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.

Application guidelines are now available online for the Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums project (www.imls.gov/about/macarthur.shtm), funded jointly by IMLS and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. ASTC has partnered with the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) to manage this grant program that will support the planning and design of up to 30 Learning Labs in libraries and museums, based on current research about how young people learn through new media.

The full program announcement and application guidelines are now available online on the IMLS web site, at www.imls.gov/about/macarthur.shtm, and through www.grants.gov, Funding Opportunity Number LLP-FY11.

Proposals must be submitted no later than August 15, 2011. Awards will be announced in November 2011.

You can learn more about the Grants for Learning Labs in Libraries and Museums during one of the upcoming webinars for prospective applicants. IMLS and partnership program staff will be available to discuss the purpose of the grants and the grant application process, as well as answer participants’ questions.

Webinars are scheduled for Tuesday, June 28 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time, and Tuesday, July 12 at 3:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Click here for webinar instructions. (PDF; 301 KB.)

Interested organizations can also check out the project web site at www.youmedia.org, or click here for Frequently Asked Questions.

The ASTC and the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) have announced a partnership to manage a new Learning Labs project supported through $4 million in funding from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

“Science centers and museums are ideal places to engage and educate young people through new forms of media, and ASTC is honored to be chosen as a cooperating partner for such an exciting and important project,” said ASTC’s CEO Anthony (Bud) Rock. “This new undertaking nicely complements our presidentially-endorsed Youth Inspired Challenge initiative, as both will help expand the impact of science centers and museums to assist our young people to become the innovative and creative thinkers we need for the 21st century.”

ASTC and ULC will be responsible for supporting a network of Learning Labs that will use best practice principles, based on research and evidence in the field of youth digital learning, to engage youth in 21st century skills and effective STEM education. The Labs will be spaces for experimentation where young people explore traditional and digital media and use hands-on, interest-based learning to strengthen their creativity and critical thinking skills.

A Request for Proposals for the Learning Labs project will be issued to eligible library and museum applicants in June, and an August deadline is anticipated. Grants of up to $100,000 will be awarded for each Learning Lab, and awards will be announced by IMLS in October/November. This will be the first of two grant rounds; a second deadline will occur in April/May 2012. (Note that dates are subject to change.) Answers to frequently asked questions about the Learning Labs project are available at: www.imls.gov/pdf/MacArthurLabsFAQ.pdf.

On March 1, the Noyce Foundation, in collaboration ASTC and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), announced the fourth cohort of Noyce Leadership Fellows.

Through their Fellowships, 18 senior level managers from science centers and related institutions will increase their capacity to lead effectively; to advance innovation in their institutions and communities; and to act as change agents at the crossroads of societal trends, global issues, and informal science. The Noyce Leadership Institute (NLI) provides access to knowledge, tools, best practices, and professional networks through a mix of face-to-face sessions, executive coaching, peer learning, and audio conferencing over a year, followed by ongoing Fellow alumni activities.

Primary funding for NLI comes from the Noyce Foundation, with additional support to date from IMLS, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the David & Lucile Packard Foundation.

Congratulations to the 2011–2012 Fellows (in bold) and their Strategic Initiative Sponsors:

• Jeff Barnhart, Lindy Hoyer, Omaha Children’s Museum, Nebraska
• Marcie Benne, Ray Vandiver, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland
• Dan Bird, Goéry Delacôte, At-Bristol, England, United Kingdom
• Scott Carter, Ron Kagan, Detroit Zoological Society, Michigan
• Greg DeFrancis, David Goudy, Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, Vermont
• Sean Duran, Gillian Thomas, Miami Science Museum, Florida
• Andrea Durham, Paul Fontaine, Anne Cademenos, Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts
• Amito Haarhuis, Michiel Buchel, Science Center NEMO, Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Joan Hoge-North, Geoff Halfpenny, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware
• Eva Jonsson, Olle Nordberg, Teknikens Hus, Luleå, Sweden
• Diane Perlov, Jeffrey Rudolph, California Science Center, Los Angeles
• Gail Ringel, Carole Charnow, Boston Children’s Museum, Massachusetts
• Tom Rockwell, Rob Semper, Exploratorium, San Francisco
• Patricia Verheyden, Eric Jacquemyn, Technopolis, Mechelen, Belgium
• Johannes Vogel, Sharon Ament, Natural History Museum, London, England, United Kingdom
• Stacy Wakeford, Denise Amyot, Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, Ottawa, Ontario
• Shari Werb, Cristián Samper, Claudine Brown, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
• Karen Wise, Jane Pisano, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California.

As part of its continued commitment to advocacy on global issues related to science and society, ASTC issued a statement on behalf of science centers and museums to the UN Commission on the Status of Women in preparation for its 55th session. In this session, which is being held in  New York City from February 22 to March 4, the Commission is considering as its priority theme “access and participation of women and girls in education, training, science, and technology, including for the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work.”

The declaration outlines science centers and museums’ commitment to and strength in providing equitable and accessible spaces for science learning, as well as the importance of informal science education environments as partners in the overall science learning landscape. ASTC submitted the declaration with the intent that governments will include its considerations in their policies and resource decisions. The full text of the declaration is available here (pdf, 427 KB).

About the image: A participant in Columbus State Community College’s English as a Second Language Afterschool Program at Providence Glen enjoys a field trip to COSI, Columbus, Ohio. Photo courtesy CSCC