This issue of ASTC Dimensions highlights how small science centers generate outsized impacts in their local communities and beyond. For the purposes of this issue, we define a small science center as one with 25,000 square feet or less of interior exhibit space, or an operating budget of U.S.$2.5 million or less. Though small centers must contend with limited space, resources, and staff, these challenges also bring benefits, including the ability to be flexible and innovative, and opportunities to connect with audiences on a personal level.

Contents
• Big Educational Impact, Small Programming Resources, by Ilene Frank
• The House of Experiments: Where the Sky Is the Limit, by Miha Kos
• A Small Science Center’s Impact on Students’ Interest in Science, by Charlie Trautmann
• Science Alive! in New Zealand and Beyond, by Neville Petrie
• Repeat Engagement for Visitors, by Emily O’Hara and Beth Krusi
• On a Human Scale: The Impacts of Size at Explora, by Armelle Casau and Betsy Adamson
• Revitalizing a Museum from the Ground Up, by Rachel Meyer
• Leading and Implementing Innovation in Small Science Centers, by Ronen Mir
• Small Gems, by Ann Fumarolo
• Small Science Centers at a Glance, by Christine Ruffo
• Making the Most of Collaborations, by Diane LaFollette, Beth Murphy, Kelly Finnerty, Sonya Darter, and Meadow Jones

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As a small, regional museum drawing from a small population, the Montshire Museum of Science in rural Norwich, Vermont, attracts a high proportion of repeat visitors. About 80 percent of visitors have been to the museum before, and we average 18 individual visits per membership household each year. Our reliance on repeat visitation challenges us to constantly evaluate and refine both new and existing exhibits in our 11,000-square-foot interior exhibit space and 110 acres of woodlands.

While a good exhibit engages a visitor the first time, a great exhibit can engage a visitor again and again. We design each exhibit not only to invite inquiry, inspire conversations, and challenge the mind, but also to tempt further exploration and provoke ongoing learning. We have found that the best exhibits to sustain repeat visitation offer multiple entry points and open-ended interactions, are accessible to multiple ages and knowledge levels, and are able to “grow” with our visitors.

Exhibit evaluation is at the heart of our efforts. In 2004 and 2005, with the support of the U.S. National Science Foundation, we worked with researchers from Dartmouth College Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences to record and videotape visitor interactions at our exhibits. (See www.montshire.org/dminstitute/conversations.html.) That research pointed to strategies that can enhance conversations, such as including isolated areas for some exhibits, having visitors face each other when using an exhibit, providing seating that can be comfortably used by both children and adults, and writing labels to help adults understand their role when investigating exhibits with their children. These strategies have become a standard part of our exhibit design process.

During the creation of new exhibits, prototyping is done early and often. Our status as a small museum gives us an advantage, as repeat visitors are eager to be involved. Our volunteer explainers and front desk staff report that visitors point to finished exhibits and express pride that they helped in their creation.

To evaluate existing exhibits, we use simple observation and short interviews. For example, we observed that the “feeding chamber” in our Leafcutter Ant colony was inspiring many visitor conversations. We plan to further encourage conversations by doubling the chamber’s size to allow multiple visitors to view it simultaneously.

Our commitment to serving our rural community has inspired us to continually improve our exhibits, ensuring that they engage our repeat visitors and enhance their museum experience.

Emily O’Hara is education associate and marketing assistant and Beth Krusi is director of marketing and communications at the Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, Vermont.

In one of these sessions, Alan I. Leshner, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will discuss ways science centers can link the scientific community with opinion leaders to provide public-dialogue opportunities at the local level.

In another conference highlight, featured speaker Jon D. Miller, the John A. Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies at Michigan State University, East Lansing, will report on data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY), a 20-year U.S. national study of a sample of young adults, now ages 34 to 38. The 2009 LSAY study focused on how and where today’s young adults obtain science information when they need it—including from museums, print and broadcast media, and electronic resources.

Visit our conference section to learn more about ASTC 2010.

About the images: Alan I. Leshner (top), CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and Jon D. Miller, the John A. Hannah Professor of Integrative Studies at Michigan State University, East Lansing, will be featured speakers at the ASTC Annual Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii.

As a new participant in the fascinating world of science centers and museums, I have quickly come to see the breadth of impact that our institutions can (and do) offer. Our 582 member organizations come in all sizes and span 45 countries on six continents. We estimate that we touch the lives of over 80 million visitors to our facilities each year.

