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

To Science Center Educators -- and particularly those who work in the 
field of astronomy:

Over the course of 10 plus years, there have been many NSF and NASA  
funded teacher workshops in astronomy ( and lots of other disciplines, 
but since I work at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, astronomy 
is what I've been involved in). Many of these have resulted in 
"home-made" inexpensive gadgets that could readily be ported to make and 
take style workshops for families in museums. But I notice a dearth of 
professional development opportunities for museum educators. Last month, 
I participated in a NASA sponsored focus group for informal educators, 
and we learned so much from networking with each other-- an unintended 
consequence of the meeting, but an excellent one.  So I'm wondering:

1. Do you also see a need for workshops for museum educators?
2. Would you or someone in your science center participate in a workshop 
if  expenses were taken care of?
3. When would you most likely participate in a workshop?  That is, are 
there months of the year that are less busy?  (I know that there is no 
way I could attend a workshop in the summer for example -- I'm too busy 
ruuning my own workshops!).
4. How long  can you be gone? Less than a week?  A week?  Two weeks?
5. What would you like to learn?
6. Would your science center be interested in collaborating on the 
development of workshops for other museum educators?

You can respond directly to me at [log in to unmask]
Your responses may result in an effort to seek funds to develop and 
deliver workshops for museum educators!

Sue Ann Heatherly
National Radio Astronomy Observatory
Green Bank, WV 24944

***********************************************************************
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 from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]