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Tell them that their start time is 20 minutes before it really is?

When I taught college, one of my colleagues used to routinely do this
for field trips.  It worked for the first year students, but the seniors
got wise to it.  On the other hand, in my first year I once drove to a
dorm and had a student's friends drag him out of bed and I once left
without some of my students.  After that, the word got around and I
never had to wait on students.

There has to be a natural consequence that hits them where it matters -
like not getting paid, not getting a grade, or looking bad to their
friends.  You've got to look at the whole system.  What is going on when
the students are not teaching?  Is the lounge a little too desirable as
a hang-out?  Is there competition for positions, or are you desperate to
fill slots?  Is presenting desirable or frightening?   All of these will
affect what you can do and how you can work with students.  You could
for example pull a substitute in at the last minute if a student is not
there on time.  This might work if the substitutes feel put upon and are
able to put peer pressure on the slackers.  If the substitute is a nerd
with no social capital, it probably won't work.  

You might start by asking the students how they think it is going - the
answers might surprise you.  At worst, you'll hear that what you think
is going on is actually what is going on.

Good luck,

Dave Smith

David L. Smith, Ph.D.
Director of Professional Development
Da Vinci Science Center, Allentown, PA 
http://www.davinci-center.org

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> -----Original Message-----
> From: Informal Science Education Network 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Preeti Gupta
> Sent: Monday, February 19, 2007 6:31 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: need advice-getting staff to start programs on time
> 
> 
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of 
> Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network 
> of science museums and related institutions.
> **************************************************************
> ***************
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> We are experiencing a problem getting our casual staff to 
> start their  
> demos on time. Sometimes they are running from one post to another,  
> but other times, they have a warped sense of what it means to 
> start a  
> demo on time. They have been clearly instructed that they 
> must report  
> to their post 10 minutes before its scheduled start time, but they  
> just don't care. I have tried discipline, positive reinforcements,  
> morale boosting talks, responsibility talks, it looks bad on "me"  
> talks, and staff will shape up for a day or two, but then it reverts  
> back to old ways.
> 
> Does anyone have any advice on how to get about 150 college students  
> to get to their posts 10 minutes early? (Assume they are not running  
> from a different post.)
> 
> 
> Preeti Gupta
> Vice President for Education
> New York Hall of Science
> 47-01 111 Street
> Queens, NY 11368
> P. 718.699.0005 ext. 349
> F. 718.699.5227
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> **************************************************************
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> 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 
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