ECSITE is the European network of science centres and museums (www.ecsite.net). The ECSITE Annual Conference, attended every year by several hundreds of professionals in science museums and science centres (870 at the last edition), and the ECSITE director forum, where full members of the association discuss on focused topics, are excellent observation points. Looking at what goes on in these meetings allows to track what is high on the agenda of the science-centre community, how the focus of interest moves, what are the main concerns of museum professionals.
Science and technology: these are the mainstays China wants to concentrate on in order to stabilise its future as an emerging world power. Beijing plans to have the whole, enormous Chinese population literate in the scientific field within a few years. Scientific popularization is the key to what now, due to political influences and deep social disparities, seems remote.
This is a handout from the session "NASA in the Community: Diverse solutions to engaging families/educators" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. It includes presentation slides and related reference materials about NASA-funded informal education projects.
This is a handout from the session "How We Learned from Exhibits That SUCK!" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The slides describe what aspects of an exhibit make it successful or make it suck.
This is a handout from the session "The CEO Debate 2: Museum leaders consider current issues" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout presents a list of current questions and trends that were posed to museum CEOs to discuss during the session.
This is a handout from the session "Museums 3.0: Implementing programs/exhibits which are a community resource" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. This handout includes slides from each of the presenters.
This is a handout from the session "Design/Build or Design/Bid/Build…that is the question!" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout includes notes from the session that outline risks, opportunities, and solutions regarding exhibit design.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bill BoothPenny JenningsGreg BelewTony ZodrowBarbara PuntSteve WiersemaTamara Schwarz
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This is a handout from the session "Risky Exhibits: Tackling Tough Topics" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. It includes slides from each of the panelists.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Lath CarlsonPaul MartinMichelle MaranowskiMikko Myllykoski
This is a handout from the session "What If There Wasn't a Building? Pecha Kucha" at the 2014 ASTC Conference held in Raleigh, NC. The handout links to a recording of the session.
The Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Conservation Education Committee (CEC) supports the appropriate use of living animals in zoos and aquariums as an important and powerful educational tool to advance a conservation agenda. EC leaders and scholars see the need for a zoo and aquarium social science research framework to help those in the education and conservation communications field understand how they can contribute to a greater body of knowledge. This report represents the CEC’s determination to view zoo and aquarium social science research as a collective endeavor that values and
The publication of the National Academies of Science consensus study, Learning Science in Informal Environments (2009), was an important marker in the history of informal STEM learning (ISL). With five years hindsight, we pause to reflect how far ISL has come as a field, what we have achieved, and what the future might hold. The impetus to do so came via our participation on a panel at a symposium at the 2014 NARST Meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Our session was framed by overarching questions about the kind of research currently being conducted in ISL--and for what purpose. Some of the specific