ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

yikes.  i admire your passion Clifford, but think its a wee bit extreme to
declare science centers as being the public face of science.  in the time
i've worked in/with science centers, i can only think of a couple of
instances where we were tapped for our expertise, and most often it had to
do with astronomical events.

the cynic in me would say that most science centers are to science as People
magazine is to serious biographic writing.  but i'm not as cynical as i used
to be :)

the point: most science centers i've visited are not scientific
institutions, nor are they educational institutions (please note the use of
the qualifier "most" in both instances)  and thank goodness for us, and for
the public.

the better institutions (better only in a personal sense - i liked them) are
those that understand they grow in an overlap between two expert cultures -
science & education (and sometimes a third culture, art - like the
exploratorium.)

i have always thought it was pretty well signified in the phrase 'informal
science education'

just my  2 cents.....



jeff courtman
shreveport, la

***********************************************************************
More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]