Harvard-Smithsonian Digital Video Library

Smithsonian Institution Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This Collections project is assembling and managing an extensive collection of STEM digital video materials produced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. The Center's collection of digital video materials supporting STEM education reform has been developed over the past decade and a half at a cost of some $15 million, and includes source materials for well-known television programs such as A PRIVATE UNIVESE along with professional development materials created for Annenberg/CPB. The collection consists of some 3,500 hours of video footage, archived in digital form and indexed through a searchable database. Materials in this collection span a variety of topics and formats and include high-quality, case-study footage showing teaching in action, rare and difficult to create materials documenting children's ideas in science and math, interviews with internationally prominent researchers in STEM learning, and computer animations and other costly visualizations of STEM ideas. This project is establishing a library of 350 hours of digital video materials supporting STEM education that will be available through the NSDL. Project personnel are reviewing the entire collection for materials of value in supporting standards-based learning. Appropriate materials are being tagged according to their applicability to these standards, the collection is being culled to a manageable and useful size, and catalogued so teachers and teacher educators are able to search the collection by STEM discipline, age level, or content area. The project is making these materials broadly accessible on a web platform while archiving a full-resolution master copy as part of the Harvard Library. The web interface is linking the collection to NRC National Science Education Standards, AAAS Benchmarks, and state and local standards. The project is working with advisors from the NSDL Core Integration program to ensure metadata and formats conform to related efforts of the NSDL. It is also paving the way for the use of video in education while providing educators broad access to vital materials supporting STEM education reform. Significant co-funding of this project is being provided by the Office of Multidisciplinary Activities in the NSF Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences in recognition of the importance that this collection of digital video resources on the nature of science learning has for K-12 teachers and undergraduate faculty.