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Diane:

Kasey put it more eloquently than I perhaps can.  Still, your attack  
was rather vitriolic and disparaging, and having a graduate degree in  
art, I wanted to put my two cents in.....Uninformed, of course.  I  
was only trained as an artist.

Luckily, you weren't the hiring supervisor when I sneaked into the  
field ( somehow I've managed to stay in  for 20 years now, staying  
below the radar, as it were).  Even though I'm an exhibit geek at  
heart, I find myself more allied with learning facilitators (I abhor  
the word 'educator' in a museum setting) because I want to be part of  
the process of setting the stage for learning.

Personally, I'll take the educator/teacher/facilitator who shares a  
passion for curiosity, recognizes their own limits - after all, the  
world is a pretty darn big place - who'll act more as a tour guide  
rather than an omniscient scholar.

Your arguments are precisely why I get the heebie-jeebies when  
someone mentions standards for museum educators.  In my world there  
is room for both the scholar and the dilettante - and of course I  
count myself as one of the later.   In my world, I prefer discourse  
rather than pronouncements.

Aspiring to the level of 4th grade science,

Jeff Courtman, MFA, and darn proud of it......




On Oct 11, 2007, at 12:55 AM, Diane Peapus wrote:

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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
>>
>> ********************************************************************* 
>> **
>> For information about the Association of Science-Technology  
>> Centers and
> the
>> Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>>
>> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at
>> www.exhibitfiles.org.
>>
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>
> ********************************************************************** 
> *
> For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers  
> and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
>
> Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at  
> www.exhibitfiles.org.
>
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Jeff Courtman
Director of Exhibit Development
Museumscapes
Office:  972.231.0002
Cell:     469.831.2256
[log in to unmask]




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Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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