Parallel Session Schedule
Monday, June 16
Please note: Highlighted speakers have made their presentations available. Click to download.
14:00 to 15:30
C01 - Forum
Development Strategies and Citizen Conscience
Social Responsibility and Science Centres
14:00 in Room 103AB
Many scientific museums or centres are planning major projects to renew their exhibition spaces. Large budgets are being committed to developing and presenting temporary exhibits, and there seems to be more of them every year. Not only are they growing in number, but they are becoming larger, too.
The pace of change carries on unabated in scientific museums, but why are we going to this much trouble? Do the strategies used by collection museums differ from those used at science centres?
Institutions are playing an ever greater role in how we understand the great global issues and their impact on society. How are we addressing these issues in our equipment and program renewal strategies? What role does social conscience play in the choices we make?
| Patrick Beaudin, Société pour la promotion de la science et de la technologie, Montréal, Canada |
| Marc Girard, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie La Villette, Paris, France |
| Michel Groulx, Montréal Science Centre, Montréal, Canada |
| Ulrich Kernbach, Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany |
^top
C02 - Panel
Science Centres - University Collaboration - Human Resource Development
Social Responsibility and Science Centres
14:00 in Room 104B
Science centres engage fresh graduates of science and technology from time to time to perform as science communicators. But most of them do not go through prior formal training involving systematic teaching learning process. They, while working for some years, come up as good science communicators, only by individualistic exposure and personal interaction with seniors. To meet the requirement of ever increasing number of science centres, there exists demand for academically sound and well trained science communicators. Several years ago, some leading science centres envisaged this situation. They collaborated with local universities for academic teaching of their exiting science communicators, provided them practical training in house and arranged award of a university degree in science communication. The presenters would narrate their experience in this regard.
| Michael M. Gore, National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia |
| Shimrath Paul, Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand |
| Jayanta Sthanapati, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum, Kolkata, India |
| Peter Trevitt, Techniquest, Cardiff, United Kingdom |
^top
C04 - Panel
Giving Voice to Fence-Sitters: Catalytic Role of SCWC in Establishing Science Centres in Unrepresented Countries
Social Responsibility and Science Centres
14:00 in Room 206F
Distribution of science centres across the globe shows a skewed pattern; nations with easy and higher accessibility to formal education systems have more of them, and those with high population but limited exposures to science through the formal modes have insignificant presence of non-formal institutions, especially in the underdeveloped and developing nations.
Consequently, the population footprints of our science centres and their overall impact have remained less than significant in a global scenario. There is an urgent need, therefore, to extend the science centre movement to the unrepresented nations where advancement of science literacy, awareness and scientific temper through non-formal means are of utmost importance for sustaining their own developments as well as securing global civilization. The greatest impediments to indigenous efforts being able to do that are the lack of governmental impetus and funding support, absence of trained professionals in the field and insufficient exposures to the professional networks.
The initiative to include new faces in the science centre community has to begin somewhere. What better platform than the SCWC that one can think of as the launching pad for such initiatives?
| Hooley McLaughlin, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, Canada |
| Emdadul Islam, National Council of Science Museums, Kolkata, India |
| Sue Stocklmayer, Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, Canberra, Australia |
| Alfred Tsipa, Unizul Science Centre, Richards Bay, South Africa |
| Julia Tagüeña Parga, Centro de Investigacion en Energia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico |
^top
C05 - Workshop
Towards an African Science Centre Network
Social Responsibility and Science Centres
14:00 in Room 206E
Africa is the last populated continent to develop a comprehensive science centre network, but there are promising signs that this development is well underway. There are currently 18 science centres in Africa and adjacent islands; a further eight are under construction or in an advanced stage of planning, and many more are on the drawing board.
The efficient hands-on methods of teaching and learning used in science centres are ideally suited to help rectify past educational imbalances, and bridge the digital divide, in Africa. Outreach programmes from urban science centres have the potential to reach into remote rural areas. Science centres provide the opportunity to showcase and debate the role of new technologies, such as biotechnology and nanotechnology, in Africa, as well as to highlight the benefits of 'big science', such as major astronomy and nuclear energy projects. Science centres would also contribute to a greater awareness of African contributions to science and technology, and to indigenous knowledge systems. Most importantly, science centres will help to bring science and technology into the mainstream of African society, and contribute to unleashing the tremendous potential of emerging African scientists and technologists.
