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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Hello,
Please reply to the list about this one!  We are also about to open an
early childhood exhibition (a first for us) and would appreciate any
insights/thoughts about operations & staffing too.
Janey

Janey Wood
Visitor Programs Manager
p  +61 02 6270 2907
f  +61 02 6270 2833
Questacon - the National Science and Technology Centre
King Edward Terrace Canberra ACT
PO Box E28 Kingston ACT 2604 Australia
http://www.questacon.edu.au


-----Original Message-----
From: Erin Mattimoe [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: Tuesday, 27 July 2004 2:28 AM
Subject: preschool spaces

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

Greetings all!
We have an area in our Museum that is dedicated to children 4 years of
age and younger and their caretakers. After reading the July/August
issue of Dimensions, I was not only fascinated by the information
presented by those institutions who had recently revamped/expanded their
preschool areas but also very grateful to those institutions for sharing
the results of their observations and research that was done in
preparation for the expansions.
So, my question(s): After you have created a space that successfully
encourages learning and engages the younger visitor, how do you use your
museum staff in that space? Do you have a staff member monitor the ages
of the visitors as they enter? Does your staff create programming
(workshops, activities, etc.) to happen in that space? If you have staff
for the preschool area, are their responsibilities focused solely in
that space or do they overlap with other areas of the museum (general
floor operations and programming, front desk operations, etc.)? If they
are focused only in the preschool area, how does their focus change when
the preschool area is slow (read what do you do to keep your staff from
getting bored when it is dead in the preschool area)? Also, is this a
part-time, full-time or volunteer staff position? Finally, how do you
keep those staff members energized and invested in the position when
there are significant downtimes in preschool area attendance and thus
keep turnover low?
We are trying to answer these questions for our own organization. Any
insight you could offer would be wonderful! Feel free to respond on- or
off-list.
Thanks a million in advance and have a spiffy day!
-Erin
 
 
Erin S. Mattimoe
Visitor Services and Public Programs Manager
 
Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum
220 E. Ann St.
Ann Arbor, Michigan, 48104
 
Phone: 734.995.5439
Fax: 734.995.1188
Web: www.aahom.org
 

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