Public understanding of climate science got an infusion of energy with the December launch of a major national collaborative designed to engage citizens of all ages directly in investigations of local indicators of climate change.

Communicating Climate Change, a project of ASTC’s IGLO (International Action on Global Warming) Initiative, pairs 12 science centers with research institutions to observe and document indicators of climate change, from bark beetle infestations to changing patterns of bird migration. Also supporting the project are the American Geophysical Union, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, and Cornell Lab of Ornithology. The Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies will study effects of participation in educational activities on public attitudes and behavior.

Yale’s Anthony Leiserowitz, a Co-Principal Investigator for the project, notes that his research suggests that most people believe that “climate change is something that takes place somewhere else far away, not in your own backyard.” Communicating Climate Change is designed to change that understanding. In addition to educational programs and research activities, the project will produce a series of videos for broadcast on American television’s ABC network and a web-based interactive map where science centers worldwide can contribute climate indicator data.

Science centers participating in the project are: Arizona Science Center, Phoenix; Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii; Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, California; EdVenture Children’s Museum, Columbia, South Carolina; the Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Maryland Science Center, Baltimore; Museum of Discovery & Science, Fort Lauderdale, Florida; New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque; New York Hall of Science, Queens (where the launch event took place); Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, San Diego, California; Sciencenter, Ithaca, New York; and Saint Louis Science Center, Missouri.

Communicating Climate Change is funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Informal Science Education program.

Photo: Chabot Space & Science Center teen volunteer Connie Phu and college environmental intern Marie VanZandt explore atmospheric models with science center public visitors. Photo courtesy of Chabot Space & Science Center

On October 9–13, Saint Louis Science Center, Missouri, invited visitors to celebrate and engage in science at SciFest 08. The new annual event featured sessions and demonstrations on topics ranging from the science of chocolate and the physics of rock & roll, to climate change and the future of cancer research.

Physicist Mark Lewney used his guitar skills to teach audiences about such complex topics as quantum mechanics and the Superstring theory. The festival’s “Fashion with a Purpose” competition invited area student fashion designers to take part in a green fashion show. Other events included an Omnimax FilmFest, Young Scientist workshops, and a showcase of demonstrations and hands-on exhibits.

Each year, science centers and museums plan celebrations that introduce thousands of people to science. The November/December 2008 issue of ASTC Dimensions examines how science celebrations are advancing public engagement with science, changing attitudes, bringing in new audiences, and strengthening links among science centers. ASTC Connect, the online professional development area of the ASTC website, will hold an online discussion about science celebrations in the Dimensions Forum, December 15–19.

Photo courtesy Saint Louis Science Center

IN THIS ISSUE
November/December 2008

In 2009, science centers and museums will celebrate the Year of Science, Charles Darwin’s 200th birthday, and the International Year of Astronomy. Every year, many institutions plan programs around global initiatives like Earth Science Week and international holidays like World Environment Day. New celebrations such as NanoDays and the Cambridge Science Festival, Massachusetts, are introducing thousands of people to science. In this issue, we examine how science celebrations are advancing public engagement with science, changing attitudes, bringing in new audiences, and strengthening links among science centers.

Contents
• Year of Science 2009: Communicating, Collaborating, and Celebrating Science, by Sheri Potter and Judy Scotchmoor
• From the Origin to the Future of Species: Celebrating Darwin’s Legacy, by Katie Edwards
• Stars Align for the International Year of Astronomy 2009, by Kat Stein
• ASTC and the International Year of Astronomy 2009, by Walter Staveloz
• Challenging and Changing Minds: Emotional Learning and Physics Competitions, by Rachel Moll
• We Threw a Party and Everybody Came: A Science Celebration Sampler (Small Things Considered, by Vrylena Olney and Karen Pollard; Doors Wide Open for Earth Science Week, by Geoff Camphire and Adrienne Barnett; Cooking Up Science in Cambridge, by John Durant and P.A. d’Arbeloff; Celebrating Science, Enlightening Community in Gujarat, by Narottam Sahoo)

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By John Durant and P.A. d’Arbeloff
From ASTC Dimensions
November/December 2008

Recipe:
1. Take one science city.
2. Carefully extract the juiciest parts, making sure to retain all the most enthusiastic graduate students, and as many superstar researchers and Nobel Laureates as you can find.
3. Mix thoroughly with generous quantities of actors, artists, broadcasters, critics, curators, entrepreneurs, exhibitors, impresarios, inventors, musicians, raconteurs, and writers.
4. Add a cup of civic leadership and a teaspoon of organizational flair, and bake for several months.
5. Serve as more than 200 separate courses over nine days, making sure that all sections of the community get plenty to eat.

