Community Partnerships Serving Science

September 1st, 2002 - August 31st, 2007 | PROJECT

The Science Museum of Minnesota would like to create a network of partnerships between the museum and small community-based science organizations (CBSOs). CBSOs will receive professional development workshops to increase their capacity to produce high quality exhibits and publications and offer effective science programming. A team from each science organization will participate in a 12-hour skills development workshop to cover such topics as exhibit development, audience research, science communication and program development. A workshop "tool kit" will capture the essence of the training workshops and be made available to other museums. Each team will develop a small traveling exhibit and supporting materials. Annual Science Summit programs will showcase the CBSOs to the general public, museum visitors and students, while a CBSO Roundtable will invite the participants to explore collaborations and programming strategies. An online database will be created and a complimentary printed resource guide of all local CBSOs will be available to the public. The model will be tested at two small science centers, the Kirby Science Discovery Center in Sioux Falls, SD, and at the Headwaters Science Center in Bemidji, MN. It is anticipated that 72 organizations and 450 CBSO staff members will be served by this project, in addition to over 5,000 members of the general public.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Project Products

Brainstorming the Future: CBSO Front-end Evaluation Report

Team Members

David Chittenden, Principal Investigator, Science Museum of Minnesota

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 0206382
Funding Amount: 779949

Tags

Audience: Elementary School Children (6-10) | General Public | Middle School Children (11-13) | Museum | ISE Professionals | Youth | Teen (up to 17)
Discipline: Education and learning science | General STEM
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Community Outreach Programs | Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits | Museum and Science Center Programs | Professional Development | Conferences | Networks | Professional Development and Workshops | Public Programs | Resource Centers and Networks