On June 11, Cedar Rapids Science Station sustained serious flood damage and will be closed indefinitely. Water rose to a level of seven feet on the first floor, leaving a coating of mud on virtually everything up to the high-water mark. All but a few exhibits were destroyed, along with computers and other media equipment.

“One gallery with seven locally-sponsored exhibits was about to be installed, but we had not started any work, so nothing new was lost,” said executive director John Swanson. “The fact that we don’t have an extensive collection of irreplaceable artifacts makes this loss somewhat easier to accept; our stuff is repairable or replaceable. We do have a dinosaur jaw bone, but I figured if it could survive a million years in the mud, then a day or two more before cleaning wasn’t a big deal. You’ve got to focus on the bright side.” The science center’s summer camp program, serving 700 children, has resumed in a nearby church.

Clean-up/mitigation costs alone will be in excess of $200,000. “It’s difficult to say what we need at this point,” said Swanson. “As much as anything I’m just looking for ideas; perhaps a loan of temporary exhibits, maybe learning what others have done under similar circumstances or some off-site programming ideas.”

Photo courtesy Cedar Rapids Science Station

As the 5th Science Centre World Congress (5SCWC) came to an end, delegates looked to the future with the unveiling of the Toronto Declaration. It is the international science center field’s first unified statement of its goals and beliefs. The document was read and endorsed at the 5SCWC closing ceremony in Toronto on June 19.

“This is a landmark event for our field,” said Lesley Lewis, chair of 5SCWC, president of ASTC, and CEO of the Ontario Science Centre, Toronto. “For the first time, science centers around the world have worked together to issue a collective statement that identifies the issues facing our field globally. Today we have committed to a series of actions that will guide us for the next three years.”

The declaration acknowledges that science centers can be “a powerful force for good.” It sets forth the following goals: increasing access to science centers, connecting people through science, facilitating dialogue about and engagement with scientific issues, and working toward achieving the United Nations Millennium Goals.

In her address, Lewis thanked five leaders who worked with her on early drafts of the declaration: Graham Durant (Australia), Emlyn Koster (United States), Pelle Persson (Finland), Julia Tagüeña (Mexico), and Tuan Chew (Singapore).

A new declaration will be released at each future World Congress. The 6th Science Centre World Congress, to be held in 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, will address the theme “Science Across Cultures.”

About the image: Alejandra Léon Castellá (REDPOP), Alfred Tsipa (SAASTEC), Lesley Lewis (ASTC), Per-Edvin Persson (ECSITE), and Tengku Nasariah Ibrahim (ASPAC)  endorse the Toronto Declaration at the 5th Science Centre World Congress. Photo courtesy the 5th Science Centre World Congress

Jennifer Corriero, co-founder of TakingITGlobal (TIG)—an online, international community of young activists—will deliver the first keynote address of the 5th Science Centre World Congress (5SCWC) in Toronto on Monday, June 16.

In her presentation, entitled “The Role of Science Centres in Building the Future,” Corriero will examine how science centers can connect with young people who are working for positive global change. She will discuss her own experiences as a student at the Ontario Science Centre Science School, as well as the work TIG is doing to inspire, inform, and involve young people in local and global issues. Three TIG leaders in Egypt, Argentina, and China will join Corriero in the discussion via webcast.

TIG’s work has led to online and on-the-ground programs that address social issues in dozens of countries. The community currently focuses on climate change, HIV/AIDS, the digital divide, and the UN Millennium Development Goals, which target health, education, development, gender equity, poverty, and the environment.

Summaries of all the keynote presentations and plenary sessions will be available at the 5SCWC web site shortly after the World Congress ends on June 20.

RACE: Are We So Different?, a traveling exhibition developed by the Science Museum of Minnesota in partnership with the American Anthropological Association, recently received the American Association of Museums’ Award of Excellence in Exhibition. The 5,000-square-foot exhibition explores the history, science, and lived experience of race and racism in the United States. Says project director Robert Garfinkle, “This exhibition offers other institutions the opportunity to engage their broader community and help make a more civil society with science at the center.”

To read a review of the exhibition, visit ExhibitFiles.

 Image courtesy Science Museum of Minnesota

The Lawrence Hall of Science (LHS) honored ASTC Fellow Alan J. Friedman with the 2008 LHS Excellence in Science Education Award at its 40th Anniversary Gala on May 9. Director of the New York Hall of Science for 22 years until his retirement in 2006, Friedman is known for his leadership and advocacy on behalf of informal science education. Earlier, while working at LHS, Friedman established the William K. Holt Planetarium and developed new programs–his first was on Stonehenge–that included the audience as participants, not just spectators. This innovation changed the way small planetariums around the world present astronomy to the public. Between his positions with the New York Hall of Science and LHS, Friedman spent two years at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, Paris.

Friedman has received many national and international awards, including being named a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and of the New York Academy of Sciences. The AAAS also recognized Friedman with its Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology for 1996-97. He received the ASTC Fellow Award in 2003, and in 2006 the American Association of Museums (AAM) named him to its Centennial Honor Roll. He is immediate past president of the Visitor Studies Association, a trustee of the Noyce Foundation, and a member of the National Assessment Governing Board, an independent, bipartisan group that sets policy for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), commonly known as “The Nation’s Report Card.”