The event, entitled the Climate Change Exchange, was moderated by Nishin Nathwani, a high school student and human rights activist from Fergus, Ontario. He was joined by panelists from universities in each of the host countries and hundreds of people from around the world who watched the sessions live online. The students who participated not only heard from panelists, but also offered their own solutions, focusing on the importance of leadership to affect the sort of large-scale, legally binding regulations it will take to meet a challenge of this magnitude.

“The remarkable young people we have heard from over the past two days are true agents of change,” said Lesley Lewis, CEO of Ontario Science Centre. “They are responding to a real global environmental challenge and challenging us to develop solutions.”

Kimura was selected as an ASTC Diversity & Leadership Development Fellow in 2006, attending her first ASTC annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky. The ASTC Fellows experience was her first exposure to the larger science center field and the ASTC community. She notes that the program provided her the “opportunity to meet other Fellows who experienced similar challenges in their own institutions, understand informal science education on a higher level, and network with professionals in the community outside of educational programs and exhibit designers.” Kimura also acknowledges that the program provided guidance on how to be engaged in the conference, ask questions, network effectively, allowing her to enjoy a more nuanced conference experience.

Participation in the ASTC Fellows program opened the doors to other professional development opportunities, including the CAISE Fellows program. Participation in the 2008 program helped her overcome geographic isolation; network with diverse professionals from different informal science education sectors; and gave her insight into the priorities of organizations funding informal science education.

Reflecting on how these experiences have shaped her as a science center leader, Kimura notes, “Imiloa’s mission is to bring together culture in science to benefit all parts of its community, especially to engage youth as the next generation of STEM leaders. Coming to ASTC and CAISE has helped me understand what’s going on in the larger community, and the opportunities for contributions from ‘Imiloa on bringing together culture and science for the benefit of all communities.”

“Informal science education reaches millions of people every year in out-of-school settings with an extraordinary array of opportunities to explore, discover, and learn,” said Wendy Pollock, director of CAISE. “This is our opportunity to celebrate our work, explore emerging issues, and strengthen connections across the informal science education community.”

Summit plenary speakers included Tom Kalil, deputy director for policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City, and host of NOVA scienceNOW; and Bruce Lewenstein, professor of science communication at Cornell University and co-chair of a U.S. National Research Council (NRC) Committee that produced a 2009 consensus report Learning Science in Informal Environments: People, Places, and Pursuits.

Building on the momentum from the NRC report, CAISE initiated a nationwide effort to focus attention on critical issues impacting the informal science education community. They included the infrastructure that supports science learning outside of school, the policies that support and constrain opportunities in informal science education, and the nature of the learning that results across the lifespan. The results of these special Inquiry Groups were unveiled at the conference, and attendees were encouraged to participate in robust discussions and provide direction for the 21st century.

“We are just now developing a critical mass of evidence about how people learn through informal experience,” said Kevin Crowley, CAISE co–principal investigator and co-leader of the CAISE Learning Inquiry Group. “We are seeing exciting new theories about the ways that knowledge, skills, interest, and motivation can keep citizens engaged as science learners across the lifespan. There is great potential for strong research/practice collaborations across the spectrum of informal science education, and we hope the ISE Summit will catalyze continued innovation in the field.”

Other events included a luncheon on Friday, where several federal agencies highlighted collaborative efforts and underscored their ongoing support of informal science education, and the unveiling of Surrounded by Science: Learning Science in Informal Environments, a new book published by the NRC that builds on the findings of the 2009 report and supports the essential role of informal science education.

About the image: Tom Kalil, deputy director for policy at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, speaks at the CAISE Summit opening plenary. Photo by Christine Ruffo

The ceremony highlighted how the museums’ programs have benefited individual community members. Brittani Brown participated in the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s YouthALIVE! after-school program from the sixth through eighth grades, became a museum volunteer in high school, and was later promoted to a paid position as a youth puppeteer in the YouthALIVE! Puppet Troupe. Faith Anne Brown is a graduate of CMC’s youth leadership program, where she facilitated interactive programs for families at CMC’s Duke Energy Children’s museum. She recently completed her undergraduate degree with honors in chemistry at Howard University. At age 14, Vivian McIlrath joined MOSI’s YES! Team, a leadership development/mentorship program for teens facing multiple risk factors, and her program scholarship stipend helped to financially support her family. She went on to gradauate from the University of South Florida and was the first scholarship recipient of the National Hispanic Scientist of the Year Award. Today, McIlrath heads the YES! Team program, helping to share with students the same opportunities she was once offered.

In addition to the National Medal and a $10,000 award, each Medal recipient will have the option of a three-day visit by StoryCorps, an independent, nonprofit, oral history project that records conversations with community members that can be shared through a free CD and are preserved at the Library of Congress.

