"Cool Science for Curious Kids"
Program sponsored by: The Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Communicating science is not "for adults only." In September 1998, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute launched a new Web site containing hands-on science activities from five children's and science museums to help kids learn and enjoy science. This site, called "Cool Science for Curious Kids" at http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience, featured animation, sound, quizzes and other techniques to encourage kids to explore science, such as by building a model of a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, or identifying which parts of plants belong in the family salad bowl.

The activities were developed by five museums that received support from HHMI's Precollege and Science Education Program—the Chicago Academy of Sciences, the Children's Discovery Museum in San Jose, the Children's Museum in Boston, the Minnesota Children's Museum, and the Scotia-Glenville Children's Museum in New York.

Mark Hertle, senior program officer of HHMI's Precollege and Science Education Program, worked with the museums to determine the best activities for inclusion on the "Cool Science for Curious Kids" site. These activities were originally print-based or for use in a museum or classroom setting, thus creating the challenge of altering them to become Web-based, interactive and fun for kids 5-8.

Once the activities were identified, the site was then created by a team of consultants including writers, artists and Web developers in collaboration with HHMI staff. For the full list of credits see http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/credits.html.

Burness Communications, in collaboration with HHMI, worked to promote this new and creative Web site. The goal was to attract elementary school children, parents and educators to the site. Prior to launch, Burness Communications spent a great deal of time identifying Web sites, on- and off-line publications, associations, lists and listserves used by our target audience. Having publicized a new Web site in the past, we knew it was important to reach our target audience through both on-line and off-line mediums.

The promotion plan was multidimensional and included a media outreach effort, a postcard mailing and Web-marketing efforts such as optimizing search engine placement, posting announcements on listserves and launching a link-solicitation campaign. The promotional effort was implemented by two members of the Burness Communications Web team, who specialize in Web marketing, in conjunction with members of HHMI's communications staff.

Because of the site's excellent design and interactive content, the site was chosen as a prestigious USA Today Hot Site, and featured by Popular Science, Chicago Sun-Times, Chattanooga Free Press and St. Paul Pioneer Press. Education organizations such as the National Science Teachers Association and National Association of Elementary School Principals ran announcements about the site in their newsletters.

On the Web-marketing front, more than 27 listserves posted information regarding the "Cool Science" site, including EARTHK-12: K-12 (Earth science teachers discussion list); ECENET-L (early childhood education/young children, 0-8); and WYCOOL-L (Way Cool software reviews by children, teachers, and parents). One month after promoting the site, more than 25 education sites established links to "Cool Science for Curious Kids." These sites included ABC's of Parenting, Berit's Best Sites for Children, and The Online Educator. Also, statistical data showed that the site had good positioning in the search engines, as many visitors found the "Cool Science for Curious Kids" site using the top search engines.

Traffic to "Cool Science for Curious Kids" went up dramatically owing to the high quality of the site, as well as to the promotional efforts. Traffic to the site rose 76% from October 1998 (a few weeks after the launch) to February 1999, when the site received more than one million hits.

Looking back over the project, three major lessons were learned.

• First, when promoting a new Web site, reach out to your target audience through both on- and off-line mediums. When promoting an on-line product, do not limit efforts to online promotions such as E-mail announcements, search engine optimization and establishing links. Mentions in print media and postcard promotions help maximize visibility among the target audience.
• Second, a multidimensional marketing strategy is important for reaching the target audience additional times through different mediums, thus increasing the probability of multiple visits to the Web site.
• Third, when creating a new Web site, think creatively about your program and present it in a consumer-friendly way. HHMI was extremely successful editorially in translating the work of its precollege grants program into a useful and exciting site for families, educators and kids.

This communication strategy laid the groundwork for "Cool Science for Curious Kids" continuing popularity. At present, more than 2,000 sites link to "Cool Science," one of the most visited (and useful) sections of the HHMI Web site.

Budget
Web Site Design & Development - estimated budget $25,400
Promotion & Marketing - estimated budget $11,000

ContactContact
Patricia Foster
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
4000 Jones Bridge Rd.
Chevy Chase, MD 20815
301-215-8860
fosterp@hhmi.org

Amanda Franks
Burness Communications
7910 Woodmont Ave., Ste. 1340
Bethesda, MD 20814
301-652-1558
afranks@burnesscommunications.com

Website
http://www.hhmi.org/coolscience/

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Created: 9/16/2002
Last updated: 10/29/02

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