The Roy L. Shafer Leading Edge Awards are presented annually to ASTC members and/or their employees in recognition of extraordinary accomplishments that not only enhance the performance of their own institutions, but also significantly advance the mission of science-technology centers and museums. This following awards were presented at the 2011 ASTC Annual Conference in Baltimore on Saturday, October 15.

Leading Edge Award for Business Practice

The International Centre for Life, Sustainability Through Diversity
The Centre for Life has rendered itself sustainable for the foreseeable future by developing a business portfolio that provides funds for the center’s dual missions of public science engagement and support for world-class scientific research. The science centre runs on revenue generated from two onsite cafés, a parking garage, a conference and banqueting business, and leases not only to university laboratories, but also to popular bars and nightclubs.

Philippine Science Centrum, Typhoon Ondoy: Rapid Response & Recovery

On September 26, 2009, Typhoon Ondoy sent nine-foot-high flood waters into the science center, submerging its exhibits and traveling exhibitions. Within 24 hours, the center’s staff and trustees met and immediately started the first steps of rebuilding, launching a fundraising campaign called Project 926 with the goal of raising 9 million Philippine pesos (about USD 210,000) in two ways (cash and in-kind assistance) within six months. The center reopened to the public less than six weeks after the typhoon hit, and was fully restored after four and a half months.

Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience (small center)

Amazement Square, Amazing Adventures of Scorpy Bug
The Amazing Adventures of Scorpy Bug is a curriculum-based cartoon series designed to help educators take an interactive and interdisciplinary approach to teaching challenging concepts. The series has been made available free-of-charge to teachers and families through publication in the regional newspaper and through a comic book series that addresses specific scientific topics. Scorpy is integrated across all museum platforms: exhibitions, outreach programs, website, and community and school partnerships.

Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre, Wetland Outreach
Migratory birds depend on wetlands, and many species are endangered due to wetland destruction. In the past three years, the center fostered public awareness among students and educators across a vast geographic area on the value of wetlands through several outreach programs. The “Wetlands On-the-Go” team delivered programs to 56,000 students in 2,500 classrooms in over 100 communities in three Canadian provinces. The center also held eight workshops for teachers in six Caribbean locations and provided educational resources to underserved communities.

Leading Edge Award for Visitor Experience (large center)

Chabot Space & Science Center, Bill Nye’s Climate Lab
Bill Nye’s Climate Lab is a media-rich, hands-on exhibition that explores the effects of climate change on Earth’s interconnected systems and offers activities that increase climate and energy literacy. Each visitor receives a “Climate Scout ID”—an RFID card that is automatically detected as the visitor moves from station to station, achieving solutions to climate challenges and earning points. Exhibit activity is stored on the ID, which can be taken home and used to log in on BillsClimateLab.org.

Museum of Science & Industry, Science Storms
Science Storms, a 26,000-square-foot (2,400-square-meter) permanent exhibition, features dynamic large-scale experiments that explore nature’s most powerful phenomena. Visitors can manipulate the vortex variables of a 40-foot tornado, unleash a tsunami in a 30-foot wave tank, trigger an avalanche, and pit fire versus water to see how flame reacts to different conditions. The more than 50 hands-on exhibits are joined by 200 important artifacts that help visitors to further understand the basic science behind the forces of nature.

Leading Edge Award for Experienced Leadership in the Field
Clarence Sirisena, Assistant Chief Executive in Projects and Exhibitions of Science Centre Singapore
For his research on newest approaches in traveling exhibitions and sharing his discoveries with other science centers.

To see all the Leading Edge Award nominees, visit the ASTC YouTube channel.

On Saturday, October 15, Colin Johnson became the newest recipient of ASTC’s highest honor, the ASTC Fellow Award for Outstanding Contribution. At the 2011 ASTC Annual Conference in Baltimore, ASTC immediate past president Lesley Lewis presented the award to Johnson, former director and CEO of Techniquest in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, “for his distinguished career as a chemist and educator, from the classroom to the museum. Colin’s determined advocacy, tactful diplomacy, and persuasive compositions have helped build bridges within the field and between science centers and the people they serve. His generosity and dedication know no limits.”

As he accepted the award, Johnson urged science centers to stay true to their missions, citing the Saint Louis Science Center’s mission statement to “open every mind to science.” He also stressed the importance of science center networks and collaborations, saying “We are truly a global family, grasping similar opportunities and meeting similar challenges.” Johnson concluded by reminding attendees that “the [staff] in your science center will always be your greatest asset. Look after them well.”

