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I've also been questioning standards.

The questioning was piqued, in part, by someone I know who has a fine
art degree and has just secured her 3rd position as a science educator.
Not that I think the person is incapable of rising to the level of 4th
grade science, but if we keep hiring people without science backgrounds
to plan & present our science education, there will be nothing greater
than 4th grade science in our museums. 

Ref:
>as in things we should all know as professionals

A certified teacher (in most states) generally needs to take a range of
classes in his/her chosen discipline as well as in child psychology and
pedagogy (details are on the websites of any college that offers
teaching degrees). That seems like a good combo for a museum educator as
well. The pedagogy would need modifications for object based informal
education. The psyche and discipline classes would seem to work with a
certain number of college credits at or above some cutoff grade that
would appear on the applicant's college transcripts. 

So, what about the artist who is in her 3rd job as a science educator?
What about work experience instead of college credit?

My experience (I teach college freshman biology & chemistry) is that,
for some classes, students can opt to take the final-exam-only for full
class credit if they think they have equivalent experience. I have
_never_ had any student pass even the 1st semester, community college
level, introductory biology or chemistry final exam without taking the
class. This includes a student who had been a lab technician for 4 years
and one who had a BS in engineering. 


What are the dangers of setting standards?

Well, one danger is that it will be harder for artists to find jobs as
science educators, and visa versa. 

But there would be advantages, too. 

Such as...
Science teachers planning class trips will have the option to pick
museums that have certified science educators and art teachers will be
able to pick from museums with certified art educators. 

And also...
Students will be able to trust that the certified science educator at
the after school program who helped with their science project has
actually taken a science class. 


With this in mind... my artist colleague's assessment of science
literacy, science curricula needs and science program development appear
to be meaningless. It seems that when a person can rise to the level of
developing science programming without ever taking a science class,
then... standards are long overdue. 

Hey...
Go for it!

diane h peapus, phd





<-----Original Message-----> 
>From: Beryl Rosenthal [[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: 10/10/2007 1:50:49 PM
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: standards - not the school kind
>
>***********************************************************************
******
>
>Anybody know if there are formal professional standards for museum 
>education as in things we should all know as professionals? (I'm 
>sitting in a meeting and we are considering developing a certificate 
>program for museum educators.)
>Thanks,
>Beryl
>
>-- 
>
>Beryl Rosenthal, Ph.D.
>Director, Tsongas Industrial History Center
>Boott Cotton Mills
>115 John Street
>Lowell, MA 01854
>(978) 970-5081 (t)
>(978) 970-5085 (f)
>http://www.uml.edu/tsongas
>
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the
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