| Mike Bruton, MTe Studios, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Hoda Elmikaty, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Alexandria, Egypt |
| Immolatrix Geingos, Windhoek, Namibia |
| Mohamed Hedi Ben Ismail, Cité des Sciences, Tunis City, Tunisia |
| Lebs Mphahlele, , Brummeria, South Africa |
| Onusoga Sofola, , Akoka Yaba, Nigeria |
^top
E01 - Panel
Living the Green Message
Living On, Changing and Sustaining Planet Earth: The Role of Science
14:00 in Room 206A
Science centers and museums around the world are exploring sustainability, each in their own way and within their own cultural context. The triple bottom line of people, planet and prosperity can be perceived very differently from varied places, each with its own history. While the inter-relationship of context, social responsibility and global issues always exists, the individual situations and the varied emphasis result in different approaches and products, each adapted to their specific audience. In this session, organizations facing very different challenges share their research and their projects, with the intention of opening up ideas, encouraging dialogue and developing new avenues to explore how science centers and museums can reflect changing attitudes and facilitate further change.
| Janet Carding, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia |
| Gillian Thomas, Miami Science Museum, Miami, USA |
| Asger Hoeg, Experimentarium, Hellerup, Denmark |
| Mamoru Mohri, National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation (Miraikan), Tokyo, Japan |
| Nancy Stueber, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, USA |
| Brigitte Zana, Palais de la Découverte, Paris, France |
^top
R01 - Panel
Science Centers and Very Young Children: A Growing Phenomenon
Creating the Future
14:00 in Room 206D
Science centers are well known for their success in engaging families in shared cross-generational learning. More and more science centers are re-purposing or extending their spaces to accommodate science experiences for very young children and their carers. In a time when governments are beginning to recognise the value of investing early in a child’s development, science centers and their early childhood learning spaces are providing a foundation for enhancing outcomes for children, their families and their communities. How are science centers responding to this new opportunity to serve and benefit their communities? What new developments are taking place in different parts of the world?
| Brigitte Coutant, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, Paris, France |
| Brenton Honeyman, Questacon-The National Science and Technology Centre, Canberra, Australia |
| Michael Peter, Chief Operating Officer, Sci-Bono Discovery Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Erik Jacquemyn, Technopolis®, the Flemish science center, Mechelen, Belgium |
| Kevin von Appen, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, Canada |
^top
R02 - Panel
Science Centers and Millenium Development Goals
Creating the Future
14:00 in Room 206C
Recent events and debates show it in a new and even more dramatic way: there will be no solution to the climate crisis and its consequences if we do not consider the issue of development for the poorest countries, especially in Africa.
However, the question of science and development is larger, and we need to identify the main challenges for the planet, and how to address them. Of course, we have our key missions, but we also have to look beyond the phenomena and educate citizens about the place of science is in society. Global problems request a global approach. That is why we need new clear objectives and strategies.
This session suggests that the science center field worldwide should consider including the “UN Millennium Development Goals” in its strategic mission. Many of them tackle education, science and diversity in such a way that the connections are easy to make.
^top
R03 - Panel
Innovation and the Future of Science Centers
Creating the Future
14:00 in Room 206B
The value of innovation is widely accepted as a central goal in science and technology national policy. In the commercial sector, the mantra of 'innovation' is well integrated into both corporate culture and the market economy; and the rewards for innovation are well-understood in commercial terms.
So, what does innovation mean to the informal science sector, which has emerged as the most flexible and forward- looking component of national educational infrastructures? How do we engage the public--young and old, science-savvy and otherwise--in the elusive and complex value of innovation? This examination will have central policy implications for countries hoping to foster and further their own cultures of innovation.
This session will engage an international panel of established and emerging museum professionals each of whom will address the value of innovation from their distinctive perspectives to advance a dialogue about informal science learning and innovation.
| Andrea Bandelli, Independent Consultant, Amsterdam, Netherlands |
| Beverly Damonse, South Africa Agency for Science and Technology Advancement, Pretoria, South Africa |
| Jennifer Martin, TELUS World of Science - Creative Kids Museum, Calgary, Canada |
| Eric Siegel, New York Hall of Science, Queens, USA |
| Nina Simon, Museum 2.0, Washington, USA |
^top
Monday, June 16
16:00 to 17:30
C06 - Panel
Radical Community Action
Social Responsibility and Science Centres
16:00 in Room 206F
Radical action aims at change at a fundamental level, targeting the roots of a condition. In this session, four projects are offered as examples of a fundamental change in the focus of science centres and science museums. Involvement of communities has long been understood as essential to our respective missions, but involvement with a view to encouraging community-directed activities and the creation of independent and autonomous community projects demands that we re-examine our current relationship with our society. In this session we will encourage debate on this compelling subject by examining in detail four projects from South Africa, Australia, Brazil and Canada - respectively, the Amalulwane (Many Bats) project, the Tea, Coffee, Science? initiative, Weaving Webs for a Healthy Planet, and the Flemo City Radio project.
| Rudi Horak, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa |
| Genevieve Lazzari, Victoria Museum, Melbourne, Australia |
| Hooley McLaughlin, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, Canada |
| Denise Studart, Museum of Life/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
^top
C07 - Panel
Traveling Exhibition Choices as an Expression of Institutional Intent
Social Responsibility and Science Centres
16:00 in Room 104B
Many scientific museums or centres are planning major projects to renew their exhibition spaces. Large budgets are being committed to developing and presenting temporary exhibits, and there seems to be more of them every year. Not only are they growing in number, but they are becoming larger, too.