This, in essence, is the Cambridge Science Festival (www.cambridgesciencefestival.org). The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Museum, Cambridge, launched our first Cambridge Science Festival in April 2007, in the belief that what festivals have long done for art, literature, and music they can—and should—do for science and technology. Our aim was to throw open the laboratory doors in our particular science city, so that the whole community could celebrate what makes Cambridge—a small, not particularly prosperous city in Massachusetts—a truly world-class place.

A science stew
We have been excited by the positive response to the Cambridge Science Festival from the wider community. During our first festival, about 15,000 people attended 150 different events. In the second year, we almost doubled our attendance, as an estimated 28,000 people came to more than 200 events in 45 venues. Each year, the festival benefits from experience and momentum. Presenters become better at offering science to a broader audience in creative ways, and neighbors buzz about what surprises next year’s event might hold.

Highlights this year, from our point of view, included Lunch with a Laureate, a series of five lunchtime conversations between a Nobel Prize–winning scientist and the public; Powers of Ten, an oratorio about scale in the universe performed by the North Cambridge Family Opera; QED, a play about physicist Richard Feynman (MIT Class of 1939), produced by the Catalyst Collaborative (a partnership between MIT and a local theater company); and the Curiosity Awards, which honored more than 100 students for essays and artwork expressing their curiosity.

Brewing up benefits
Why would the MIT Museum—a relatively small museum of science and technology—take the lead in organizing a big initiative like this? First, the Cambridge Science Festival is an ideal flagship for MIT’s community outreach. Second, the MIT Museum is perfectly positioned to do something like this, with one foot firmly planted in the professional world of science and technology and the other foot equally firmly planted in the wider community. Third, organizing a festival is a great way to establish a wide network of partners across the community. Through the festival, our museum now works actively with several others (including the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, and the Museum of Science, Boston), as well as with dozens of civic, commercial, cultural, and educational organizations.

Our festival brings us many other benefits. For example, museum attendance more than doubles during the week of the festival. With the surge in visitation comes an increase in the number of “science inattentive” visitors, or folks who are not naturally drawn to science and not likely to visit science museums. Admittedly, the audience for our Lunch with a Laureate tended to have an established interest in science. But this was not so for the Science of Wine, or its sequel, Brewing Innovation. Sure, our full houses on those nights were enticed by the wine and beer tasting that followed the lectures, but attendees also soaked up the scientific research being done with yeast. Many of them were first-time visitors who enjoyed this slightly unusual introduction to the museum. A survey given to every visitor showed that they overwhelmingly felt that they had both benefited from the programs and enjoyed themselves.

We’re committed to cooking up the Cambridge Science Festival annually. (The 2009 festival is set for April 25 to May 3.) And we’re happy that other cities across the United States appear to be developing a taste for the same sort of thing. We’re actively collaborating with colleagues on the San Diego Science Festival, planned for March 2009. We’re also looking to the possibility of creating a web portal and resources to help other cities start their own science festivals. We believe ASTC-member institutions can play an important role in creating a strong network of U.S. science festivals. After all, aren’t we in the business of creatively communicating science to new audiences? If you can turn that communication into a celebration, invite a crowd, and have some fun, it’s icing on the cake.

John Durant is executive director of the MIT Museum. P.A. d’Arbeloff is director of the Cambridge Science Festival.

More than 1,800 science center professionals from 31 countries gathered in Philadelphia, October 18–21, for the 2008 ASTC Annual Conference. Over 140 conference sessions challenged participants to explore their responsibility to both their scientific and public constituencies. Keynote speaker Steven Berlin Johnson, a journalist, cultural critic, and web developer, encouraged science centers to become places where new ideas can develop. Joe Palca, science correspondent for National Public Radio, moderated a plenary session, “The Global Discussion on Global Sustainability: Where Do Science Centers Fit In?” with panelists Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change; Lynne Cherry, author of numerous science books for young readers; and Philip C. Myrick, vice president of the New York–based Project for Public Spaces.

Dennis Wint, president and CEO of the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, received the ASTC Fellow Award for Outstanding Contribution, ASTC’s highest honor. Six Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Awards were presented at the conference: the Award for Business Practice to the Saint Louis Science Center, Missouri; the Award for Visitor Experience, Small Science Center, to the National Canal Museum, Easton, Pennsylvania; two Awards for Visitor Experience, Large Science Center, to the Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, and the Virginia Living Museum, Newport News; the Award for New Leadership in the Field to Cynthia Graville-Smith of the Saint Louis Science Center; and the Award for Experienced Leadership in the Field to Ingit Mukhopadhyay of the National Council of Science Museums, India.

Audio recordings of most sessions can be purchased on CD from Convention Recordings International.

About the image: Conference attendees gather in the ASTC Resource Center between sessions. Photo by Christine Ruffo