Dear ASTC Member:

You and your institution have the opportunity to be part of a significant science-based, global event—and no travel or extra expenditures are required!

The international scientific community will convene in London, March 26-29, 2012, for the worldwide Planet under Pressure: New Knowledge Towards Solutions conference (www.planetunderpressure2012.net) leading up to the Rio+20 Earth Summit (www.earthsummit2012.org) in June 2012. Science centers and science center networks all over world will be organizing activities that run concurrently with those in London.

It’s as easy as 1-2-3, and we want you to participate.

Here’s how to get involved:

1. Between March 26 and March 29, organize any type of event—a debate, a demonstration, a guest speaker, an educational program, even a film—that deals with one of the themes of the Planet under Pressure (PuP) conference. This doesn’t need to be a new event—you may already have something planned for that time period that connects to one of the issues. Do this and you’ll get access to a special Planet under Pressure logo and receive promotional material—including a joint press release with Planet under Pressure—you can use to get recognition from your local community and the media for participating in this global event.

2. Upload information about your PuP-related activities onto a worldwide Google map. When all of the institutions upload their activities, the map will be full, demonstrating the global reach of ASTC members and the international science center community. Following the events, each member will count the number of participants at their site.

3. Here’s what you’ll get in return:

• Scientific documents and video interviews from scientists you can use in your own program, now and later.
• Your visitors will be able to ask questions of scientists via email and/or live during specific Planet under Pressure events (there are a limited number of guaranteed live connections, which will be distributed to ensure geographical diversity; contact ASTC for information).
• Tools to help you ensure your institution gets local recognition for being part of this global effort.
• After the event, data indicating how many people participated in your country and worldwide, to aid further advocacy efforts.
• Feedback on what questions most interest people worldwide.

Why participate? This event will raise your profile, locally and nationally, and position your science center as part of an active global network. This is exactly the kind of “collective action on behalf of science” that was envisioned in the Toronto (2008) and Cape Town (2011) Science Centre World Congress Declarations and your science center can participate, no matter how small or large you are. ASTC wants to promote the presence and visibility of the global science center field at Planet under Pressure and the Rio+20 Earth Summit. It is therefore essential to have as many of its members organizing Planet under Pressure events as possible. This will assist us in establishing solid relationships on your behalf with the international scientific community and international education organizations.

There is strength in numbers and collective action. Many ASTC members are already involved in international activities and we hope to have very strong representation from across the globe. It’s not too soon to start planning your institution’s involvement during PuP; we will be sharing additional resources and information to assist you along the way.

If ASTC can assist you with gaining a better understanding of PuP and the Rio+20 Earth Summit, or discussing possible ideas for activities, please contact Walter Staveloz, director of international relations, at wstaveloz@astc.org or (202) 783-7200 x118.

Today,the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the first 12 winners of a national competition to build 21st Century learning labs in museums and libraries around the country. The winners—four museums and eight libraries—will receive a total of $1.2 million in grants to plan and design the labs. Inspired by YOUMedia, a new teen space at the Chicago Public Library, and innovations in science and technology centers, these labs will help young people move beyond consuming content to making and creating it.

“This competition was announced in answer to President Obama’s Educate to Innovate campaign, a nationwide effort to bring American students to the forefront in science and math, to provide the workers of tomorrow with the skills they need today,” said Susan Hildreth, Director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services. “Libraries and museums are part of re-envisioning learning in the 21st century; they are trusted community institutions where teens can follow their passions and imagine exciting futures.”

“Digital media are profoundly influencing young people’s lives, their behavior, their civic participation, and where and how they learn,” said Robert Gallucci, President of the MacArthur Foundation. “These innovative new teen labs are designed to provide young people with engaging and diverse opportunities for learning and exploration beyond the classroom. The nation’s libraries and museums play an important role in leveling the playing field by providing greater access to learning experiences that equip our young people with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the 21st Century.”

“Digital media are profoundly influencing young people’s lives, their behavior, their civic participation, and where and how they learn,” said Robert Gallucci, President of the MacArthur Foundation. “These innovative new teen labs are designed to provide young people with engaging and diverse opportunities for learning and exploration beyond the classroom. The nation’s libraries and museums play an important role in leveling the playing field by providing greater access to learning experiences that equip our young people with the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in the 21st Century.”

Locations for the 12 new learning labs include: San Francisco, CA; Thornton, CO; Columbia, MD; St. Paul, MN; Kansas City, MO; New York, NY; Columbus, OH; Portland, OR; Allentown, PA; Philadelphia, PA; Nashville, TN; and Houston, TX.

The learning labs will be based on new research about how young people learn today. Teens will use both digital and traditional media that promote creativity, critical thinking, and hands-on learning. The labs will connect teens to mentors and peers, as well as anytime, anywhere access to informationthrough online social networks so that they can pursue their interests more deeply. The winning institutions will match the funds from the competition and partner with local educational, cultural, and civic organizations to build a network of learning opportunities for young people.

IMLS and MacArthur selected the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) and the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) to manage the competition. They will ensure the new lab locations use best practice principles, based on research and evidence in the field of youth digital learning, to help young people gain 21st century skills and an effective STEM education.

The 12 recipients of this round of grants were selected out of a pool of 98 applicants from 32 states. Applications were evaluated by professionals with relevant expertise in digital media and learning and museum and library management. Winners will participate—in-person and online—in a community of practice that will provide technical assistance, networking, and cross-project learning. Application materials for a second round of grants will be available in spring 2012. More information is available at www.imls.gov.

