Exploratory Science

While we're on the topic of supporting education, I thought I'd also post this TED Talk by Brian Cox. He is a physicist from CERN who is also a voicebox in the UK on explaining physics to folks.

It makes the point that the cost of exploratory science is... priceless:

"...for every $1 spent on the Apollo program, $14 came back..."

Informal Science Panel... on the Radio!

Local Bay Area radio call-in show "Forum" hosted a panel at the Exploratorium called "From The Exploratorium: Engaging Kids in Science":

"With California schools facing a huge budget crisis, what's being done to maintain and grow quality science education in the state's K-12 schools? In a special remote broadcast from San Francisco's Exploratorium, we look at innovative programs going on in the Bay Area to bring science to communities with limited resources."

There were some great comments, questions, and discussions around not only the value of Inquiry-Based Learning, but practices explored. On the panel were leadership in learning from the Explo, and the Bay Area school system.

It's exciting that these ideas are being aired with a broader audience. 

Podcast should be available later today via the link above. Have a listen.

Art/Science – Why Now?

By Justine Roberts, Principal

This week I attended the opening reception for The Laboratory at Harvard. As an science and art venue The Lab joins the following:

• The Science Gallery in Dublin
• The Wellcome Collection in London
• Le Laboratoire in Paris
• The Leonardo in Salt Lake City
• The Art/Sci Center and Lab at UCLA

All of which have opened in just the last 2.5 years. That list does not include the discovery centers and children’s museums – such as the Austin Children’s Museum - repositioning themselves as places that bring art and science together. This incredible international explosion of interest in mixing art and science together raises the question: Why now?

As far back as Pythagoras art and science were used together to interpret and represent an understanding of the world. The two were teased apart in the 19th century with some clear benefits, as well as the rise of some new anxieties. Yet the division stuck. So why are we now working to reconnect art and science in popular culture, professional practice and the academy?

It is possible that students who want more opportunities to work across disciplines are in part driving these art/science projects. But not all of the venues are affiliated with a school, or focused on student participation. It is more likely that there is a cultural need for places that increase potential encounters with new perspectives, and which support unlikely collaborations between people from different fields. Michael-John Gorman, Director of the Science Gallery, thinks that today’s questions and problems require a new kind of creativity made possible only by interdisciplinary investigation.

If there is a critical need behind the impetus to engage the public in art and science together, then simply having the arts inform science and the sciences inform art is not sufficient. Not all artistic uses of technology, or visualizations of scientific data, are equally useful and enlightening. But it is not at all clear whether The Lab should therefore be a space for open exploration of art and science, or whether it should organize inquiry around a set of specific questions.

The Lab, like a number of the other art/science venues targeting teens and young adults, is designed to accommodate exhibitions, parties, lectures, and lounging. As described by its founders, The Lab was created to encourage conversation between the arts and sciences, with the goal of cross-pollinating ideas and fostering creativity. I came away from the opening reception questioning whether this was enough.

While I think it is critical that cultural space bring people together and serve as a catalyst for discussion and debate, I wonder whether The Lab could accomplish more. After all, as part of Harvard it has access to students and faculty as well as a large international network. It should be possible for The Lab to actively encourage collaborations and promote new solutions-oriented thinking. We will have to wait and see if The Lab is primarily a student exhibit hall, or if the University has a larger vision for it.

I think The Lab raises some important questions – for instance, how should we define “art” and “science” in the first place? And what is the common ground between them? Some people have suggested that art and science share a curiosity-driven process and a high degree of creativity. But others describe science as a way of investigating our world and art as unconstrained creativity. 

In the end, maybe the lack of clarity over what is art and what is science is the point. Although they require different training, ways of seeing, and starting assumptions, in practice the two might look very similar, making it possible for artists and scientists to share physical and intellectual space in a way that can open new opportunities for the future.

Environmental Impact on Exhibit Experience

By Maria Mortati, Sr. Exhibit Developer

This week, I was back at the EMP (Experience Music Project). I loved the fact that I could get my hands on real gear and PLAY. 

For those that haven't visited, there is an entire zone of the museum where you can try your hand at guitars, drums, keyboards in open "pods". You can also go into sound isolation booths and "learn to play", and record.

While that was super fun, it felt a bit finished and sleek an environment for a me as a novice. The contrast between the environmental design and what I brought to the table was... dramatic. Sort of like asking me to sculpt in the white galleries of the MOMA next to a Donald Judd.

The people that created the exhibits developed cool, cutting edge, custom work. Their innovations span the visitor experience/informal learning all the way through to design and technology. They fundamentally moved the conversation ahead for all of us with their innovations.  Yet it wasn't the exhibit interactives that, err, set the tone.

My experience started with the city this baby was born in, and the immediate neighborhood it was sited in. The funder and subsequent starkitect formed the environmental capsule and set the tone. 

Those top level considerations had huge impact my resulting experience- and it's important to note that translates to impact on learning, repeat visitation, and many other things many of us are passionate about. 

In my ideal universe, we  have those conversations early on, so that's what drives the bus.

Volunteers are Work.

By Maria Mortati, Sr. Exhibit Developer

I read a blog post called "Managing Volunteers in Informal Science Learning" by Brad Edmonton. It's part of the National Sciences Digital Library "Expert Voices" blog. The above quote is from him, and it's a good read on "How to recruit, train, supervise, and reward volunteers in informal science institutions."

As most of us know, it's not always easy to make the volunteer thing work. They wanna show up and leave when they like, and how can you plan for them when you don't  know if you can count on them?