The ASTC Fellow Award for Outstanding Contribution, first presented in 1974, is bestowed upon individuals who merit special recognition for their significant contributions to the advancement of public understanding and appreciation of science and technology or of ASTC itself.

Photo by Wayne MacPhail

U.S.-based ASTC member institutions are encouraged to participate in an exciting program with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) gives teams of 25 or more high school students the chance to work alongside professional engineers to build and program a robot to perform prescribed tasks against a field of competitors. More than 50 regional events across the United States will take place in March and April 2012.

ASTC partner jcpenney is making available $6,500 grants to cover the full cost of registration and initial materials for the FRC program. Additionally, jcpenney FRC grant recipients are paired with a jcpenney store, providing a source of support and partnership.

Dubbed a “varsity sport for the mind,” FRC combines the excitement of sport with the rigors of science and technology. It’s as close to “real world” engineering that a student can get, and volunteer professional mentors lend their time and talents to guide each team. Check out FIRST live on its YouTube channel.

The deadline for applications is October 15.

Interested institutions should contact their local FIRST regional director (www.usfirst.org/regionalcontact.aspx) for details. And for more information on this exciting program, visit www.usfirst.org and click on “FRC” at the top of the page.

Offered as a part of ASTC’s Youth Inspired Challenge, Engaging Youth in STEM Outside the Classroom is a three-part webinar series devoted to an in-depth analysis of the field of STEM out-of-school-time education. Led by Jamie Alonzo of the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History and Irene Porro of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, the first webinar in the series took place on Wednesday, July 27, and engaged participants in an interactive discussion on the field of STEM education in out-of-school-time and its role within the broader educational landscape, as well as the need and potential for unification of the field. The recording of the webinar is now available online at www.anymeeting.com/astc/E950D8858149. Please note that due to bandwidth issues, some slides in the presentation may be slightly blurred. Handouts of the slides are available.

The next two webinars in the series will explore the relationship between formal and informal education sectors and the relationship between STEM in out-of-school time and workforce development. Please contact Laura Huerta Migus at lhuertamigus@astc.org for presentation handouts and to register for the remaining webinars in this series.

Three ASTC-member institutions were among those museums awarded grants as part of the 2011 Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad (MCCA) program by the American Association of Museums (AAM) and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Recipients of the nine grants included California Science Center in Los Angeles, CA; Maloka in Bogota, Colombia; and Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center in Shreveport, LA. The MCCA initiative pairs museums in the U.S. with museums abroad for a cross-cultural exchange that brings people, especially youth, together to open a dialogue through community projects, partnerships with local or tribal governments and schools, and local events.

“The open dialogue that is established by this museum exchange initiative strengthens people-to-people relationships,” said Ann Stock, assistant secretary of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. “With stronger relationships and greater collaboration, the Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad initiative will achieve shared goals for the benefit of the global community.”

Further details about the 2011 museum-based exchanges can be found after the break.

Rainforest Leadership Academy: Cross-Cultural Teacher Training and Mentoring (California Science Center and Maloka)
To empower teachers with the resources, skills, knowledge, and the confidence to deliver inquiry-based science lessons to their classes, the California Science Center and Maloka will enlist mentor teachers from local public schools to collaboratively develop materials for teacher professional-development trainings and student activities. Teachers will be selected from urban-based school districts in both countries as well as from the Yurok Reservation in the temperate rainforests of Northern California and the Amazon in the tropical rainforest of Southern Colombia. As the mentor teachers train their colleagues to implement the lessons in the classroom, cross-cultural teams of students will communicate via email and Skype to share the information they are learning about the diversity of the rainforests and cultures in their regions.

Not Just Another Building on the Street (Sci-Port: Louisiana’s Science Center and Infini.to, Pino Torinese, Italy)
In 2009, after struggling to attract a teen audience, planetariums in Shreveport, LA and Pino Torinese, Italy, decided to try a different approach. The planetariums empowered gifted high school students in each country to create their own planetarium dome show, and the planetariums benefited from increased audience engagement. As teens developed skills in technology use and project management, friendships were also forged between the two countries. Now, the institutions are reconnecting to engage new audiences of local astronomy teachers in developing a planetarium program that addresses educational needs in their high school classrooms and provides students with formal and informal learning opportunities related to science and culture. The students, who are from a variety of different schools, will once again work together to create a planetarium show that reflects their values, cultures, and priorities.

For more information about the MCCA program, visit www.aam-us.org/mcca/ or follow MCCA on Facebook. To be added to the emailing list for the next cycle, contact MCCA staff at mcca@aam-us.org.