The pace of change carries on unabated in scientific museums, but why are we going to this much trouble? Do the strategies used by collection museums differ from those used at science centres?
Institutions are playing an ever greater role in how we understand the great global issues and their impact on society. How are we addressing these issues in our equipment and program renewal strategies? What role does social conscience play in the choices we make?
| Mike Bruton, MTe Studios, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Marc Girard, Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie La Villette, Paris, France |
| Eric Jolly, Science Museum of Minnesota, St. Paul, USA |
| Emlyn Koster, Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, USA |
| Wayne LaBar, Liberty Science Center, Jersey City, USA |
^top
E02 - Panel
IGLO a Successful Test of Global Science Center Cooperation
Living On, Changing and Sustaining Planet Earth: The Role of Science
16:00 in Room 206C
This session, addressing two main IGLO events, should help us to understand the benefit of global actions involving all science center networks. First, a special “Global Warming” edition of the DECIDE debate game has been created for IGLO. The game was “translated" into different languages and cultural contexts. Thanks to the support of the regional networks, DECIDE trial games have helped to provide adapted versions for worldwide discussions. The session will discuss the motivation for local adaptations; the differences in policy issues proposed and how this tells us new things about the role of science centers in addressing climate issues.
We will also reveal the outcomes of the “albedo experiment” the most recent IGLO event. During May 2008, science centers are creating large spots out of white material. NASA satellites will fly overhead and measure the reflectivity of these mock "ice caps". This partnership with NASA aims to teach the importance of the polar ice caps in maintaining the Earth’s temperature.
| Luigi Amodio, Fondazione IDIS-Citt� della Scienza, Naples, Italy |
| Fiona Cameron, University of Western Sydney, Sydney, Australia |
| Julie Cleverdon, MTN Science Center, Cape Town, South Africa |
| Graham Durant, Questacon, Canberra, Australia |
| E. Islam, NCSM, New Dehli, India |
| Colin Johnson, British Association for the Advancement of Science, Cardiff, United Kingdom (convenor) |
| Sean B. Duran, Miami Science Museum and Industry, Miami, USA |
^top
E03 - Forum
Outdoor Science Parks - Connecting and Engaging Visitors with Planet Earth
Living On, Changing and Sustaining Planet Earth: The Role of Science
16:00 in Room 104D
Come and learn how Outdoor Science Parks around the world connect and engage visitors from diverse communities with planet Earth. This strategic session links Outdoor centers in India, Israel, Finland, Brazil, Canada and the US. Science center and environmental education leaders from four continents will describe their shared experience with Outdoor environmental programs and exhibits connecting to Planet Earth.
Topics include: relevance to our communities, diversity, environmental education, attracting new audiences, learning and visitor psychology, design criteria, suitability of concepts for outdoor, materials and maintenance. This session is especially suited to CEO's who wish to learn the benefits and challenges of implementing Outdoor Science Park environments in your own science center. Opportunities will be provided for participants to share experiences and best practices from your own Outdoor Science Parks.
| Julie Bowen, Ontario Science Centre, Toronto, Canada |
| Marta Mantovani, Park CienTec, Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Debby Mir, Tel Hai Academic College, Upper Galilee, Israel |
| Ronen Mir, MadaTech / Israel National Museum of Science, Haifa, Israel |
| Mikko Myllykoski, Heureka, The Finnish Science Centre, Vantaa, Finland |
| Antonio Pavao, Espaço Ciência - Museu de C&T do Recife, Recife, Brazil |
| Ganga Rautela, Science City, Kolkata, India |
^top
E04 - Panel
Earth Issues: Urgency for Public Awareness: Sustainability
Living On, Changing and Sustaining Planet Earth: The Role of Science
16:00 in Room 104C
Science centers have been very successful in presenting difficult themes in a broad context within their walls and are also extending their efforts through outreach programs and international projects that connect them globally to different realities. This panel will present different scientific, technological, social and artistic strategies by which science centers lead the way in fostering awareness and interaction in the greater public around the critical issue of sustainability of life on Planet Earth.