ASTC member institutions worldwide are strengthening the environment for learning and applying science, and they are engaging visitors of all ages in critical societal issues where science understanding is essential. They are making global issues real and relevant within communities, and they are helping their visitors—young and old alike—see themselves as part of a larger community of global citizens. This is the very essence of a shared vision among ASTC members to be viewed as essential elements within their communities.

As ASTC’s CEO, I want to work especially hard to ensure that our members receive well deserved recognition for valuable contributions to STEM education and public appreciation of complex scientific issues in society today. Above all, your Association must be your strongest advocate.

And advocacy does not rest with today’s successes.  We will explore the many ways in which ASTC members can contribute even more to the understanding and engagement of their communities in science-based issues, locally and globally.  ASTC members in the United States, for example, will have the opportunity to participate in a new ASTC-sponsored “Youth-Inspired” Challenge, contributing to a Presidential campaign to make science learning a cornerstone of youth development.  At the same time, ASTC has taken the lead in preparing a global declaration for the upcoming UN Summit on the Millennium Development Goals that calls for greater commitment to informal science education.  Look for more on these global opportunities in an upcoming addition of ASTC Dimensions.

ASTC will bring its unique membership and mission into partnerships and alliances with many other organizations around the world that strive to meet the public’s need for science understanding and education. Together, our organizations can serve as critical agents of change on key issues. 

As you, our members, strive to provide your communities with enriching and enjoyable experiences, ASTC is committed to providing you with a comprehensive portfolio of valuable supporting services. Whether by compiling and disseminating information on relevant practices or exploring creative new concepts in workshops, online programs, publications and retreats, our goals will be to help individual professionals acquire the skills necessary to administer programs efficiently and to enable member institutions to navigate successfully through the challenges of changing times and circumstances.  Perhaps most importantly, ASTC is committed to providing our members with vision, direction, and inspirational leadership by anticipating trends, inspiring new approaches, and helping our members to prepare for opportunities and challenges as yet unforeseen.

We look forward to seeing all of our members at the ASTC Annual Conference—which is, and always will be, a unique opportunity to renew contacts and shared experiences.  In order for ASTC to serve you best, I hope you will not wait for this annual event, however, to share with me your hopes and needs for the association to support you in your individual missions.   

I am extremely excited to be part of the great work performed by all of our ASTC members—large and small.  The journey of discovery may be endless, but it can be made to be enjoyable at every step.  I am reminded of a quote from author Isaac Asimov (who, I am told, wrote more science nonfiction than fiction):

“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not “Eureka!” (I found it!) but “That’s funny…”

The United Nations has declared 2010 to be the International Year of Biodiversity. Defined as the variety of life on Earth, biodiversity refers not only to the world’s diverse array of species, from animals to plants to micro-organisms, but also to the genetic variation within species, and the ecosystems where species live and interact. Whether through exhibitions, workshops, outreach programs, community partnerships, or Public Participation in Scientific Research projects, science centers can play an important role in increasing public understanding of biodiversity, its value, the threats it faces, and what can be done to help.

Contents

• Biodiversity: Time for Action, by Gérard Cobut
• The Calumet Environmental Education Program: A Model for Science Learning, by Kirk Anne Taylor
• An Oasis in the City: Tokyo’s Institute for Nature Study, by Miki Takahashi
• Variety is the Spice of Life: Biodiversity and its Conservation as a Basic Commitment, by Francisco J. Franco del Amo and Francisco Armesto Ramón
• Biodiversity in China, by Frances Leung
• Lessons from the Tree of Life, by Jane Pickering and Ellen Giusti
• Partnering for Conservation in the Solomon Islands, by Brian Weeks, Catherine Smith, and Eleanor Sterling
• Grassroots Gardening, by Jenny Fortier and Dana Murchison
• Making Big Abstract Science Accessible, by Marilyn Hoyt and Dan Wharton
• Public Participation in Scientific Research

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“I always wanted to be able to connect what I taught in class to a real-world situation. [The Calumet Environmental Education Program (CEEP)] allows students to not only learn about environmental issues, but also take action on an issue. I feel my students learned more during this year than any other year.”
—Milton Katsaros, CEEP Teacher

In 2002, the Field Museum in Chicago launched the Calumet Environmental Education Program (CEEP) as a new model of conservation education that translates science into action for students and teachers. Developed by the museum’s Division of Environment, Culture, and Conservation (ECCo), CEEP began as a pilot project for schools in the Calumet region of southeast Chicago. Since its inception, CEEP has grown to serve more than 2,700 students and 100 teachers from 23 Calumet schools annually. Students in grades 4 to 12 learn about local biodiversity through a consecutive ladder of environmental education programs that build content knowledge grade level upon grade level.

