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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We all know that a major chunk of the problem is trying to get kids interested.  What better way than PD to get teachers fired up to teach in ways that make science attractive, engaging and friendly?

The last piece is critical.  If teachers find science scary, or feel that they can't understand it themselves, then you KNOW that attitude will be reflected in the way they teach it. I once overheard a teacher tell a student, "I know, I think it's hard, too, but you have to know it."  (SIGH!)   

I just started Dennis Trumble's, "The Way of Science" (good read, by the way) and he reiterates what we all know, that besides being about a process of inquiry, science is also about evaluating evidence.  That's a life skill that can be used for ALL aspects of life, which a fired-up teacher will pass along:  

"In truth, people are far more capable of understanding science than they realize.  The main reason they tend not to is because the scientific method - arguably the single most important intellectual tool we have to bestow upon our children - has been given short shrift in science classrooms in deference to a longsome list of isolated facts that students are expected to memorize in order to pass their exams.  This mind-numbing approach to science education, apart from being deadly dull, has proven disastrous from a scientific literacy standpoint in that most students manage to retain reams of scientific information (for a time) but learn very little about critical thinking and evidence0based problem solving in the process."

Get the teacher excited, s/he will get students excited.

Beryl


-----Original Message-----
>From: William Katzman <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Nov 12, 2013 5:35 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Why do museums do teacher PD?
>
>ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
>Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
>*****************************************************************************
>
>Michelle,
>
>I think following your statement of "we can't reach every teacher everywhere, so why do we do it at all?" should extend to it's next logical conclusion:  "We can't get every person to the museum, so why bring any?"  This line of reasoning is pretty self defeatist  similar in nature to saying: Why eat, you're never going to abolish your hunger permanently.  People try to get every science teacher to PD, or every student to the museum - but few succeed, and many couldn't handle the traffic if they did succeed.  The question is never about reaching everyone, it's about making an impact by reaching some people.
>
>We all probably suffer under what may be a delusion - that we can make a positive impact with our efforts, that we have worthy things to provide.  Everyone involved in this business probably believes they can provide experiences of value to others - hopefully most of us are right.
>
>Now to answer your question:
>
>1) Mission:  Many simply do it because it fits their mission
>2) Stakeholder Interest - schools are bread and butter to most museums - therefore you try to fulfill the schools' requests
>3) Money - it can bring resources (money, or school interest) to the museum
>4) To move from nice to necessary  (this ties in with 2) - to become a central part of the school community fabric.
>5) Numbers affected:  if you consider each teacher just affecting thirty students, then the idea of positively influencing 30 teachers means you've positively influenced 90 students.  By this line of reasoning teacher PD is the strongest impact we can achieve (this line of reasoning does have its flaws, but the idea of a multiplicative affect is alluring to funders and to the idea of promoting systemic positive changes.
>6) Because "that's the way it's always been done."
>
>Personally we do it because it's a central part of our mission, and we justify the extra costs because of the multiplicative effect.  We are also staffed by former teachers - so that probably comes to bear when we allocate our resources.
>
>-William
>
>On Nov 12, 2013, at 3:09 PM, Michelle Nichols <[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.
>> *****************************************************************************
>> 
>> So, a question was posed to me today that I thought would be interesting to pose to the list-serv because I would be fascinated to see your replies, even if it's just from a few folks or many of you: Why do museums do teacher professional development? 
>> We can't reach every teacher everywhere, so why do we do it at all?
>> 
>> I am not looking for a particular answer. I just want to experience the breadth of answers that I suspect would come out of posing such a question.  Hope you enjoy noodling on that one for a bit. :>)
>> 
>> Michelle
>> 
>> Michelle Nichols, Master Educator - NASA Forum Programs
>> The Adler Planetarium
>> 1300 S. Lake Shore Dr.
>> Chicago, IL  60605
>> 312-322-0520 
>> 312-322-2257 (fax)
>> [log in to unmask]
>> http://www.adlerplanetarium.org
>> 
>> 
>> Visit our website: http://www.adlerplanetarium.org
>> 
>> 
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>
>
>William Katzman	 						Program Leader
>[log in to unmask]				LIGO Science Education Center
>225-686-3134							"Inspiring Science"
>		
>
>
>
>
>
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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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>The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
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