Staci Richard
- Nancy Spillane
- Timothy Spuck
- Michelle Sullivan
- Meg Town
- Julia Volkman
- Sue Whitsett
- David Youngblut
- Coleman Zeigan
- Project Advisors
- Nancy Finkelstein
- Bruce Gregory
- Amanda Heffner-Wong
- Michelle Sullivan
- Julia Volkman
Website/Interactive Labs
- Designer
- Michelle Hardy Kennedy
- Programmer
- Aladdin Ibrahim
- Developers
- Shira Fruchtman
- Michelle Hardy Kennedy
- Copy Editor
- Linda Walsh
- Production Assistant
- Chandana Jasti
- Interactive Development
- Don Button, Programmer
- Juliet Jacobson, Designer
- Reaction Time
- Mary Helen Immordino-Yang, Advisor
- Measuring Learning
- Esben R. Thomasen Baek, Production Assistant
- Chen Chen, Production Assistant
- Dr. Marc Pomplun, Advisor
- Dr. Matthew H. Schneps, Advisor
- Photo Credits: NASA, Daniel Pickar, Nada Attar, Chen Chen
Course Guide
- Writer
- Alden S. Blodget
- Teacher Review
- Nancy Finkelstein
- Copy Editor
- Linda Walsh
Video Production (see individual video credits for more detailed roles in each production)
- Senior Producer, Videographer
- Clive Grainger
- Producer, Videographer
- Tobias McElheny
- Senior Editor, Producer, Videographer
- Steven J. Allardi
- Editors
- Oren Bendavid-Val
- Neal Duffy
- Keri Green
- Assistant Editor, Sound Mixer
- Molly Wasser
- Online Editor
- Maria Kobrina
- Animator
- Clayton Ellis
- Music
- Ben Cosgrove
- Additional Music
- Caleb Epps
- Alison Plante/Treble Cove Music
- Narrator
- Margaret Somody
- Interns
- Grace Hewett
- Ruthann Hewett
Videos
- Introduction:
- It Has to Make Sense
- Mind, Brain, and Education
- Collaboration
- Unit 1:
- A Brief History of Neuroscience
- Tools of Neuroscience: MRI/FMRI; EEG; MEG
- Reading a Word
- Brooke's Story
- Nico's Story
- A Tale of Two Cases: Brooke and Nico
- Unit 2:
- Measuring Emotional Response to Physics
- Good Idea?
- Emotion in Math
- Depth of Field
- Emotion and Cognition: A Neuroscientist's Perspective
- Unit 3:
- Music and Emotion; Peer Mentoring
- Using Emotional Content in the History Classroom
- Empathy
- Unit 4:
- Warm Jackets Generate Heat?
- Turning Tables at Gallaudet University: What is "Normal"?
- Success Story: Dr. Stephen Shore
- Attention and Magic
- Working Memory and Attention
- Implicit Learning
- Success Story: Dr. Alexander Goldowsky
- Success Story: Dr. Todd Rose
- Success Story: Kent Sinclair
- Success Story: Dr. Temple Grandin
- Reading with Half a Brain
- Unit 5:
- Dynamic Skill Development
- DiscoTests: A New Approach to Assessment
- Johanna and Her Mother; Scaffolding: Johanna and Her Mother with Commentary
- Unit 6:
- Emotional Connections in Math and Science
- Engaging Native Alaskan Students
- The Montessori Approach; Montessori and Dynamic Skill Theory
- Technology for Every Student?
- Perspective Shifting in Math
- Students Think for Themselves
