IN THIS ISSUE
May/June 2009

In a rapidly changing world, science centers must be agile and ready to innovate even in the most challenging times. In fact, demanding circumstances can be the catalysts that inspire centers to serve their communities in new ways while preserving a consistent vision. In this issue, we look at instances in which science centers have responded quickly to challenging situations, including economic difficulties and natural disasters.

Contents
• Agility and the Rapid Pace of Change, by Nancy Stueber
• Creating Our Future, by John Swanson
• Outreach that Empowers, by Megan Dickerson
• Discounted Prices, Increased Attendance, by Kristin Priscella
• What’s the Buzz? Bringing Breaking News into the Science Museum, by Liza Pryor
• Managing Organizational Change, by Chris Wallace, Joe Hastings, Marcelo Knobel, and David E. Chesebrough
• The Balancing Act Between Focus and Flexibility, by Jennifer Martin

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By John Swanson
From ASTC Dimensions
May/June 2009

The National Weather Service said, “We anticipate flood cresting at 24 1/2 feet.” That’s what was going through my head as I studied the flood wall, built for a 24-foot crest, and the Cedar River beyond. That flood wall stood just 50 feet from the back wall of the Cedar Rapids Science Station in Iowa. It was 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 11, 2008. We had spent the day moving servers, tools, and the more valued exhibits out of our two basements. I knew our ground floor was at about the same level as the flood wall, so I thought, “The worst will be two flooded basements and maybe some water on the first floor.” Almost as an afterthought, I told everyone to move their computers to the tops of their desks.

Late Friday night into early Saturday morning, the river crested at 31 feet, seven feet higher than that flood wall—and 11 feet above the previous flood record, set in 1929. On Sunday, officials announced that the waters were starting to recede. We were allowed back into our three-building complex on Tuesday, June 17, although workers would still be pumping water out of the basements for four days.

I wasn’t prepared for what I found inside. As we opened the door, the humidity and musty aroma overwhelmed us. Every horizontal surface had a fine coating of what I later learned was the best part of Iowa’s marvelous topsoil, which will take many, many years to restore—one of the lesser known, but sinister, consequences of a flood. Until we left footprints, the carpeted floor looked like an ice rink, smooth and glistening with a skim-coat of mud.

But what struck us most was that nothing was where it belonged. Cases and counters had either collapsed or moved. You could probably produce an acceptable Ph.D. dissertation on the currents and whirlpools created inside a building by swirling flood waters. Entering our offices, we found 50-pound wooden tables hanging from partition walls and file cabinets tipped over. And those computers on the desks—well, that only meant they had been under three feet of water rather than seven.

As we worked through the Science Station, making quick decisions on what was salvageable, I came across a walnut plaque. Badly warped and lying in the muck, the inscribed words caught my eye:

The Best Way To Predict Your Future Is To Create It.

I have no idea how the plaque came to hang on our wall, but I immediately recognized the power in the words of management consultant Peter Drucker. We had the quote made into a banner for the front wall of our building, where it remains, a reminder to a devastated city that even disasters can have silver linings.

It took two weeks and $200,000 to clean out, dry out, and disinfect the building and its contents. Although 90 percent of our exhibits were ruined, there was no structural damage and only minimal exterior damage to the building. When we’re ready to rebuild, it will take nearly $2 million to repair walls, air handling, plumbing, and electrical damage.

The building is now tight, safe, and dry, but we won’t rebuild until we complete a visioning process and know more about how the city will deal with future flood threats. It will take between 7 and 12 years for the city to complete flood prevention planning and build new floodwalls and levees. In our own master planning, we will need to determine whether we will rebuild in our original location or relocate to another site. In addition, we are considering whether to share space or resources with another institution. One possibility is to partner with a local education agency to provide science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education for students and training for teachers in our building.

Science Camp and perseverance

Even before we re-entered the buildings, we realized we had another challenge. We were three days into our eight-week summer Science Camp program when the evacuation order went out. The camp is very popular and is one of our most important revenue sources.

