Developing the Resources

Overview

Once the Program Summary was completed and approved, it was up to me to develop individual educational resources for each week. Normally it would have been possible to bring in freelancers to draft the resources, hire additional subject matter experts and copy editors to help with revisions, and have the Digital Producing team add the materials to the Content Management System (CMS). However, with such a compressed timeline, that wasn't possible. My Director and mentor, Ariel Zych, took on editing and fact-checking for me since policy requires that any work for SciFri be reviewed by at least one other person to assure accuracy and quality. I am forever grateful for her support because it was a ton of demanding, time-sensitive work.

Nonetheless, it still meant I was responsible for most of the resource production work. I needed to create one completely new resource every week for five straight weeks. (I did six resources in five weeks because I'm a glutton for punishment.) Additionally, the resources needed to be "evergreen"--they needed to be clearly associated with Sun Camp but also be useful as a resource when completely separated from the program so that parents and educators could use them at any time down the road. That added a layer of complexity when designing the resource and drafting the text.

Here's an outline of the process:

1. Research and summarize the content topics.

2. Outline the introductory text.

3. Plan and test the hands-on activities.

4. Outline the project activity instructions and support text.

5. Create a draft of the resource, aiming for ~2,000 words.

6. Map image assets to the draft.

7. Submit for fact-checking, style edits, and copy edits.

8. Locate and license images as needed. Add to draft.

9. Produce activity images, photos, animations, video, etc. Add to draft.

10. Revise the draft based on the editor's comments.

11. Develop support materials such as presentations, etc.

12. Repeat the editing and revision cycle until the draft is finalized.

13. Research and add NGSS standards.

14. Edit images as needed for size, quality, and resolution. Upload to Media Gallery in CMS. Add captions, credit, and ALT text for each.

15. Digitally produce the resource, i.e. layout in the CMS to produce the website for the resource.

16. Link to associated SciFri content, add NASA grant support promotional items, add Educate newsletter sign-up form, add linkbacks to Sun Camp, etc.

17. Tweak the SEO. Create the headline (HED) and deck (DEK).

18. "Finish line" the resource, i.e. edits for style and layout from the Digital Production team.

19. Receive approval from Audience Director.

20. Schedule the resource for publication.

21. Coordinate promotion for the resource with the Social Media Manager.

22. Promote the resource on the Sun Camp website, Sun Camp newsletter, and STEM Educator's group.

In addition to the educational resources I produced, I also adapted the Program Summary into an Educator's Guide to facilitate those working with groups. Plus, I maintained and updated the Sun Camp main page weekly so that participants had an easy touchpoint for all the activities, Q&A sessions, and other materials. This was all in addition to my other duties both for the program and for Science Friday in general.

Creating these resources was one of the most challenging things I have ever done. Here's how each one went.

Week 1: Make A Swirling Shaving Cream Sun Model

For the first week of Sun Camp, we were investigating the Sun itself. The goal was to give participants a basic understanding of the Sun's composition, surface activity, and the solar cycle. I developed a STEAM activity in which participants created a model of the Sun using shaving cream and food dye to make a print representing the Sun. Then they were instructed to review photos of the Sun and add features such as sunspots, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections to enhance their models. They were encouraged to iterate and adjust the procedure until they got the results they wanted.

This was the easiest of the projects to develop and the easiest resource to write. That afforded some extra time to make a short video to go with the project and create nice support resources like presentation materials for teachers. I'm glad this one came together fairly easily because I had a lot of other Sun Camp preparation (developing the newsletter, completing registration, and setting up the first Q&A) that needed my focus.

This resource was very popular with participants. We received many photos from families showing off their prints. It was clear that they understood the content. I have no doubt it will be a popular project in the library for some time. It's a simple, artsy, fun activity that teaches important solar science really clearly. This is probably one of my favorite resources I've created not just for Sun Camp, but in general.

Read Make A Swirling Shaving Cream Sun Model.

Week 2: Gravity And Centripetal Force In Our Solar System

This was the hardest of the resources to create. It was an absolute nightmare to develop, write, and edit. When it was finally published, I cried. This resource had me seriously considering if I had made a HUGE mistake taking this job. It had me feeling like a failure as an educator and a writer.

And it has been the most used, most popular resource created for the program. It is bringing in organic traffic from outside the Sun Camp audience. Analytics show folks are reading it and spending time with the material. It's had over 2,000 views so far. No doubt be useful to many educators for a very long time.

Sometimes hard work really does pay off.