When I was an Exhibit Developer at the Exploratorium (do I really have to give you that link?) the wonderful Deirdre Araujo (Manager of Volunteer Services) would get groups in from a large corporation to "help out" for a day. She needed work and I had work to do.

Sometimes, they turned out to be a great bunch, and it went smoothly. Other times... not so much. However, I would end up having a lot of fun with people I would not normally meet. They got out of the office and got their hands dirty. 

From my time there, I saw two types of volunteers: those who were there because they had to, and those because they wanted to.

I felt the most "evangelistic" towards the former group, because I believed they were future visitors or donors. Plus I wanted them to go back to their corporate office believing it was worth it to spend a day at a museum.

From their dirty happy faces, I think it was. At the very least, a hand full of souls learned how to clean the sand out of Fading Motion.

Exhibit photo courtesy of the Exploratorium.

More on 21st Century Skills: an IMLS Report

[By Justine Roberts]

Building on Maeryta's post from last week- I'd like to say that not only are 21st century skills important for both children and adults, but we believe museums are uniquely positioned to support their development.

21st Century skills are those skills that are needed by the workforce in a post-industrial, knowledge-based economy. Museums are clearly wonderful places to spark imagination, encourage questions, risk taking, persistence, and trial and error. Some museums are better at making their visitors comfortable, leading to the kind of un-selfconsciousness and frustration tolerance needed for lifelong learning. But skills development - as opposed to content transfer for example - is in museums' sweet spot.

About two weeks ago, IMLS published a new report titled 21st Century Skills, which attempts to “outline a vision for the role of libraries and museums in the national dialogue around learning” in the new century. It identifies a set of skill categories, and the key skills within each, that museums and libraries are best positioned to support. The report also includes analysis of societal changes that affect the expectations and needs of our audiences, and a discussion of why focusing on skills development matters now. Along with case studies from all types of museums and libraries from around the country is a chart that summarizes the 20th century museum model and contrasts it with that needed for a 21st century museum.

In addition to being useful as a program planning tool, the 36-page report is intended to serve as an institutional planning tool. To this end, it includes a self-assessment that allows museums and libraries to evaluate their organizational culture. The implication is that any organization that hopes its visitors will develop problem solving and lateral thinking skills for example, needs to model those behaviors within its own staff and structures.

21RST Century Learners!

[By Maeryta Medrano, AIA, LEED® AP, President]

This morning at my son's high school orientation, the dean shared some really inspiring thoughts about education and what the next year will be like for our students. He said the strategic vision for this year is to explore what it means to be a 21RST Century Learner. It struck me because we talk about that all the time at Gyroscope and we try to put strategies in place for our clients that will position all visitors to be 21RST Century Learners. That means technology has a role as does research into brain development, how the physical environment can contribute to positive learning behaviors and of course the social aspects of learning.

The dean went on to say, "Are we preparing our students for THEIR futures or OUR past?" It occurred to me that we in the museum field and especially in the history museums, historical societies and cultural organizations, need to ask ourselves that same question. Discussions with older stakeholders, board members and staff often emphasize how important it is to learn from the past but are we losing relevance for the next generation?

The young people I interact with at my son's school impress me with their real desire to make a difference in the world and to MAKE THEIR OWN HISTORY-NOW! We need to give them the tools and opportunities in school and in our museums to do just that.

Hooray for Play!

Our very own Justine Roberts brought this to my attention: Monday's New York Times published an article about the positive impact play time has on kids and the study that supports it. Read it, it's good, short, and informative. Basically, a collaborative group of researchers took 11,000 children between ages 8 and 9, and gave some recess, and others none. They found that the kids who had recess had better classroom performance than the kids without. Straight from the study's mouth:

"CONCLUSIONS. These results indicated that, among 8- to 9-year-old children, having > 1 daily recess period of >15 minutes in length was associated with better teacher's rating of class behavior scores. This study suggests that schoolchildren in this age group should be provided with daily recess." Source: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/abstract/123/2/431

This is supportive data for our informal learning institutions, and builds on something that we've been preaching and practicing here at Gyroscope. One of the people noted in the article, Dr. Stuart Brown,is the founder of the National Institute of Play. They are gathering research from a diverse band of play scientists and:

" ... initiating projects to expand the clinical scientific knowledge of human play and translating this emerging body of knowledge into programs and resources which deliver the transformative power of play to all segments of society." Source: http://www.nifplay.org/

Their board includes the likes of Jane Goodall, folks from IDEO, the Jonas Salk Foundation, and so on. No museum folks... Anyway, according to Ms. Parker Pope, Brown considers play:

“a fundamental biological process.” “From my viewpoint, it’s a major public health issue,” he said. “Teachers feel like they’re under huge pressures to get academic excellence to the exclusion of having much fun in the classroom. But playful learning leads to better academic success than the skills-and-drills approach.”

That fits nicely with my personal experience: I remember things best when I'm having fun. Thanks, Justine!

ASTC Session: A Science Cafe How-To

Just a quick hit on a very informative session about Science Cafes: how to start them, run them, and why your museum needs them. What are they, you ask?

"Science cafés are live events that involve a face-to-face conversation with a scientist about current science topics." (Nova/Science Now)

I will post a complete download on this session in the coming days. For more information, go to the Science Cafes web site through the Nova/Science Now program. There are some excellent resources and PDF guide you can download. Start one today! Thanks to gailf548 for the pub shot, and Mark Glusker for the calculating machine.