Working with youth as colleagues and creating empowering settings

Building on lessons learned through implementing and studying the Youth Lead the Way program, a professional development (PD) workshop was developed with project partners from the Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York, to train Sciencenter youth and adult staff on practices and approaches for including teen voices in their museum, shifting the focus and operations of current youth programming to be more youth-directed, and incorporating youth-led research into programming outputs. While the training conducted at Sciencenter was tailored to the specific needs, interests and programming at that institution, much of the material from that workshop can be relevant and valuable to museum professionals interested in working with youth broadly.

This guide was created by adapting the Sciencenter PD materials for broader dissemination. It is intended to provide some general information and tips on incorporating more youth voices in an ISL setting, as well as a framework for convening discussions with others at your institution around the topic.