At such a time, the inherent good in people emerges and a spirit arises that I can’t properly express. My church graciously allowed us to use its multiclassroom addition for the camp. They also provided a kitchen, where we stored supplies and parceled out snacks. Four days after the flood emergency was declared “over,” we resumed our Science Camp program.

Still, I was worried. We lost all our files, so we couldn’t verify who had already paid their camp registration fees. Publicly, I was saying, “We’re not in the business of disappointing kids. Science Camp is still on!” But inwardly, I was thinking, “What if they all demand a refund, or dozens show up claiming they already paid and expect a reserved spot for their child?”

However, my fears were unfounded. To a person, parents understood our circumstances, and “The Honor System” worked. When it was all over, nearly 800 campers had participated (a new record for the Science Station), refunds were minimal, and we even managed to make up the two lost days from that flood-affected first week.

An off-site presence

By late August, we had three other examples of how people rise to the occasion in times of need. First I received an e-mail from Mark Kirby of Eureka Exhibits. He wrote, “We have not scheduled our interactive computer simulation, Be the Dinosaur, for the fall, due to taking part of it to the ASTC Conference in October. If it can help, 75 percent of it is yours through the end of the year at no charge.” It took me all of two seconds to hit the Reply key and accept that most generous offer.

Then the reality set in. I thought, “OK, I‘ve got an exhibition, but no place to put it…and what about other exhibition expenses that don’t go away, like staffing, advertising, and insurance?” Once again, something gratifying occurred when a new-to-the-region company, ITC Midwest, approached us and said, “We’re a technology-driven organization and your mission matches ours. How can we help?” They agreed to cover all costs related to staging and presenting the exhibition, totaling more than $30,000. So, with our budget sponsored, the final step was to secure a place to stage the exhibition. A local shopping mall had 3,500 square feet of vacant space and was extremely accommodating with the rent.

Be the Dinosaur opened October 1, 2008, ran seven days a week, and closed on January 4, 2009. We had 5,803 visitors, plus several hundred who attended free Sunday afternoon lectures with local experts and amateur paleontologists. It was, to say the least, a financial success, since the full sponsorship allowed our ticket income to assist with other financial needs.

A shopping mall operation taught us other lessons, too. People go to malls for many reasons other than shopping. Seniors use them for exercise, moms see them as a way to get out of the house, and young people treat them as gathering places. These are all audiences we would like to have at the Science Station. Another benefit is that mall parking is plentiful—and free.

From this new knowledge, we created Science Station@Lindale Mall. We moved to a more visible location on the main floor, opening with an Early Childhood area, a small exhibit called Antarctica’s Climate Secrets, and the few exhibits we managed to salvage and rebuild. We’re keeping the space we used for Be the Dinosaur, too, and will hold our 2009 summer camp there.

Natural disasters happen. No one anywhere is immune from the possibility of a flood, hurricane, tornado, or fire. My advice to other museums: Take plenty of pictures, before, during, and after. They are invaluable when estimating or proving loss. Most of all, take heart from the basic goodness of the human spirit. People will surprise you with their sincere desire to help out.

John Swanson is executive director of the Cedar Rapids Science Station, Iowa.

IN THIS ISSUE
March/April 2009

The Toronto Declaration, adopted in June 2008 by the Fifth Science Centre World Congress, established public health as a priority for science centers, citing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals for child and maternal health and disease prevention. In this issue, we explore the efforts of science centers worldwide to improve health in their communities, through exhibitions, outreach programs, partnerships, and even food service operations.

Contents
• Active Learning, Healthy Living, by Ruth Lynfield
• Taking on Obesity in the Deep South, by Eleanor Kulin
• Creating a Smart Café, by Bob Levine
• What’s the Big Deal? An Exhibition Navigates France’s Changing Sexuality Landscape, by Maud Gouy
• North Star Guides the Way, by Chris Cable and SaVina Sandoval Haywood
• Health Messages at Science Centers in South Africa: What Is Possible? by Lorenzo Raynard
• Rising to the Challenge: Public Health in Latin American Science Centers, by Alejandra León-Castellá, Alcira García-Vassaux, José Ángel Andrade, Luisa Massarani, Martha Cambre, and Maria Cristina Ruiz (PDF available here)
• Inspiring, Engaging, and Involving: Multiple Paths to Good Health, by Gloria German
Partners for Health, by Rick Baker
• Reaching out to the Vulnerable, by Leticia Chávez Martínez and Dolores Arenas Venegas
• The Evolving Threat of Infectious Disease, by Erika Shugart

