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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This may partially depend on your definition of
"Discovery Lab."

Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute
of Popular Science [a.k.a. Buhl Science Center]
operated a "Discovery Lab" as part of our regular
public programs, starting in the mid-1980s through the
building's closure as a public museum in 1991.

Many different scientific experiments/demonstrations
were conducted in the Discovery Lab, primarily in the
physical sciences. The Discovery Lab was often
operated by a trained volunteer, but a trained member
of the paid Floor Staff [usually a part-time employee]
would also operate the Discovery Lab when a volunteer
was not available.

For the actual Discovery Lab facility, the director of
physics programming was responsible. As with other
Floor Staff positions, the Floor Supervisor on duty
would assign the volunteer or employee to staff the
Discovery Lab. Of course, if certain volunteers were
trained for, and had a special interest in, the
Discovery Lab, they would automatically be assigned
that duty when they were available.

As a regular part of the scientific public programming
of the institution, it was paid for through
unrestricted funds in the general budget.

gaw

--- Preeti <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 18:27:25 -0500 
From: "Preeti" <[log in to unmask]>  Add to Address
Book 
Subject: Managing discovery labs 
To: [log in to unmask] 

*****************************************************************************
> 
> I am interested to learn about organization
> structure from those museums who
> have discovery labs or small planetariums. Do you
> have part-time of
> full-time staff who oversees those spaces and what
> are the job
> responsibilities for that person or people? Are they
> paid with grants or
> unrestricted funds?
> 
> I am hoping to learn about as many different models
> as possible.
> -- 
> Preeti Gupta
> New York Hall of Science
> Vice President, Education
> 47-01 111 Street
> Flushing Meadows Corona Park, NY 11368
> ph. 718-699-0005 ext. 349
> fax. 718-699-1341t.com.

gaw

Glenn A. Walsh
Electronic Mail - < [log in to unmask] > 
Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.planetarium.cc > 
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago: 
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer & Optician John A. Brashear: 
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com > 
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries: 
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc > 
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh: 
  < http://www.incline.cc >


		
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