ECCo uses museum collections and resources to promote environmental conservation and cultural understanding through programs in Chicago and South America, engaging the human communities that live in and around the world’s biologically rich landscapes. We work with partner organizations to identify and use communities’ strengths to protect biological diversity and cultural heritage. CEEP enables ECCo to work with schools and community partners, including the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Chicago State University, the Calumet Stewardship Initiative (an alliance of over 20 community-based organizations), and the Chicago Department of Environment, to address pressing environmental concerns in the Calumet region.

Stretching along the southern shores of Lake Michigan from southeast Chicago to northwest Indiana, the Calumet region contains outstanding pockets of rich natural areas, intermingled with abandoned steel mills, landfills, and ongoing industrial activity. Despite a historic legacy of contaminated waterways and hazardous waste sites, the Calumet region is home to several critical remnants of endangered Great Lakes ecosystems. This natural biodiversity and the need for conservation, together with the existing infrastructure of community leaders and organizations to implement these changes, make Calumet an ideal location for a program like CEEP.

Integrated curriculum

The CEEP curriculum has three components—Mighty Acorns (grades 4–6), Earth Force (grades 7–8), and Calumet Is My Back Yard (CIMBY) (grades 9–12)—which engage students in science by letting them apply what they have learned to real-life community conservation issues.
• In Mighty Acorns, students visit a local natural area three times a year, participating in exploration of local biodiversity, educational activities that illustrate basic ecological concepts, and stewardship activities, such as removing invasive species and spreading native seeds.
• Earth Force helps youth develop the problem-solving skills needed to create long-term solutions to community environmental issues. Students choose a local environmental issue—such as toxic cleaning solutions in schools or air pollution—and develop and implement a community project to address it.
• CIMBY students participate in stewardship and ecological monitoring activities in local natural areas throughout the year. On leadership days, students visit a variety of ecosystems and share ideas about conservation with students from other schools. In the summer, interested students participate in science and conservation internships.

The CEEP curriculum model was designed to build upon the Chicago Public Schools’ initiative to cultivate clusters of schools that work together to improve the effectiveness of education at every grade level. Consequently, CEEP was piloted with one high school and its eight elementary feeder schools. The subject matter that students learn in their regular classes is integrated into field experiences so that students gain a greater understanding of the environment and acquire skills they need to act on what they have learned. Learning outcomes for each grade level are driven by Illinois Learning Standards.

One significant advantage of having a common curriculum for the CEEP cluster of schools is that it has enabled us to provide common professional development for all the teachers in that cluster. CEEP was designed to expand teachers’ knowledge of local biodiversity and basic ecological concepts. During CEEP workshops, teachers integrate environmental content into their existing classroom curricula, practice environmental education activities, and coordinate activities with teachers from other grades.

Lessons learned

CEEP was initiated with the expressed intention of evaluating this integrated environmental education model. An evaluation protocol was developed by an external evaluator, Terrie Nolinske of TNI Consultants in Professional Development. The assessment protocol consisted of attitude and knowledge surveys given to students and teachers at the beginning (pre-test) and end (post-test) of the school year for three consecutive years, from 2002 to 2005. An independent statistician reviewed the assessment protocol to verify that attitude and knowledge changes were a result of CEEP. Of the 62 teachers that took part in the program from 2002 to 2005, 54 completed the evaluation. We also analyzed the responses of the 111 students who participated in the program for all three school years consecutively.

Highlights of the CEEP evaluation demonstrate the power of professional development and hands-on learning to effect change in both students and teachers.
• Students and teachers made statistically significant gains in knowledge about biodiversity, the local community, and local environmental issues.
• Teachers were able to compose teaching objectives specific to the environment, focusing on the goal of preparing students for further environmental study.
• Teachers reported feeling more confident about their knowledge of environmental issues. In 2002, 69 percent of teachers reported that a “lack of knowledge makes it difficult to include environmental content in my teaching.” In 2005, only 14 percent agreed with this statement.
• Students reported that CEEP stimulated their interest in science through activities and field trips.

