Intel futurist Brian David Johnson helped officially launch ASTC’s 2012 Annual Conference earlier today, as the keynote speaker at the Opening General Session held in the Greater Columbus Convention Center.

Johnson, who made a point of explaining to the crowd that as a futurist he does not predict the future, is a self-proclaimed “geek” and a fan of science centers. So much so, in fact, that he disclosed he and his wife were married in the planetarium at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland.

Johnson explained that one of the main objectives of his job is to determine what it will feel like to be a human 10-20 years from now. He took umbrage with the vision of the future put forth in so many movies and books—the vision of a person in a stark, sterile room with the sleekest of electronic devices surrounding them. As he put it, “If we’re going to envision the future, we need to envision a future for people, one that is comfortable.”

“We are all fire hydrants of data,” Johnson said. “We spew data—financial data, social networking data—all over the place. Yet data only has meaning when it comes back and touches the lives of humans. Humans make data and all technology meaningful.”

In his presentation, Waking the Algorithm, Johnson explained that algorithms are imbued with humanity and are, essentially, a story.

He urged the audience not to be passive about the future. “Don’t sit back and let the future happen to you,” he explained. “The future will be awesome because we’re going to build it; why would we build a future that is negative?”

Johnson emphasized the power of science centers and museums in building the future. “You will build the future in the minds of people who come to your science centers,” he said. “You put the visions of science and technology in people’s minds and let them touch it.”

We can change the future, he explained, by changing the story people tell themselves about the future they will live in. We need to focus on making the lives of people better.

“You have an incredible opportunity to shape the future through the work you do,” Johnson concluded. A worthy message to kick off four days of learning, sharing, connecting, and being inspired.

The National Writing Project (NWP) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) have received a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to design a program that will integrate science and literacy. As part of this program, Building Informal Science Education and Literacy Partnerships (NSF Grant No. 122461),NWP sites and ASTC-member science centers and museums will forge partnerships to develop innovative programs for educators and youth.

This grant was created to address the critical need for more programming that integrates two very important areas of curriculum – science and literacy,with a strong commitment to expanding access to high quality science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) and literacy education. The NWP/ASTC partnership will foster the creation of new program models able to reach a more diverse range of youth and educators, resulting in an infusion of literacy practices in informal settings as well as increased exposure of formal educators to STEM-rich learning experiences.The program will build on recommendations in the Common Core State Standards and the National Research Council’s publication, “A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts and Core Ideas.”

Ten partnerships from across the country will be selected in the coming months with the goal of creating new programs that merge science and writing, as well as building on promising practices and innovations. Partnerships will design projects which may include citizen science projects like The Great Sunflower Project or FoldIt, or science journalism projects such as scijourner, an NSF-funded project based at the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Education, in collaboration with the Saint Louis Science Center and the Normandy School District.

“Both NWP and ASTC share a long history of working with educators and youth,” said Dr. Sharon J. Washington, NWP Executive Director. “The collaboration of these organizations will generate a multitude of professional development programs for hundreds of informal and formal educators, as well as create rich opportunities for hundreds of young people across the country.”

“We are tremendously energized by the opportunities for collaboration that this project presents,” remarked ASTC Chief Executive Officer Anthony (Bud) Rock. “ASTC-member science centers have a long history of developing programs to target underserved youth, and partnering with NWP sites will foster a greater ability to reach those youth who might develop an interest in STEM through participation in literacy activities. The science center community will truly benefit from the results of this project.”

About NWP:The National Writing Project (NWP) is a nationwide network of educators working together to improve the teaching of writing in the nation’s schools and in other settings. NWP provides high-quality professional development programs to teachers in a variety of disciplines and at all levels, from early childhood through university. Through its nearly 200 university-based sites located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the National Writing Project develops the leadership, programs, and research needed for teachers to help students become successful writers and learners. For more information, visit www.nwp.org.

About ASTC: The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) is a global organization providing collective voice and professional support for science centers, museums, and related institutions, whose innovative approaches to science learning inspire people of all ages about the wonders and the meaning of science in their lives.Through strategic alliances and global partnerships, ASTC strives to increase awareness of the valuable contributions its members make to their communities and the field of informal STEM learning.Founded in 1973, ASTC now represents over 600 members in nearly 50 countries, including not only science centers and museums,but also nature centers, aquariums, planetariums,zoos, botanical gardens, and natural history and children’s museums, as well as companies, consultants, and other organizations that share an interest in informal science education. For more information about ASTC, or to find a science center near you, visit www.astc.org.