So the challenge here was taking really, really big and complex scientific concepts and bringing them to a level that could be easily understood without sacrificing quality or creating unintentional misconceptions. We opted to focus on the role of gravity in the formation of the Sun and solar system first. Then we connected that to gravity's role in the Earth's orbit around the Sun while introducing inertia and centripetal force. The experiments were designed to demonstrate important Newtonian physics in a simple and relatable way, each building on the previous concept. Then there was a design challenge at the end for participants to use what they'd learned.

Basically, I bit off more than I could chew with this one--on every level. I tried to pack in too many ideas, I tried to connect too many concepts, and I picked a very challenging topic for the audience. In the end, it worked out, and we have a great resource, but there was a cost in time and stress for both me and Ariel. The upside, from a professional standpoint, was that I learned a lot about keeping focus when developing a lesson and project.

Read Gravity And Centripetal Force In Our Solar System.

Week 3: The Science Of Sunlight And Shadows & The Awesome Energy Of The Sun

This was another time when I wanted to conquer a really big concept and it made the project challenging. The topic was the Sun and Earth connection, basically ways that the Sun interacts with the earth with a focus on light. Even narrowing it down to the electromagnetic spectrum was too much for a single resource. My first draft was over 4,500 words long, enough for three resources.

My director's first pass came with 120 edits and the comment, "This is absolutely outstanding, but it's too much here and needs to be parsed out."

I ended up cutting down some of the topics covered and broke the initial draft into two separate resources-- one focused on the electromagnetic .spectruma nd UV light and the other the movement of the Earth, shadows, seasons and eclipses. I needed to make additional artwork, which was a challenge. Plus it took a lot of extra time to adjust the sequence for each piece and add appropriate transitions. But I managed to get them both done on time. It was another exhausting week that had me wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into.

Read The Science Of Sunlight And Shadows and The Awesome Energy Of The Sun.

Week 4: Use Magnetic Fields To Understand Space Weather

Week 4 wasn't as challenging with the topic, thankfully. It was a pretty straightforward resource connecting the Sun's magnetic storms, solar winds, auroras, and magnetic fields. There were two main challenges. First, it was hard to come up with artwork for the projects that really showed what was happening. If I'd had the opportunity, I'd have made some videos demonstrating the procedures for the experiments, but that brings us to the second challenge. The Science Friday board meeting for the years was taking place the same week in New York. I had to prepare a report for that, travel to NYC, stay the night in a tiny hotel room, and attend hours of meetings in addition to my normal duties, which limited the time I could spend on the resource. And of course, my director (also my editor) was doing the same.

Anyway, getting this piece done meant a lot of extra hours. I was literally working on it Friday night while the final happy hour event was happening around me. (Until I got pulled away by my director because I was supposed to be schmoozing with the donors and Board members.) I finally finished it and got it published on the train home to NJ.

I like the look of this piece overall, but I still feel like it's just yet another pretty basic "test the magnets" kind of resource that doesn't connect as well to auroras as I'd like. However, I recognize that when you are creating projects for 5-9 years old, there are a lot of limitations, and you can't really make an aurora at home. Still, this is one I'd love to revisit and rework with more time. Apparently, participants agree because this is the least well-performing resource so far. Whomp whomp.

Read Use Magnetic Fields To Understand Space Weather.

Week 5: Use Engineering To Design A Solar Space Probe

This was my favorite. No other way to say it. It was a dream to write, I basically nailed it on the first try, and it came out pretty much exactly as planned. I especially loved the way that this resource paired with the first, kind of sandwiching the whole program in maker activities.

The hardest part with this resource was getting the images for the project. I wanted them to be authentic as I could so I asked my kids to do the project. I planned to use their morph charts, sketches, and prototypes. I probably should have just made my own, because getting them to help out when I was on a deadline was very stressful. I had also hoped to make a morph chart worksheet and a KWL sheet to add as resources, but I just didn't have the time to do it. So I may go back and add those when I am able.

Read Use Engineering To Design A Solar Space Probe.

Viewing to Date

I've reviewed the Google Analytics data to understand which resources have been most useful to the audience. It clearly shows that the gravity resource is the most popular with 1,345 users. Sunlight and Shadows and Shaving Cream Sun Model do well too, with over 300 users each. I dug further into the analytics to see what was driving the usage of the gravity resource. It looks like it is generating a lot of organic traffic. Basically, a lot of people are searching for this kind of material and our resource is coming up high in the search engine. In other words, it's a combination of need and good work on the SEO for this particular piece. Yay! It looks like Shadows is following the same trend. In other words, yes it's worth taking the time to develop the SEO for these educational resources. I may go back at some point and tweak some things to improve it for the other resources.

I'm hoping after the survey of participants, we'll get a bit more information as to what they preferred and why they used certain resources over others.