Below is a list of Communities of Practice (CoPs) that are currently operational or are in the process of organizing, with information on how you can get involved.
ASTC Communities of Practice are located on the ASTC Community site, community.astc.org. This platform allows CoPs to host discussions, share resources, and connect with other members of the field.
Adult Engagement: The Adult Engagement CoP is a community of educators who work on programming for adults. Adults in science and technology centers sometimes have different needs than our younger visitors, and other times they just need the opportunity to do something like they’re a kid. This CoP is a place to share experiences and discuss how we can better engage our adult visitors—whether they’re in a registered course, visiting on a normal day, or coming in for a program geared towards them.
Advocacy and Public Policy: Join ASTC and members of the ASTC Public Policy Committee for conversations about our advocacy efforts on Capitol Hill and beyond, and learn how you can make a positive difference on behalf of your institution and the science center and museum field as a whole.
Advocates for Diversity: The Advocates for Diversity CoP is for any museum or like organization staff either already in the process of implementing or exploring the formation of an internal workgroup to drive an organizational diversity/inclusion initiative. The CoP provides a support network for finding ways to gain support and guidance for creating and sustaining an inclusive science center/museum workplace.
Camp Programs for Youth: Every program has its triumphs and challenges as we strive to provide the best experience possible to the campers. Share your experiences, question your colleagues, find out what solutions other institutions have tried; we’re all here to help each other figure things out.
Citizen Science: This group is designed for professionals who use citizen science at their institutions in any way, from research and collections to exhibits to education. Citizen science is becoming increasingly popular in the science and technology center field as a way to educate the public about science, gather data necessary to support research efforts, and make science accessible to all. Communication between citizen science practitioners within ASTC will help us address some of the special problems and benefits we face as science and technology center professionals that incorporate citizen science and help the entire community improve the level of service we can provide to our visitors.
Curriculum Developers: The Curriculum Developers CoP aims to engage creators and managers of museum programs to share ideas and resources. Topics of discussion will include templates for documenting and planning programs, systems used to manage a museum’s collection of curriculum documents, brainstorming ideas for specific programs, and resources available for program development.
Development Professionals: The ASTC Development Professionals Group is an information and idea-sharing network for fundraising staff of ASTC-member organizations. The group welcomes all levels of development executives and staff, who raise private contributions from individuals and companies, foundation grants, and government support at the local, state, and federal level globally.
Early Childhood: Do your education programs involve sitting on the floor with kids and parents and playing with science? Then this CoP is for you, whether you are already working with 2-5 year olds, or if you would like to and don’t know where to start. The Early Childhood CoP provides resources and guidelines for creating developmentally-appropriate science programs for young children and their families. This includes everything from hands-on activities, to read-aloud storybooks, to children’s songs, along with current articles regarding how preschoolers learn. All program ideas are designed to fit within a small museum’s budget.
Information Technology: This forum includes discussion of information technology issues and opportunities as they relate to supporting the needs of science and technology centers or museums. The forum may discuss IT- or ICT-related projects: software, ticketing, internet aware exhibits, collaboration solutions, etc.
Making & Tinkering Spaces in Museums Community of Practice: This CoP seeks to develop a wider community of people interested in all aspects of creating and running Making and Tinkering spaces within a museum. We’re offering a chance to connect with others experienced in this area, as well as those just beginning, in order to learn from each other and broaden the conversation. Conversations will range from the philosophical ideals to the practical realities, and be geared towards supporting each member and the work they do at their individual institution.
Marketing Professionals: Marketing professionals at science centers and museums are invited to join this Community of Practice. Potential topics include promotions, advertising, branding and logo policies, collateral, marketing plans, etc.
Membership Managers: Membership managers working at ASTC-member science centers and museums are invited to join this group. Topics of conversation include: Passport Program best practices, member retention strategies, membership card management, etc.
Museum-Hospital Partnerships: This CoP aims to engage with museum and hospital professionals to share ideas, questions, and resources on starting or sustaining a partnership between a museum and a hospital. We’ll share strategies we’ve learned, obstacles to avoid, and research on why these partnerships can be so fulfilling. All levels of participation or experience are welcome to join!
Museum Screens: This CoP will seek to address the unanswered questions related to questions such as learning, affect and impact of immersive screen technologies (e.g., giant screen, domes, planetariums etc.) and their ancillary materials (e.g., social media, teacher’s guides etc.) Linking to affiliated associations (GSCA, IMERSA etc.) this ASTC CoP will promote research through its community of researchers, educators, exhibitors etc.
National Education Outreach Network (NEON): The National Education Outreach Network (NEON) is a group of Outreach Educators from Science and Technology museums/centers. The NEON community is open to all who are interested in learning more about outreach education in science and technology centers. Join us as we ask questions, share practices and make STEM magic!
Network for Leaders of Interpreters, Facilitators and Explainers (NetLIFE): NetLIFE is a community for leaders of interpretive floor staff. Topics of discussion include issues of recruitment, training, retention, and advocating for floor staff’s role in visitor experiences.
Public Engagement with Science: The goal of the Public Engagement with Science (PES) CoP is to help informal science education institutions become more valuable to their communities by helping publics and scientists engage in issues and content where science, policy, and public aspirations about their local, national, and global communities intersect.
Research & Evaluation: The purpose of this CoP is to build the evaluation capacity of small and medium-sized ASTC institutions by establishing a forum through which ASTC institutions with limited evaluation capacity can discuss questions and challenges about evaluation, and receive support and resources from peer institutions and from experienced professional evaluators. Members have opportunities to connect, converse, and share resources via the ASTC Community.
Science Centers and NGSS: This community of practice will connect educators working in informal settings like science centers, museums, zoos, and botanical gardens who create professional development and training experiences to address STEM learning. We are especially interested in building capacity around the Next Generation Science Standards, helping community members to revision their education services and programs using language and concepts that clearly articulate the practices of science, core ideas important across disciplines, and concepts that crosscut scientific domains. Members of this CoP are actively engaged in the educational mission of their institution, and work with teachers and administrators to improve STEM learning experiences both inside and outside the classroom.
Small Museums: Do you have “and” in your job title? Chances are you work at a small or a “micro” museum. Small museums are the majority of ASTC institutions. We are scrappy and creative, but we face unique challenges. This group will explore how we can help ourselves, peer-to-peer, and how together we can attract the type of support we need from ASTC and from funders. Occupy ASTC!
STEAM: The STEAM CoP explores the wide variety of opportunities that abound at the intersections of science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics.
STEM Afterschool: The STEM Afterschool Community of Practice connects science centers, museums and other informal learning organizations with afterschool professionals engaged in offering STEM programming. This group seeks to understand the challenges and opportunities related to the afterschool landscape in different regions, and to build systemic relationships among informal science educators, afterschool providers, and related entities like Statewide Afterschool Networks. Areas of community interest include program design and delivery, professional development, and joint communications and advocacy.
Visitor Services: This CoP serves as a resource for museum professional involved in all aspects of customer service related to the visitor experience. Community members share resources and strategies, ask questions, provide feedback and collaborate to develop new resources for the field.
Volunteer Managers: The ASTC Volunteer Managers CoP is an open forum for sharing ideas, effective strategies, challenges, and concerns with our peers in the field, in order to learn from and strengthen our impact with local volunteers.
YOUmedia Learning Labs: An open community for museums, libraries, practitioners, and educators across learning ecosystems to network, share resources, and support professional development practices around creating interest-based, STEAM-powered learning experiences for youth and teens. Inspired by the YOUmedia Learning Labs Network, the community hosts online programming, houses a repository of resources, and includes a discussions forum where users connect to ask questions and share information.