Moving forward, we intend to expand the CEEP model to additional schools in Calumet. We are also working to connect CEEP with existing programs run by our partner organizations so that we can offer schools a slate of programs that build on one another year after year. This approach enables us to strategically allocate our collective resources throughout the region.

Kirk Anne Taylor is urban conservation manager at the Field Museum, Chicago, Illinois. The 2005 CEEP evaluation is available online at www.fieldmuseum.org/ceeppublication/pdfs/TNI_Executive_Summary.pdf (pdf, 40 pp.)

Certified Fund Raising Executive (CFRE™) Continuing Education credits
CFRE Continuing Education credits will be available for the first time at this year’s conference. Only selected sessions indicated by the CFRE logo are approved for credit. More details will be included when the Preliminary Program is published.

Registration Deal
When you buy 4 full conference registrations from the same institution, you’ll get a 5th registration at HALF PRICE!

Poster Showcase
In an effort to reflect the variety of work and research going on in the field, the ASTC Conference Program Planning Committee has added a poster session to the 2010 ASTC Annual Conference. In line with the conference theme, “Ho‘okele–To Navigate: Science Centers as Wayfinders to New Horizons,” and ASTC’s Strategic Priorities, more than 40 posters will be grouped by category and displayed in the Exhibit Hall.

Social Media Opportunities
New this year, ASTC is setting up a site on the social network CrowdVine where attendees can meet and connect online before the event, create a personal agenda of sessions and activities, and discuss conference topics. Once you have registered for ASTC 2010, you will receive an e-mail invitation to join.

The start of the third cohort of NLI Fellows marks a distinct change in the program’s format. In contrast to prior cohorts that focused on CEOs, the 2010–2011 cohort includes senior managers inside and outside the field with the passion and potential to work as a CEO, COO, or another senior executive position within a science center or children’s museum. After a competitive application process, 18 participants were selected in February. The Fellows began meeting via audio conference in March, and will meet for their Opening Retreat in San Diego, California, May 15–23.

About the image: Ronen Mir, general director, MadaTech, Haifa, Israel, and Margie Marino, executive director, North Museum of Natural History, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, brainstorm ways to engage new audiences in their centers during Cohort 2’s Capstone Retreat. Photo by Jennifer Zoffel

Thompson began his study under master navigator Mau Piailug of Satawal, Micronesia, in 1978. In 1980, Thompson made history as the first Hawaiian in hundreds of years to navigate a voyaging canoe from Hawaii to Tahiti using only the stars and other traditional wayfinding techniques. The canoe, Hokule‘a, has since sailed to every major island group in Polynesia, as well as to Micronesia and Japan. Plans are being made now for a worldwide sail. In 1994, under Thompson’s supervision, PVS completed the construction of a new Hawaiian voyaging canoe, Hawa‘iloa, made from authentic materials.

In Hawaii and throughout Polynesia, Thompson has led a revival of traditional arts associated with voyaging. He is currently developing an educational program designed to teach Hawaiian children about Polynesian voyaging traditions and conservation principles, along with modern scientific knowledge about the ocean, sky, and land environments.

The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, is kicking off the week with their Earth Day Festival, April 17–18. Among the many activities offered, visitors will be able to check out the Academy’s electrofishing boat used by scientists to collect fish for study, meet local groups committed to protecting the environment, and practice digging a sediment core to read the history of pollution and climate change that’s written in the mud from a salt marsh.

Impression 5 Science Center, Lansing, Michigan, is coordinating a river clean-up day on April 18. After spending a few hours hard at work, participants will be invited back to the science center for demonstrations and workshops about the Grand River watershed.

Two museum celebrations will feature special musical performances as part of their Earth Day celebrations. On April 18, the Springfield Museums, Springfield, Massachusetts, will host The Boys of the Landfill, a bluegrass band that performs environmental songs. The following Saturday, Bash the Trash will perform an interactive show about the importance of recycling and the science of music at Maryland Science Center, Baltimore.

To learn more about Earth Day, visit www.earthday.org.

About the image: Participants in Impression 5’s 2009 river clean-up day learn about the Grand River watershed through a hands-on activity. Photo courtesy Lansing Board of Water & Light