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By Ruth Lynfield
From ASTC Dimensions
March/April 2009

It is appropriate that the March/April 2009 issue of ASTC Dimensions focuses on public health. April 7 is World Health Day, a day meant to raise the awareness of global health issues, and one that commemorates the founding of the World Health Organization in 1948. As an epidemiologist who is immersed in the work of public health daily, I view the term “public health” as the endeavor to ensure the good health of people and their communities by the prevention of disease and the promotion of healthy behaviors. This effort relies upon the cooperative work of scientists and health care providers to detect, describe, and measure issues of health consequence. Public health also requires the collaborative efforts of these specialists with policy makers and educators to translate data into sustained improvements for people and communities.

Education is paramount to the success of public health. However, to truly improve the health of our communities, the communication and acquisition of knowledge must be active and must inspire individuals to change a behavior or advocate for societal progress. It is tremendously difficult to change established health behaviors. Still, education received from multiple sources, particularly if there is an active component to this education, is an important instrument for change.

Science centers are particularly well suited for this type of active teaching and learning. As such, science centers throughout the world can play a major role in educating the public about health issues. Centers provide the opportunity for hands-on, in-depth exploration of a topic, including the chance for discussions with peers, family members, or teachers. Through the active learning that takes place in science centers, people can gain a more profound understanding of an issue than would be acquired from passive learning, such as reading a chapter in a textbook.

A couple of years ago, I had the pleasure of serving as a project advisor for the exhibition Disease Detectives at the Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), St. Paul. This exhibition puts the visitor in the role of evaluating a patient; exploring epidemiological clues; interpreting laboratory work; arriving at a diagnosis; and learning about the cause, transmission, and prevention of a number of important infectious diseases, such as Shiga toxin–producing E. coli, influenza, and malaria. My role was to advise on the medical and scientific content of the exhibition.

At the start, I had no concept of how SMM was going to take complex and somewhat dry information and translate it into a fun and engaging exhibition. It was quite astounding to experience the final product and observe the fun visitors had listening to lung sounds, using pulsed-field patterns to compare the molecular fingerprints of microbes, and evaluating the importance of protective measures from vectors such as mosquitoes. The hands-on activities made learning about disease and prevention much more appealing than the usual methods of public health education—such as informational brochures, web sites, or talks—increasing the likelihood that people would retain the information. Visitors spent time carefully going through the exhibition; reading the materials; and discussing them with family members, friends, and colleagues. Watching guests from ages 3 to 83, I had the strong sense that the exhibition provided fertile ground for budding epidemiologists, health care providers, scientists, and health advocates.

It is clear that science centers are key partners in the promotion of public health. Centers have the opportunity to promote an understanding of health issues by actively engaging one visitor at a time. To quote Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of
thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” As a public health professional and advocate, I am truly grateful for your work.

Ruth Lynfield is Minnesota’s state epidemiologist and medical director for infectious disease.

IN THIS ISSUE
January/February 2009

Science centers serve a variety of core audiences, from visitors to volunteers to Internet users. But who are these audiences and what kinds of experiences are they looking for? A recent Reach Advisors–ASTC survey identified mothers of young children as one of the largest science center audiences, and men over 60 as one of the most committed. In this issue, we take a look at these and other core users and examine ways to keep them happy and engaged.

Contents
• Moms, Museums, and Motivations: Cultivating an Audience of Museum Advocates, by Susie Wilkening
• Science for Mums, by Sue Stocklmayer
• Men over 60, by Susie Wilkening
• Where Everybody Knows Your Name, by Bob Silberman
• Attracting Core Audiences Through a Local Focus, by Lori Geller
• Visitors by Any Other Name…, by Laura Farra Myers and Bart A. Roselli
• WeTube: Getting Physical with a Virtual Community at the Ontario Science Centre, by Kevin von Appen

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