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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Cannot... resist.... answering.... outreach questions!

Ahem. What I meant to say is, there's a lot of variety, and with
different centers' org charts, what might be considered "outreach" by
one place, might be considered something else at another place. But a
general overview of stuff that is offered and might be considered
outreach by someone, somewhere:

It could be anything offered outside the center building itself. Schools
are the most common recipient of outreaches, but libraries, scouts,
community groups (ie Boys & Girls Clubs) and others are also places that
have outreach folks travel to them. There are a boatload of formats this
is done in.

* Hands-on classes where (usually) small groups do an experiment or
series of experiments.
* Station-based experiments where a bunch of related experiments are set
up around a large room and kids get to mosey from one to another.
* Outright exhibits which are set up in a big area, very similar to
bringing a chunk of the museum to another location.
* Presentations with specialized equipment (ie the STARLAB portable
planetarium)
* Demonstration-based presentations, often done for large groups; these
usually feature a few audience volunteers but mostly the audience
watches while the outreach presenter does the demos. (Useful for flashy
stuff you wouldn't let kids use themselves, ie fire, or liquid
nitrogen).
* Bringing out full-blown labs and/or exhibits that are contained inside
a big ole vehicle. (Mobile Labs like this are done by a number of
places, ie the American Museum of Natural History, or Science South)
* Types of outreach where a presenter never leaves the center at all.
These could involve sending out equipment and lesson plans in kits or
trunks that the teachers use, then return (the Science Museum of
Minnesota is one example) or "distance learning" where equipment is sent
out, but the lesson conducted by a museum staffer at the museum who
communicates with the class via closed-circuit tv or the web (ie the
Louisville Science Center)
* Programs designed for specific groups/purposes. For example, an
after-school program might be available for science clubs that involve a
series of presentations that occur over a number of weeks, possibly one
extended project (say, putting together robots or rockets) that requires
multiple visits. Or teacher training. (The Exploratorium's Institute For
Inquiry is one prime example.) Or things like the Science Museum of
Virginia's SOL program (howdy, Summer n Kasey) for helping
low-performing school improve their state test scores.
* It's not unknown to have outsiders shanghaied into becoming,
effectively, additional staffers for the museum's mission. I saw a
wicked cool presentation at ASTC a few years back where SMM explained
how part of their outreach includes recruiting and training specialist
community groups (say, your local rocketry, or bee-keeping or medical
association etc) into how to do programming and/or exhibits of their
own.
* Some combination of the above. It's not uncommon for the bigger places
(your COSI/Pacific/OMSI/etc weight class) to do a type of outreach
where, say, an assembly/demo for the whole school kicks things off, then
is followed up by mobile exhibits and/or smaller hands-on classes.
* Some other stuff I'm sure I've foolishly forgotten.

Things like the target audiences, how the programs are funded, how long
they last, how they travel etc all vary, a lot. As, of course, do the
science topics covered. You name it, someone does it.

Gosh, it's easy to see why NEON is the most exciting session at the ASTC
Conference! *kaff**kaff**shameless shill!*

Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
The Children's Museum

"The internet is not a thing you can just put stuff into, like a truck.
It's a series of tubes."
         -Sen. Ted Stevens

-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ann M. Myers
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 6:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Outreach

I was wondering if perhaps thoughts could be shared on what the word 
Outreach means to the Science Center community. What types of programs 
are considered outreach? Any ideas and thoughts would be greatly 
appreciated.

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