An interview with Tara Henderson, an educator with explora, a children's museum/science centre in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Tara talks about her center's program, "Growing a Scientist" which encourages parents to learn basic science along with their young children. Tara sat down for the interview right after she participated in the session, "Goggles On, Pipettes Ready: Preschoolers Get Busy" about pre-schoolers and science center programs. The session was part of the ASCT 2010 conference in Honolulu.
For the past dozen years, an important part of the ASTC conference has been the Outreach Live! event. Interested attendees visit an outreach project by a local museum or science centre and co-present programs.
This year two dozen attendees visited the outreach project our host the Bishop Museum is undertaking at the Kamaile Academy School on the leeward side of the island. Kamaile is a lower income area, with many families living on the beach - the area's homeless. It has also seen an influx of immigrants from Micronesia and Melanesia some of whom are living in a nearby camp. You can see photos of the beautiful children here.
During the Outreach Live! event students participated in programs by Uncle Tom Cummings, a traditional storyteller; Jonah Cohen from the Childrens' Museum of Conneticut and a had lesson on island formation by Daniel Rogers from the Bishop Museum (and Uncle Tom). Our host was Amber Inwood, also of the Bishop Museum. The museum has forged strong emotional and professional bonds with the students, parents and teachers of the community and brings to Kamaile a fun take on science and their own traditionals and culture, but also friendship and a genuine desire to have the students see beyond their own community and be the best they can become.
One minute, one poster. We asked a few of the many poster session exhibitors in the exhibition hall to explain their work in about 60 seconds. Here's how they did.
Two students from McKinley High School, in downtown Honolulu, pilot the McKinley Robotics soccer-playing robot in the Resource area of the ASTC conference exhibit hall. The students built the robot with the help of engineers from The robot can catch, travel with and kick a soccer ball and competes in robot soccer competitions. The mission of
McKinley Robotics is to offer members multiple opportunities to enrich their educations through practical applications of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - like robots that kick soccer butt.
Karen WIse, the Vice President of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, talks about how the evidence for the profound issues of our time is within the walls of museums like hers. This interview was recorded directly after a session "Transforming Natural History Museums: Our Relevance and Future", at whichKaren and other natural history museum administrators discussed the challenges internally and externally when natural history museums change themselves, their offerings and their role in society.
After a failed levee left the Columbus, Ohio-based, Centre of Science and Industry (COSI) with lots of spare space, it revented itself and turned disappointment to opportunity. Kim Kiehl, COSI's Senior VP & Chief Operating and Strategy Officer, talks about how its moved itself from being "nice to necessary" and from being a venue to a being a place that's important to student's lives.
This interview took place was right after she delivered a talk during day two of the ASTC conference in Honolulu in 2010.
The conference luau, hosted by the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, was kicked off by a display of hula dancing. The dance troupe was led by male dancers. In Hawaii, the dancers were traditionally male.
The conference attendees, staff and board of the ASTC were welcomed to Hawaii on the opening day of the conference with a traditional welcome chant and procession. We then began was turned out to be a fascinating day of talks, discoveries and networking.