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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Lisa Jo, and others,

It's not a science center, but there is an educational group, the
Elementary Science Integration Project, that really gets what it means
to translate real science to the kid level.  They engage children in
investigations that are authentic to the kids (they are posed by the
kids and the answer cannot be found in some published source), the kids
"publish" their work in an ongoing record and in annual conferences,
etc.  The work of this group, which includes Wendy Saul, Jeanne Reardon,
Charles Pearce, and others, is described in several books and summarized
inone, Science Workshop,
(http://www.heinemann.com/shared/products/E00510.asp).  It would be
extremely challenging to implement their ideas on the exhibit floor, but
aspects of their work can inform how we treat visitor-generated
questions and data.

David L Smith
Director of Professional Development 
Da Vinci DiscoveryCenter of Science and Technology
http://www.discovery-center.org



-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lisa Jo Rudy
Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2005 11:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: real science and science centers/museums


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

Interestingly, most of the science museums I've seen that have a 
research arm seem to have some real challenges in connecting their 
research to public exhibitions.  Either the research/researchers are 
too complex and/or obscure to get across easily, or there is real 
dispute between educators and scientists as to what an appropriate 
exhibit should include, how it should be presented, how it can be made 
accessible to the lay public.

I would love to see some kind of a process whereby willing scientists 
and researchers could work directly with museums and science centers to 
create truly meaningly science education.  I think this happens all too 
rarely, in is surprisingly hard to manage.

In my mind, one of the best examples of this is the WINS (women in 
natural sciences) program which ran (runs?) for years at the Academy of 
Natural Sciences.  Girls, most from disadvantaged backgrounds, were in 
the program over the course of several years.  They were not only 
"taught," but actually did teaching themselves, went on serious field 
trips to do real hands-on work, and then worked with and for 
researchers in the labs.  The two kids I kept in touch with (because 
they worked as teens for my husband, then the overnight and weekend 
coordinator) went straight from Philadelphia public schools to, in one 
case, become a Ph.D. engineer and then professor, and in another case a 
masters student in education at Columbia.

This was not a one-shot visit, or even a several week program.  this 
was a multi-year program that built kids' awareness, engagement, skills 
and self-confidence to the point that they actually went on to DO 
science and/or science educaiton -- even though they were NOT typical 
scientist types (mostly African American girls and then women).  It 
involved not only women educators but also men scientists -- and got 
the girls into the lab doing real research.  Amazing, in a way, since 
the scientists at the Academy are systematists -- not astronomers, for 
example, which is obviously much cooler.

Proof that it can be done if done right.




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*****

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

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