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Hi, Martin,
I am at a botanical garden that is forming a partnership with a nearby
children's museum, in preparation for becoming neighbors in the future.
We've been working together for about a year through a Learning
Opportunities Grant funded through IMLS titled "Inside/Outside World
Cultures." The experience has been a wonderful opportunity to celebrate our
differences, though some have been easier to celebrate than others.
I believe there's a great deal for each partner to gain.
We've gained very talented advisors on early childhood education that we
could not afford to maintain on staff. They tell us when an activity idea
is age-inappropriate before we spent much energy developing a program. They
help us take a concept from a program for older kids and create a
pre-school approach. They are accustomed to working with family groups with
small children, who provide significantly different challenges for
interpretation from those of working with any single age group (the way
most of our tour groups arrive). They can give us tips about how to involve
two different age groups at the same time.
Our missions are very different, and that broadens the scope of how we can
approach a shared topic. Our colleagues can introduce elements of our
program theme (in the case of the first year, Japanese culture and its
connections to nature) that would not utilize the strengths of a botanical
garden (or science center): clothing, art, home life, theater, music, and
dance. Their programs can create connections between the children's
everyday life and Japanese culture. Our programs can then segue into
"nature" with an existing connection in the play learning the children have
done at the children's museum. For example, they may have seen bamboo in
Japanese furniture, art, and clothing motifs. They have drawn with bamboo
pens, colored bamboo stencils, sat on bamboo mats, and "bought" canned
bamboo shoots at the children's garden supermarket. When they come here,
they can explore live bamboo, touch it, make music with it, look at its
internal structure, see its common relatives (grasses) and learn about the
animals that depend upon it for survival. Bamboo is made more meaningful
through the connections they've already developed at the children's museum.
The reverse also happens. Kids might be introduced to Japanese plants and
associated animals here at the garden (live or through activities that
connect the animals to our living plants). When they then visit the museum,
they see "old friends" in the plants that are so ubiquitous in Japanese
design. They might see a turtle here at the Gardens, learn what it does in
the habitat, and learn about its meaning as a symbol in Japanese culture.
Children's stories about turtles, art and clothing that use a turtle motif,
and turtle toys then gain significance when they see them at the children's
museum.
Cross-promotions have been helpful marketing tools from the beginning of
the partnershop. We provide discount coupons to their facility for our
guests, and visa versa. The discount coupons are also given away at
community outreach events at which our IMLS team represents both
organizations. We can share advertising for some events. We can expand the
exposure for corporate partners who support a joint program.
We've had opportunities to meet wonderful new professional colleagues
through this partnership. At the board level, there has been some
cross-pollination, but not much yet. While it's not clear to me if the two
boards will communicate effectively with one another, I think the benefits
of a partnership like ours will become even more obvious to them as the
program continues, and the resultant growth for each organization could be
one of the goals you ask about below.
There are challenges as well, and it's worth mentioning some of them
briefly. The children's museum has a job to do that is very different from
that of a botanical garden or science museum. Educators who staff museums
with a scientific focus area often have a science background. The educators
have taught in high school and college, or perhaps in elementary school,
but always with clearly articulated educational objectives, often tied to
national and state standards. They sometimes don't really appreciate the
value of activities like dress up, pretend stations, and coloring. What is
distained as "fluff" for a science museum is experiential learning "meat"
for a children's museum. Early childhood education specialists have their
own goals and performance standards for programs and exhibits. It is
important to recognize and respect the very different missions and
approaches of the two organizations. Nuff said.
We'll be reporting on the process of collaboration next year, toward the
end of our grant period. I hope to share some of our experiences at the
fall 2005 ASTC conference.
Diane
Diane A. Baxter, Ph.D.
Director of Development
Quail Botanical Gardens
P.O. Box 230005
Encinitas, CA 92023-0005
(760) 436-3036 ext. 216
www.qbgardens.org
"Sowing seeds of wonder for today and tomorrow"
At 12:05 AM 12/8/2004 -0500, you wrote:
> Does anyone know of studies that document collaborations between
> science centers and children's museums?
>
> I am interested in this because our audience at the Hall of
> Science is becoming younger and younger (especially within family groups
> and younger elementary school children). We have experience presenting
> science to older audiences but not necessarily to younger children. So, I
> am interested in studies that document how science museums and children's
> museum have collaborated on projects and what the outcomes were in terms
> of the goals each partner set for themselves.
>
> If you were to enter into such a partnership what would you like
> to gain as an institution?
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>Martin
>--
>Martin Weiss, Ph.D
>Director of Science
>New York Hall of Science
>47-01 111 th Street
>Corona, New York 11368
>718 699 0005 x 356
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