Click here to view the list of locations that have been selected as part of the first round of a national competition to plan and design 21st Century learning labs in libraries and museums around the country.

About the Institute of Museum and Library Services
The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. The Institute’s mission is to create strong libraries and museums that connect people to information and ideas. The Institute works at the national level and in coordination with state and local organizations to sustain heritage, culture, and knowledge; enhance learning and innovation; and support professional development. To learn more about the Institute, please visit www.imls.gov.

About the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning Initiative
The MacArthur Foundation supports creative people and effective institutions committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. In addition to selecting the MacArthur Fellows, the Foundation works to defend human rights, advance global conservation and security, make cities better places, and understand how technology is affecting children and society. The Foundation’s digital media and learning initiative aims to determine how digital media are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life. The goal is to build a base of evidence about how young people learn today, in an effort to re-imagine learning in the 21st century. More information is available at www.macfound.org/learning.

About the Association of Science-Technology Centers
The Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC) is a global nonprofit organization of science centers and museums committed to raising public understanding of science’s role in solving critical societal issues, and its value in igniting and nurturing the innovative spirit that people of all ages need for success in today’s world. ASTC encourages excellence and innovation in informal science learning by serving and linking its members worldwide and advancing their common goals. Founded in 1973, ASTC’s nearly 600 members in 44 countries include not only science centers and museums, but also nature centers, aquariums, planetariums, space centers, 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. Visit www.astc.org to learn more about ASTC and find a science center near you.

About the Urban Libraries Council
Urban Libraries Council (ULC) is a membership organization made up of North America’s premier public library systems and the corporations supporting them. While ULC’s members primarily represent urban and suburban settings, the work done by ULC is widely used by all libraries including those in rural settings. ULC strategically addresses issues important to all communities including education, workforce and economic development, public safety, environmental sustainability, health, and wellness. ULC’s members are thought leaders dedicated to the continuous evolution and strengthening of libraries to meet changing community needs. As ULC celebrates its forty-year anniversary, its work focuses on helping library leaders develop and utilize skills and strategies that match the challenges of the 21st century. Learn more at www.urbanlibraries.org.

At the close of ASTC’s 2011 Annual Conference in Baltimore on Tuesday, October 18, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry President and CEO Nancy Stueber, who has served as ASTC’s president for the last two years, passed the gavel to the Association’s new president, R. Bryce Seidl, president and CEO of the Pacific Science Center, Seattle. Seidl formerly served as ASTC’s secretary/treasurer.

“Coming out of this conference, I am even more energized about the power and potential of ASTC to help our members and partners move the world forward on science and science education,” Seidl remarked.

Joining Seidl as board officers are: Chevy Humphrey, president and CEO, Arizona Science Center, Phoenix, who will serve as secretary/treasurer; Linda Conlon, chief executive, International Centre for Life, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, who will serve as vice president; Joanna Haas, executive director, Louisville Science Center, Kentucky, who will serve as member-at-large; and Stueber, who assumes the position of immediate past president.

Two board members—Dennis Bartels, executive director of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, and Ann Fumarolo, president and CEO of SciPort: Louisiana’s Science Center in Shreveport—were re-elected to a second term. Four new board members were also elected: Nohora Elizabeth Hoyos, executive director, Maloka, Bogota, Colombia; Neville Petrie, CEO, Science Alive! The New Zealand Science Centre, Christchurch; Stephanie Ratcliffe, executive director, Wild Center, Tupper Lake, New York; and Barry Van Deman, president and CEO, North Carolina Museum of Life and Science, Durham.

ASTC board members not up for re-election this year include: Linda Abraham-Silver, president and executive director, Great Lakes Science Center, Cleveland, Ohio; David Chesebrough, president and CEO, COSI, Columbus, Ohio; Joseph Hastings, executive director, Don Harrington Discovery Center, Amarillo, Texas; Ronen Mir, general director, MadaTech: Israel National Museum of Science, Haifa; David Mosena, president and CEO, Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago; and Carol Valenta, senior vice president, Saint Louis Science Center, Missouri. Those individuals whose terms have ended include Immediate Past President Lesley Lewis, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto; Member-at-Large Erik Jacquemyn, Technopolis, the Flemish Science Center, Mechelen, Belgium; Graham Durant, Questacon, the National Science and Technology Centre, Canberra, ACT, Australia; and Charlie Trautmann, Sciencenter, Ithaca, New York.

ASTC’s Youth Inspired Challenge is one year old, so what better way to celebrate than by having a birthday party in the 2011 ASTC Annual Conference Exhibit Hall? Amid party hats and cake, conference attendees met science center youth program participants from the New Jersey Academy for Aquatic Sciences, Camden; Pacific Science Center, Seattle; the Philadelphia Zoo; and the National Aquarium, Baltimore. Libby Redda from Pacific Science Center and Jeremy Martinez from the National Aquarium addressed the crowd, sharing their experiences and describing how they personally have benefitted from the institutions’ youth programs.

ASTC’s Youth Inspired Challenge is designed to expand the impact of science centers and museums to assist our youth to become the innovative and creative thinkers needed for the 21st-century workforce. ASTC-member institutions will offer valuable science education and youth employment programs outside the classroom to engage youth in a minimum of 2 million hours of science enrichment through STEM-centered youth development programs. In the program’s first year, nearly 14,000 youth across the globe were reached during more than 702,000 out-of-school hours. Click here to learn how your institution can join the program.

ASTC would like to thank the chaperones and youth participants for joining our celebration!

About the image: Libby Redda, Pacific Science Center, and Jeremy Martinez, National Aquarium. Photo by Christine Ruffo

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.