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.

During a day trip to New York City on March 29, U.S. President Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop at the American Museum of Natural History to tour the New York Science and Engineering Fair—his third science fair visit in recent weeks. As he examined projects including a bamboo bicycle and an exhibit on human-robot speech interaction, Obama told students, “There’s going to be a great demand for people with the skills you’re developing.”

In addition to his science fair drop-ins, the president has hosted several events, including a White House science fair, Astronomy on the South Lawn, and a meeting with Intel Science Talent student finalists, to encourage young people to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). ASTC, through its network of local science centers and museums and its Youth Inspired Challenge, is committed to doing its part to meet the president’s goal of strengthening STEM education. To learn more about the Youth Inspired Challenge, visit www.youthinspiredchallenge.org.

About the image: President Obama greets students at the New York Science and Engineering Fair. Official White House photo by Lawrence Jackson

Communities around the world are starting to notice climate changes that may affect their cultures, lifestyles, and economies. This year, Heureka, The Finnish Science Centre, Vantaa, and The Wild Center, Tupper Lake, New York, have brought members of their communities together to exchange experiences and discuss community learning and action on energy saving, climate issues, and “green” practices that support the regions’ commitment to sustainable tourism.

The project is supported by AAM’s Museums & Community Collaborations Abroad grant program. In November 2010, a team from Finland traveled to New York’s Tri-Lakes area to participate in two forums—the Adirondack Youth Climate Summit, where Heureka experience director Mikko Myllykoski was a presenter, and Wintergreen: A Conversation about the Future of Winter Recreation, Sports and Culture in the Adirondacks. On February 24, The Wild Center sent a team that included three high school students to Finland, where they met with the deputy mayor of Helsinki to discuss experiences developing low-carbon economies and a representative of the Ministry of Labour to discuss how to create jobs in rural areas. (Read more about the participants’ experiences in their blog.)

About the images: Finnish and U.S. community teams in the Adirondacks (top) and Finland. Photos courtesy the Wild Center