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

We give our "floor people" the title of "Education Staff" with the
understanding that they have many roles, one of which is "Questioner".

When science centers provide professional development for teachers, we
usually guide them to discover science content by modeling
inquiry-centered teaching. The natural outgrowth for me is to model this
for the parents, grandparents, chaperones, etc. in our exhibit halls.
The most valuable service our staff provide is the service of
questioner.

The "Explainer" element of our staff's interaction comes through when we
give demonstrations of varying (sometimes zero) levels of actual
interaction with "stuff". Even then, however, the method is heavy on the
questions. In order to pull this off, it really helps to have teachers -
who have been in classrooms around lots of kids and know how their minds
work - as Education Staff. Some come to us with this gift. Others need
to be brought along. But the key is definitely in the questions.

Bill

Bill Watson
Education Director
Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center
Mobile, AL
(251) 208-6851

*******************************************************************
Search for the elusive and noble Indian Tiger in the Gulf
Coast's only IMAX Dome Theater! "India: Kingdom of the
Tiger" now showing through December 24, 2003.

"Scream Machines: The Science of Fun" opens in the
Exploreum's traveling exhibit hall on September 27, 2003.
*******************************************************************


-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Lloyd Andy
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 7:01 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Interactive Exhibit Research

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

Ian, Regan

An observation from my "explainer" days:  when I was at Eureka (a
Children's
Museum in Halifax, UK, similar to the Brooklyn Children's Museum) the
best
Explainers (or "Enablers" as they are called there) were the ones who
spent
a lot of their time kneeling down to be at or below children's eye
height.
This changed the dynamic of any interaction and made it much easier to
have
a 2-way conversation rather than giving a 1-way talk.  As an example,
the
staff uniform there included black jeans, and I usually wore out the
knees
of mine in a couple of months.

Andy

Andy Lloyd                              tel. +44 (0) 20 7942 4377
Development Manager             fax +44 (0) 20 7942 4383
Science Museum Solutions        www.sciencemuseum.org.uk

NMSI Trading Limited, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD, United Kingdom


-----Original Message-----
From: Regan Forrest [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2003 12:44 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Interactive Exhibit Research


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


>
> What seems to work well is a skillfully cultivated
> "low-status" persona. In
> terms of transactional analysis, it needs to be child-child. Not
> parent-child, or adult-child. Most of us here are in this
> business, myself
> include, because we are compulsive explainers. Therefore we
> actually find
> it almost impossible to achieve such humility or to ask truly open
> questions, with voices that do not imply that we already know
> the correct
> answer.
>
...

Besides making floorstaff incognito (and risk "person who knows" being
substituted by "weirdo asking me questions for no apparent reason -
what's
their agenda, should I call the police?") , I can't see how staff can
ever
fill that 'grandmother' role. We just have to hope that kids continue to
bring their own along.

This e-mail and attachments are intended for the named addressee only
and are confidential. If you have received this e-mail in error please
notify the sender immediately, delete the message from your computer
system and destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are
those of the individual sender and may not reflect the views of the
National Museum of Science & Industry. This email has been scanned for
all viruses by the MessageLabs Email Security System.

***********************************************************************
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]

***********************************************************************
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]