The digital publication of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC)
The ASTC Dimensions Resource Library provides peer-reviewed guides, articles, and insights written by science engagement colleagues about topics relevant to science centers and museums and other organizations committed to engaging the public in science and technology. Interested in contributing to the resource library? Learn more about our quarterly submission cycle and our submission guidelines.
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The organizational and contributor characteristics reflect the ways that ASTC classifies member organizations and individuals in our data collection and reflect categorization at the time the article was originally published.
By John W. Jacobsen Excerpted from Dimensions May/June 2019 A museum aspires to impact its community, audiences, and supporters. In turn, the community, audiences, and supporters receive benefits from the museum. Impacts are the effects desired by the museum; benefits are what matter to the beneficiaries. The distinction is important.
IN THIS ISSUE May/June 2019 We all know the invaluable worth of a science center or museum. But how do we convey that value to donors, elected officials, and others? Glowing adjectives often aren’t enough. Because of our wide-ranging activities—providing informal STEM education, partnering with the formal education process, supporting
The Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is breathing new life into some of Leonardo da Vinci’s greatest ideas in honor of the 500th anniversary of his death (it is believed that da Vinci died of a stroke on May 2, 1519). The Science Center is offering special, themed activities the weekend
By Emma Sussman Starr From Dimensions March/April 2019 KID Museum is a creative learning space dedicated to empowering the next generation to invent the future with creativity and compassion. Our prototype site on the first floor of a Montgomery County, Maryland, public library is a step toward the museum’s vision of a larger,
By Renata Moretti and Ennio Candotti From Dimensions March/April 2019 The idea of setting up a museum in the greatest forest on Earth—the Amazon rainforest—brought along with it some questions: How could the visitors really engage in exploration, make the visit their own, and have a transformative experience they would take away with them?
Interviewed by Susan Straight This interview appeared in the March/April 2019 issue of Dimensions magazine. The Washington Post has called Mary Roach “America’s funniest science writer.” She is the best-selling author of six books: Grunt, Packing for Mars, Bonk, Spook, Gulp, and Stiff. She has received numerous awards, appeared on
By Cristin Dorgelo The history of science, technology, and innovation is filled with novel ideas, creative approaches, and impressive accomplishments generated by small teams faced with limited resources and pressing challenges. Science museums themselves are hardly small in mission or purpose, and yet most face resource constraints common to many mission-driven institutions. Doing more with less, working smarter not harder, and prioritizing are solutions
IN THIS ISSUE March/April 2019 It’s generally easy to notice big things, but it’s the small things that often have a profound effect on our lives. As best-selling author Mary Roach points out in the Q&A interview, the things she couldn’t see while traveling recently in India—bacteria and viruses—were much more likely to
By Cristin Dorgelo Charting a course for the future is one of the more difficult things we are called upon to do as leaders and as individuals. The futures of our institutions, the future of our communities, and the future frontiers of science and technology are inextricably linked. As we
IN THIS ISSUE January/February 2019 At the forefront of informal science learning, we are, in some ways, naturally good at gazing fearlessly into the future. But while we may be better equipped than those in many other fields to strategize for upcoming changes, it’s difficult to see very far ahead,