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Telling Your Story: What the Informal Science Education Industry Has to Offer NSF Large Facilities

Telling Your Story: What the Informal Science Education Industry Has to Offer NSF Large Facilities. Alan J. Friedman Consultant Museum Development & Science Communication. Informal Science Education. Learning during the 95% of our lives which we spend outside the formal education system

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Telling Your Story: What the Informal Science Education Industry Has to Offer NSF Large Facilities

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  1. Telling Your Story:What the Informal Science Education IndustryHas to Offer NSF Large Facilities Alan J. Friedman Consultant Museum Development & Science Communication

  2. Informal Science Education • Learning during the 95% of our lives which we spend outside the formal education system • Also called “free choice learning,” because learners set their own agenda • Includes aquariums, museums, zoos, botanic gardens, and visitor centers, plus television, magazines, books, libraries, the Internet • 61% of all adults visit an ISE institution at least once a year

  3. Science Museums are the Fastest Growing Sector of the Museum World • Several new “hands-on” science museums open each year • 350 now in USA alone • $1+ billion per year total budgets • 177 million visits per year in USA • about 60 million visitors on school field trips

  4. Science-Technology Centers Share a Lot, Yet Each is Different from the Others tryscience.org • Find just about every science museum on the planet; dozens of vetted activities from science museums for use on or off-line; in 9 languages

  5. CW from top left: Vancouver BC, Paris FR, Duxford UK, Richmond VA, Indianapolis, IN

  6. Citizenscience.org • Individuals, families, students do data collection and analysis for real science research

  7. Nobelprize.org • Exquisite simulation activities of real experiments, inspiring stories, and more

  8. Sciencebuddies.org • Hundreds of inquiry science fair projects, way beyond that model volcano; career advice and more

  9. pbskids.org/designsquad/ • The TV show is cool, but even better are teens doing engineering for delight at school or at home

  10. Sciencefriday.com • Millions listen, but even more get it through the Web, Podcasts, Blogs, Tweets ….

  11. 27,500 Inservice Teachers Take In-Depth Training in Science Museums Each Year • Museum staff know both content and pedagogy • They are used to paying attention to learners • Hard evidence that teacher’s exposure to real research improves their student’s test scores • Roles for NSF Large Facilities

  12. Apprenticeships for Students and Pre-Service Teachers Are Increasingly Popular • Exposure to real phenomena, scientists, technologies—NSF Large Facilities can offer real-research experiences • Culture of inquiry, love of science and technology • Good balance of intensity, evaluation, and enjoyment, well suited to most youth

  13. NSF Large Facilities Can Choose to Work with Both Formal and Informal Education • For schools the drivers are standards, curricula, and assessments. NSF Facilities need to learn how their stories do or do not fit with these local choices. • Informal learning organizations have broader missions. But their economic drivers are very different from those of formal education. So are their domains of greatest impact.

  14. The Informal Learning Realm is Well Organized—Sector by Sector. See the Center for Advancement of Informal Science Education at www.insci.org, then: • www.astc.orgfor science centers & museums • www.ips-planetarium.orgfor planetariums • www.aza.orgfor zoos and aquariums • www.publicgardens.orgfor botanical gardens and arboreta • www.cpb.org/aboutpbfor public radio and TV • www.scienceafterschool.orgfor afterschool providers • www.4-h.org/youth-development-programs/4-h-science-programs/ for community science programs nationwide • www.informalscience.orgfor research and evaluation of informal science • www.exhibitfiles.org for science exhibitions • www.pacsci.org/portal for helping scientists communicate with the public

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