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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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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More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the
Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org.
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