Learning Science Outside the Classroom

I attended a webinar, sponsored by Education Week, entitled, “Learning Science Outside the Classroom.”  I’ve been meaning to share a few points that were made for museum folk who work in science museums, zoos&aquariums, botanical gardens, and any other museum where scientific discovery takes place – and I’m fully aware that this occurs in history-based museums on a regular basis as well. The webinar opened with a question: “When and why do people learn science and what sources do they use?” The answer is increasingly driven by technology and accessibility of information, and the answer to that question has changed greatly over the last 20 years. Some points that were made:


• 3-5% of our time is spent in “formal” education
• Learning is lifelong.
• Traditional ‘gatekeepers’ of knowledge hold less control as access to information widens.
• The boundaries between when/where/why we learn is disappearing.

Why do people learn science? Perhaps you can add to this list:

• Curiosity
• Necessity / satisfy a need
• To educate children
• Job
• Hobby
• Training

One particularly encouraging fact is that the probability of a person entering a career in the sciences is heavily correlated to that person’s expectation of entering such a career as the of the 8th grade (this correlation was stronger than any correlation between test scores and future science careers. The webinar also pointed out that after-school programs make a significant impact on science learning, and that impact is most pronounced for high-risk youth involved in such programming. This has implications for museum programming and partnerships with community organizations and school systems.

The second section of the webinar focused more specifically on informal learning centers, including science museums. It pointed out that there are now 350 science museums in the US alone, with several new ones opening each year. This represents 177 million visits in the US per year. Additionally, a large number of teachers visit such centers for professional development each year. If your museum is involved in science education, know that you are making an impact. Also, if you are not reaching out to special audiences such as teachers, and seeking community-based partnerships, you are missing an opportunity to magnify your impact.

Additionally, you may want to check out the following websites that were shared:

Science Inquiry on the Web

www.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

www.citizenscience.org: Proof of the democratization of knowledge! Individuals, families, students do data collection and analysis for real science research

www.nobelprize.org: Exquisite simulation activities of real experiments, inspiring stories, and more

www.sciencebuddies.org: Hundreds of inquiry science fair projects, way beyond that model volcano; career advice and more

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

www.Sciencefriday.com: The tagline reads Making Science User-Friendly. Millions listen, but even more get it through the Web, Podcasts, Blogs, Tweets ….

Why Join VAM's (newly expanded!) Certificate Program? Watch and Find Out!

Museum Take Over (guest blogger Ginny Reynolds)

It’s about time museum folks brought others – individuals and communities – into the conversation. This year’s VAM conference addressed how museums can further promote community engagement and participation. While the conference focused on local Virginia institutions, issues relating to communities and authority are relevant for museums across the country.

And that’s where I come into the picture. My conference nametag listed “Cooperstown, NY” as my address, but I attended this year’s annual conference semi-incognito. I am originally from Greenwood, VA (a vague geographic area outside Crozet), and will graduate in May with a M.A. in Museum Studies from the Cooperstown Graduate Program. Like me, I’m sure many of you continue to digest content from the conference. Sessions were jam-packed with examples of Virginia institutions encouraging broader public participation through community partnerships, innovative programming, collaborative interpretation, and social media.

What’s going on beyond the Commonwealth? I hope you’ll forgive me for sharing a brief upstate New York example. For a second year, the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown installed a “blog-curated” exhibition. You read it right: blog-curated. Online readers of American Folk Art @ Cooperstown and this year, the Fenimore Art Museum Blog, determined the exhibitions’ content by selecting their favorite paintings or objects. Using social media, the Fenimore encourages community participation virtually and intellectually, ultimately sharing the authority.

In closing, to remain important to visitors today, museums across the country are finally focusing on “being for somebody.” Engaging communities is essential to this equation, whether you’re in Virginia or beyond.

- Ginny


Virginia Reynolds

reynoldsve[at]gmail[dot]com

M.A. Candidate, Museum Studies

Cooperstown Graduate Program

Copper Thieves & Historic Properties

A VAM member (Preservation Virginia's Mary Washington House) was recently the victim of copper thieves. The video below tells the story. Has your site experienced anything similar? VAM is researching the issue in the hopes of shedding some light and offering advice for historic house museums. Please comment in this space or email Heather if you've had experiences such as this!

Historic Home of Mary Washington, Mother of George Washington, Hit With Copper Thefts: MyFoxDC.com