About the images: Anne-Imelda M. Radice, IMLS director, and Susan Sher, First Lady Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, present the 2009 National Medal for Museum and Library Service to Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, Cincinnati Museum Center, and MOSI. Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, top, left to right: Sher; Brittani Brown, community member; Jane Werner, museum director; Jennifer Broadhurst, museum board member; Radice. Cincinnati Museum Center, center, left to right: Sher; Douglass W. McDonald, museum director; Elizabeth Pierce, museum vice president of marketing and communications; Radice. MOSI, bottom, left to right: Sher; Judith Lombana, museum vice president; Vivian McIlrath, head of the museum’s YES! Team program; Wit Ostrenko, museum director; Maruchi Azorin Blanco, board member; Radice. Photos by Earl Zubkoff

Discover Engineering Family Day marked the end of this year’s Engineers Week, a global annual celebration presented by the National Engineers Week Foundation to raise public understanding and appreciation of engineers’ contributions to society. Other events included Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day and the finals for the Future City Competition.

About the image: The National Children’s Museum, Washington, D.C.,  presents Builder Bill and the Bewildering Bucket at Discover Engineering Family Day. Bill (also known as Matt Baldoni) shows kids how to construct a museum with pulleys, levers, and all sorts of machines. Photo by Christine Ruffo

Portions of RACE: Are We So Different?, a traveling exhibition developed by SMM in collaboration with AAA, were on display during the symposium and provided a basis for discussions. The exhibition tells the stories of race from biological, cultural, and historical points of view. Eric Jolly, president of SMM, also moderated a panel on “Racial Disparities: Are U.S. Policies Addressing or Entrenching Disadvantage?”

About the image: SMM staff members brought RACE: Are We So Different? to Capitol Hill for “A New National Dialogue on Race.” Photo by Christine Ruffo

Last week, ASTC joined 937 nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15). In addition to a 200-booth exhibition, the conference featured hundreds of side events focusing on issues ranging from how climate change affects women to clean development mechanisms in developing countries.

One such event was an International Clim’Way Competition, organized by ASTC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). ASTC brought together youth and educators from the Museum of Science, Boston; Experimentarium, Copenhagen; Cap-Sciences, Bordeaux, France; and COSI, Columbus, Ohio, to share their experiences playing Clim’Way, a free online climate change game designed by Cap-Sciences.

The science center participants discussed what they learned from the game with a panel of climate science and policy experts that included Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; Walter Staveloz, ASTC; Ned Gardiner, NOAA; Eric Gorman, Cap-Sciences; David Noble, 2DegreesC; Bjørn Bedsted, Danish Board of Technology; and Hans Gubbels, Ecsite Executive Committee.

Perspectives on the game and on climate change differed from site to site, but all participants agreed on one thing: finding a solution to climate change, though difficult, is a challenge we must meet.

Photo by Ned Gardiner

A delegation from ASTC will travel to the upcoming 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15) in Copenhagen to organize an international competition around Clim’City, an online climate change game developed by Cap-Sciences, Bordeaux, France. ASTC is committed to supporting its members as they address issues of science and society, and COP15 will provide the opportunity to highlight such work on both a local and a global level. The event will stream live from the Bella Center in Copenhagen on December 14 from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m.  Central European Time.

Clim’City will shine a spotlight on teens and educators from seven science centers around the world, giving them the opportunity to share what they’ve learned about climate change and to interact with a panel of climate policy and science experts, including the Deputy Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Communications Director of Climate Program office of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the science advisors for Clim’City.

Institutions wishing to join the competition can sign up on the Clim’City web site using the format “COP15InstitutionNameTeamName.” The game is appropriate for ages 15–18, and participants are welcome to play as teams or as individuals. Email kcrawford[at]astc.org by Friday, December 11, with your login information and high scores for each team. Winners will be announced during the December 14th event in Copenhagen. More information can be found on the IGLO web site.

Panelists Jennifer Stancil of the Girls, Math & Science Partnership at Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, Karen Peterson of the National Girls Collaborative Project and the Puget Sound Center for Teaching, Learning and Technology, Lynnwood, Washington, Dr. Lisa Regalla of Twin Cities Public Television, and Georgette Williams of the New York Hall of Science, introduced participants to a number of best practices in designing STEM experiences for girls, followed by examples of hands-on activities developed based on these practices.

The conversations started during this session are continuing in a postconference online discussion on ASTC Connect, November 16–20.  The enrollment key for the “Beyond Painting Science Pink” discussion is “stemgirls.”

About the image: Session participants try out “speed networking.” Photo by Christine Ruffo