Nicole Lazzaro, world-renowned game designer and researcher, founder of XEODesign, and one of Fast Company’s 100 most influential women in high-tech, and Dr. Michael Evans, associate professor and program area leader in instructional design and technology at Virginia Tech, will anchor the closing keynote panel at ASTC’s 2012 Annual Conference in Columbus, Ohio, October 13-16, hosted by COSI. The closing panel on cyberlearning and gaming will be held Tuesday, October 16, and additional panel participants will be announced shortly.

Nicole Lazzaro discovered the Four Keys to Fun in 2004, a model used by hundreds of thousands of game developers worldwide. She used this model to design the iPhone’s first accelerometer game in 2007, now called Tilt World. One of the top 20 women working in video games, and top 10 women in gamification, Nicole’s work has been widely cited by global news media such as Wired, Fast Company, CNN, CNET, The Hollywood Reporter, and Red Herring. She has advised the White House and the U.S. State Department on the use of games to unlock human potential to improve our world. For the past two decades as the CEO of XEODesign she has improved hundreds of millions of player experiences for companies such as Ubisoft, EA, Disney, and Cartoon Network, as well as worked on best selling franchises such as Myst, Diner Dash, Pogo, and The Sims. One of the pioneers in applying game design outside of games, she designed game-inspired UI for Oracle, Cisco, Kaiser, Sun, Roxio, and others as early as 1992.

Dr. Michael Evans received a B.A. and M.A. in psychology from the University of West Florida and a PhD in instructional systems technology from Indiana University. His work focuses on the effects of multimedia methods and technologies on instruction and learning. Current research focuses on the design, development, and evaluation of instructional multimedia for interactive surfaces (personal media devices, smart phones, tablets, tables, and whiteboards) to support collaborative learning as well as the adoption of video game elements for instructional design, particularly for informal settings. Currently, he is Principal Investigator on two current NSF-sponsored projects. The GAMES Project (DRL 1118571) proposes to develop serious mathematical games for tablets and other mobile devices, focusing on pre-algebra readiness and states of engagement. The Studio STEM Project (DRL 1029756) proposes to engage middle school students in science and engineering in an after school setting. Guided by engineering teaching kits, participants work with undergraduate mentors to explore the science of energy as they build-test-rebuild dwellings to protect penguins from climate change. Evans teaches graduate courses in the learning sciences and interactive media design and development. He has published in Educational Technology Research and Development, the International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning, and the Journal of Educational Computing Research. More information on projects can be found at the GAMES and Studio STEM websites.

For more information on ASTC’s 2012 Annual Conference, visit conference.astc.org.

ASTC’s 2012 Annual Conference, which will be held October 13-16 in Columbus, Ohio, and hosted by COSI, will take a step into the future, when Intel futurist Brian David Johnson delivers the opening keynote presentation on Saturday, October 13. Johnson is Intel’s Director, Future Casting and a Principal Engineer.

The future is Brian David Johnson’s business. As a futurist at Intel Corporation, his charter is to develop an actionable vision for computing in 2020. His work is called “future casting”—using ethnographic field studies, technology research, trend data, and even science fiction to provide Intel with a pragmatic vision of consumers and computing. Along with reinventing TV, Johnson has been pioneering development in artificial intelligence, robotics, and using science fiction as a design tool. He speaks and writes extensively about future technologies in articles and scientific papers as well as science fiction short stories and novels (Science Fiction Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction, Screen Future: The Future of Entertainment Computing and the Devices we Love, Fake Plastic Love, and Nebulous Mechanisms: The Dr. Simon Egerton Stories). He has directed two feature films and is an illustrator and commissioned painter.
Johnson recently did an interview for ASTC’s award-winning Dimensions magazine.
For more information on ASTC’s Annual Conference, visit conference.astc.org.

Trekaroo, a blog focused on traveling with children as well as child- and family-friendly activities, recently released their list of the top 10 U.S. science and technology museums for children, based on user reviews from their site. The Exploratorium, San Francisco, was ranked the number one overall museum; the Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose, California, was ranked the number one technology museum; and the American Museum of Natural History, New York, was ranked the number one natural history museum. All 10 museums on the list, as well as the seven awarded honorable mention, are ASTC members. Learn more: blog.trekaroo.com/2012/04/18/top-10-science-and-technology-museums/.