ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Hi everyone!
With so many "wise elders" ;-) sharing their memories I thought a young
blood should also chime in--I've only been to one ASTC and that was in Fort
Worth, TX. From that one conference I was totally hooked into the field!
From the live demo hour (where I got soaked with Coke and tasted salt with
my nose) to rocking out with They Might Be Giants I discovered this
was definitely no ordinary professional conference. I learned so much in
that week from bouncing ideas off other folks in the hallways and listening
to people who had been there and done that. This conference as big reason
why I'm staying in the field.

With that said, I'd like to echo what Nina wrote about encouraging the
young-in's to attend. Many of us love what we do, but have a hard time
seeing what long term growth could be when we're just swabbing the decks. I
returned from Fort Worth and started encouraging my work study students to
stay in the museum field, and two of them did take museum jobs right after
graduating! Robert Krulwich delivered a great commencement address to
CalTech that I heard on a RadioLab podcast about telling the story of
science. I think that is exactly what we do best, so why not make sure we
continue to have bright young minds tell that story?

These are my questions to everyone: Are we doing enough to cultivate young
talent in the field? How can other people get involved in current efforts?
 Or did most of  us just end up working in museums by some happy accident
and things will continue this way......

I'd love to hear what people think/feel/are doing because this is something
I see impacting my generation as we look for work and our place in this
society. My favorite story to tell at recruitment fairs was of how my
friends would be telling me about their day sitting at a computer staring at
spreadsheets while my response was "I spent my day trying to figure out how
to safely explode a pumpkin in front of a crowd."

With lots of love and thanks to everyone at my first (but definitely not my
last!) ASTC,
BJ

On Thu, Oct 21, 2010 at 1:47 PM, Jonah Cohen <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> With 2010's festivities in Honolulu, I realize that I have now been to
> 10 Annual Conferences of ASTC. There are two conclusions to draw from
> this:
>
> 1) I am old. Really old.
> 2) Especially for someone at a small museum, like mine, it has been
> unbelievably valuable to meet up with and exchange ideas with my cohorts
> from the science center world. So to everyone I say, as they would in
> Hawaii, Mahalo.
>
> And now, a trip down memory lane. Here are a few of the things I recall
> from the hosts of our last 10 shindigs:
>
> 2001, Arizona Science Center: the freaky psychology exhibit, the video
> display with the 3 second delay
>
> 2002, Discovery Place: an awesome chemistry demo area, the terraced
> exhibit space, lots of robots
>
> 2003, Science Museum of Minnesota: Cell Lab, Experiment Gallery,
> Collector's Corner, the terminator pigs, the demo where they dropped
> stuff off of a balcony
>
> 2004, The Tech Museum: The Tech Challenges, the drawing robot, the
> high-tech kids area, The Revolver
>
> 2005, Science Museum of Virginia: The earth + moon kugels, Newton in
> Space, rat basketball
>
> 2006, Louisville Science Center: World We Create, the waterless stream
> table, maze-like design of every building in town
>
> 2007, California Science Center: Big Lab, the rose garden, Tess the
> giant robot, the chick hatchery
>
> 2008, Franklin Institute: the heart, the sports exhibit, pirates, the
> kids area
>
> 2009, Fort Worth Museum of Science & History: the noise-making pinball
> game, the activity rooms, the construction
>
> 2010, Bishop Museum: meet me at the hot spot, the ocean/volcano exhibit
> combo, the main hall in Hawaii Hall
>
> And a few superlatives, IMHO, from the last decade:
>
> BEST NEARBY MUSEUM: Have to fudge + go with a tie - The Exploratorium
> (close to San Jose) & The Sonora Desert Museum (close to Phoenix).
> Honorable mentions to Monterey Bay Aquarium/SJ Children's Discovery
> Museum/Lawrence Hall of Science (San Jose), the Baaken Museum (St.
> Paul), Louisville Slugger Museum (Louisville) & The Mutter Museum
> (Philadelphia)
>
> BEST FOOD: Philadelphia, hands down. Thank you, Reading Terminal Market.
>
> BEST CONFERENCE SPEAKER: Has to be Geoffrey Canada of the Harlem
> Children's Zone. (Los Angeles). Honorable mentions to astronaut Mike
> Melville (Richmond), biologist EO Wilson (Louisville), author Steven
> Johnson (Philly) + the Mythbusters (LA)
>
> MOST NOTABLE WEATHER: Holy smokes, it was cold in St. Paul.
>
> BEST TOYS IN THE EXHIBITOR HALL: I liked the hurricane booth, that
> buffeted you with 80 mph winds. Props also to the strobe-powered OI that
> made it look like water was dripping upwards.
>
> BEST ANIMAL GUEST STAR: Close call. Smithfield the painting pig
> (Richmond) had artistic talent, but like all artists was kind of
> temperamental. Sticker the longhorn steer (Ft. Worth) was friendlier,
> but had some drool issues.
>
> BEST ENTERTAINMENT: They Might Be Giants (Ft. Worth.) I'm impressed.
>
> BEST SMELLING PARKING LOT: Science museum of Virginia. Really, it smells
> like cookies.
>
> BEST CONVENTION SWAG: In Philadelphia, everyone's conference tote
> included one of the plushes from Giant Microbes. I got the T-4
> Macrophage.
>
> WILDEST DEMO: OK, a few contenders---
>        Sherry Marshall of the Oklahoma Museum Network, whose LN2/ping
> pong ball explosion in Honolulu won't be forgotten soon
>        The London Science Museum, their outreach live presentation in
> LA on the digestive system wowed everyone with actual footage from
> inside the human body, and made jokes I didn't know you were allowed to
> make in a school
>        Steven Walvig of The Baaken, for the Thunder-house demo he set
> off in Fort Worth
>        The traveling science crew of The Franklin Institute, who added
> to their host-party with an extended, fire-and-LN2 affair dubbed Random
> Acts of Science
>        William Katzman of the Catawba Museum, who fascinated/frightened
> attendees in Richmond by walking barefoot on glass shards
>
> BIGGEST SERENDIPITY: As ASTC'ers were enjoying open house at The Bishop
> this month, they were treated to a huge rainbow above Honolulu.
>
> My friends, thanks for all the Manao (sharing of thoughts), and I hope
> to see you next year in Baltimore.
>
> Jonah Cohen
> Outreach & Public Programs Manager
> The Children's Museum
>
>
> ***********************************************************************
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the
> Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
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-- 
************************************************
BJ R. Siasoco
------------------
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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