ASTC presented its highest award October 13 to Per-Edvin “Pelle” Persson, director of Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre, Vantaa, Finland. A limnologist and former director of the Federation of Finnish Scientific Societies, Persson moved to the science center field in 1987 as Heureka’s director of science. Since 1991, he has served as the center’s director. Persson was recognized for his global vision and the inspiration he has offered to science center colleagues worldwide. Under his leadership, Heureka hosted the First Science Centre World Congress, in 1996. Persson also served as ASTC president from 2004 to 2005 and earlier served as president of Ecsite, the European science center network.

In accepting the ASTC Fellow Award for Outstanding Contribution, Persson spoke of science centers’ capacity to touch minds and inspire learning. Scientific knowledge is needed, he said, to help build a better world: “We need to spread the voice of reason—to advance knowledge for the good of humankind, for a healthier planet, for a more prosperous future for our children…. Only by working together can we succeed.”

POLAR-PALOOZA: Stories from a Changing Planet made a preview appearance October 13 during the 2007 ASTC Annual Conference in Los Angeles. This multimedia presentation by people who know the poles best—ice researchers, geologists, oceanographers, climate scientists, biologists, and Arctic residents—will be traveling to 25 science centers and natural history museums across the United States during International Polar Year (IPY) (2007–2009). The initiative is supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

Presenters use high-definition video and authentic props, like a piece of ice core 2,000 years old, to bring polar research to life. During 3-day visits to each city, they will offer school programs, workshops for K-12 educators and museum volunteers, and briefings for local news media and business leaders. The NASA Museum Alliance is collaborating with POLAR-PALOOZA by extending resources like teleconferences with NASA researchers to museums not hosting the traveling show.

Science centers and museums hosting POLAR-PALOOZA during 2007:

October 19–21, 2007
Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, the San Diego Natural History Museum, the Birch Aquarium at Scripps, and other locations
San Diego, California

October 22–24, 2007
New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science
Albuquerque, New Mexico

October 26–28, 2007
Chabot Space and Science Center
Oakland, California

October 26–28, 2007
Lawrence Hall of Science
Berkeley, California

November 8–10, 2007
Museum of Science and Industry
Tampa, Florida

November 11–13, 2007
Fernbank Science Center
Atlanta, Georgia

November 15–17, 2007
LSU Museum of Natural Science
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

More information about POLAR-PALOOZA

Photograph copyright Lee Salem Photography

In an October 13 keynote address at the ASTC Annual Conference, Los Angeles, Geoffrey Canada, president/CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) in New York City, challenged science centers to “lead the fight to save children’s future.” The United States has created an environment that destroys young children in poverty said Canada, the author of Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America. Among the statistics he cited: More than 100,000 young Americans have been killed by firearms since 1979, and 15,000 African American men are incarcerated in New York City jails alone.

But science centers can play a role in saving young people and addressing social injustice, Canada said. “We need to begin early. Poor children start off behind and never catch up.” Science centers can provide experiences that stimulate young brains, and they can engage parents and keep them as partners. We should create a “continuum of support” that draws in young people at every age and offers encouragement and support to those who are discouraged with learning.

“We cannot expect young people to thrive in communities other people wouldn’t be caught dead in,” he said. “We have to think of our institutions as part of the engine that transforms communities.”"The future of America rests in the hands of those of you in this room,” Canada said. The most important resources of a society are intellectual, and we have lost that perspective in the United States. “Unless we’re prepared to fight for real equity, we’re going toleave this generation of children behind.” Closing with one of his own poems, Canada urged science centers to “take a stand.”

ASTC 2007 attendees gathered October 12 at the Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California, for a workshop that explored climate change issues and the role science centers can play in addressing them. Science centers have an important contribution to make, participants agreed, in building public understanding of the complex science of global warming and elevating the level of public discourse on the topic that ultimately shapes policy.

In the morning, attendees were taken through eye-opening presentations on the science of climate change and new government-initiated efforts to support science institutions in educating the public about the issue. In his opening remarks, Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher, U.S. Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), described how the agency is now in a unique position to contribute to the science education field because for the first time, it has authority to manage education and outreach efforts.Keith W. Dixon, meteorologist at the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory (GFDL) at Princeton University, then took workshop attendees through a highly informative tour of the large-scale and long-term effects of climate change and the ocean on one another. He described the problem of educating the public about a “warming commitment.” Even if current emissions levels are drastically reduced, he said, the earth would still continue to warm because of carbon dioxide’s slow rate of dissipation. Ultimately the ocean’s capacity to absorb large amounts of heat is what delays the effects in increase in global temperature and buys us time for action, he said.Waleed Abdalati, head of the Cryospheric Sciences Branch at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, finished with a presentation of evidence showing that the Greenland ice sheet is melting at an alarming rate. Are we at the tipping point of global warming, or are there multiple phases of climate stability? The science is still uncertain, he said.

During a late-morning tour, the Aquarium’s Green Team showed measures the institution has undertaken to be more environmentally responsible in its everyday operations. In addition to being a partner in the Sustainable Seafood Forum and serving seafood from sustainable sources to all aquarium animals and guests, the institution uses low-water consumption toilets and has undertaken a green expansion plan where all projects will be LEED-certified.

During the afternoon, participants divided into two groups to discuss informal science institutions as safe havens for public discourse on science policy issues. Although there were differences of opinion about the extent to which science centers should move beyond communicating the science to encourage action, all agreed that science centers have a responsibility to inform the public about complex and controversial topics.

Visit the IGLO web site and look for the next IGLO Newsletter for more in-depth recaps of the preconference workshop.

More than 2,000 science center professionals from across the globe are gathering in Los Angeles, California, October 13-16 for the 2007 ASTC Annual Conference. ASTC 2007, “Lights, Camera, Action: From Vision to Reality,” is being hosted by the California Science Center.

Highlights include over 150 conference sessions on topics like inquiry learning, working with youth, and communicating with the public about nanoscale science. Keynotes will be given by Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, and Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, co-hosts of “MythBusters,” the Discovery Channel’s award-winning science show. In addition, celebrated author and National Medal of Arts winner Ray Bradbury will join Martin Sklar, former vice chairman and principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, for an interview with film critic Leonard Maltin about the science of fiction, and Lesley Chilcott and Davis Guggenheim—the co-producer and director, respectively, behind An Inconvenient Truth, the Academy Award-winning film about global warming featuring former U.S. Vice President Al Gore—will share the strategies that went into designing an illustrated science lecture compelling enough for theatrical release.

The California Science Center stimulates curiosity and inspires science learning through interactive exhibits, live demonstrations, and innovative programs. The science center’s main Howard F. Ahmanson Building encompasses three levels in 245,000 square feet, including Creative World, exploring the inventions and environments humans create to meet their needs for communication, transportation and structures; World of Life, examining how people, plants, animals and the tiniest living cells all perform the same life processes to survive; Weingart Special Exhibits Gallery, featuring the new traveling exhibition Goose Bumps! The Science of Fear; an IMAX theater; and, in adjacent buildings, the SKETCH Foundation Gallery, with more than 16,000 square feet of historic and interactive air and space exhibits, and the Wallis Annenberg Building for Science Learning and Innovation, featuring the K–5 Science Center School and the giant experimentation platforms of The Big Lab.

If you’ll be in LA for the conference, join the Flickr photo pool. Just search for “ASTC 2007″ and add your photos.

See you in LA!