Panelists from various regions of the world will examine the effectiveness of their programs through the underlying vision and the public served. The leaders will compare the different modalities and approaches developed and will discuss means to evaluate their impact and overcome specific limitations.
| Alejandra Leon Castella, Fundacion CIENTEC, San Jose, Costa Rica |
| Joaquin Fargas, Centro Cientifico Tecnologico Interactivo Exploratorio, Buenos Aires, Argentina |
| Brigitte Zana, Palais de la Découverte, Paris, France |
| Wit Ostrenko, Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa, USA |
^top
R05 - Panel
The Role Of Human Interface In Science Communication
Creating the Future
16:00 in Room 206A
Over the last 35 years our field has developed a wide variety of program models for how to provide human interface to our visitors. Explainers, hosts, animateurs, guides or facilitators- no matter what they're called- are most important assets in communicating the take home messages that we want to deliver. Recently efforts to validate, consolidate and professionalize the human interface role have been taken by many in the field. An ongoing conversation among leaders of these programs has been converging towards a shared understanding of what constitutes best practice. Issues to be discussed include the optimum number of human interface staff, development (including recruitment & training) of staff, kinds of exhibits that benefit from facilitation, and how much value is added to the visitor experience by facilitation. Are there emerging trends in human interface practice that are generalizable to all programs?
| Chantal Barriault, Science North, Sudbury, Canada |
| Mr. Kamaruddin Kassim, Petrosains, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia |
| Paola Rodari, THE Group, Sissa Medialab, Trieste, Italy |
^top
R06 - Forum
Worst of the Best
Creating the Future
16:00 in Room 206B
This session is a unique reality-based learning experience, available only at 5SCWC! In a three-minute succinct overview, each speaker will present the worst mistake(s) of his/her science centre career, and what (s)he learnt from that experience. The speakers come from big and small institutions of different flavour and inclination. Fifteen speakers from nine countries in four continents provide a good sampling of what can go wrong. After the short presentations, the audience will break up in smaller groups to discuss and reflect on what we can learn from what we heard.
| Kate Bennett, Rochester Museum & Science Center, Rochester, USA |
| Seddon Bennington, TePapa, Wellington, New Zealand |
| Chris Cable, Imaginarium, Anchorage, USA |
| David Chesebrough, COSI, Columbus, USA |
| Joanna Haas, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh, USA |
| Lotta Johansson, Navet, Boras, Sweden |
| Sylvia Neuman, MUTEC, Mexico City, Mexico |
| Per-Edvin Persson, Heureka, The Finnish Science Centre, Helsinki-Vantaa, Finland |
| Jeffrey Rudolph, California Science Center, Los Angeles, USA |
| Pichai Sonchaeng, National Science Museum, Bangkok, Thailand |
| Manuel Toharia, Museo de las Ciencias Principe Felipe, Valencia, Spain |
| Ann Noronha, Ciencia Viva, Lisbon, Portugal |
| Dennis Wint, Franklin Institute, Philadelphia, USA |
^top
R07 - Panel
The Science Centre Evolution: Becoming More Relevant to More People
Creating the Future
16:00 in Room 103AB
For Science Centres to be viewed as viable and sustainable they must adapt and evolve into relevant and flexible institutions that are serving two public markets; 'those who don't do science' and those who are 'interested and willing to learn more about science'. The current success stories of science centres revolves more around our ability to appeal and attract those 'who do science' while we are less relevant to those 'who don't do science'.
This session will explore how across the globe science centres are evolving and adapting to socio-political and community expectations to deliver relevant and engaging experiences to both public markets. A cornerstone of our adaptation in the USA, UK, Africa and Australia has been the capacity to work in partnerships with government, key science agencies, science education authorities and others who share a similar vision for improved scientific literacy across all communities.
| Alan Brien, SciTech, Perth, Australia |
| Paul Jennings, Sensation Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom |
| Nancy Stueber, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, Portland, USA |
| Alfred Tsipa, Unizul Science Centre, Richards Bay, South Africa |
^top
R08 - Forum
Beyond the Warm and Fuzzy Stuff: The Value and Sustainability of Youth Programs
Creating the Future
16:00 in Room 206D
At a time when the need for scientifically literate citizens is greater than ever, science centre youth programs are developing into an effective means of addressing issues in science education and extending the science centre mission to underserved youth within the local community. Through a graduated sequence of peer-training, leadership, programme development, programme delivery, and employment opportunities, young people fulfill museum staffing requirements, increase diversity, provide positive role models for visitors and peers, and help to customize learning experiences. By strategically integrating key aspects of youth engagement throughout an institution, funding streams can be maintained that build capacity and support museum operations, programmes, and infrastructure. This session will highlight the efforts of organizations at various stages of youth program development and allow discussion of key criteria for models that provide mutual benefits to science centre, youth and society.
| Nick Winterbotham, ThinkTank, Birmingham, United Kingdom |
| Bafedile Kgwadi, South African Agency for Science and Technology Advancement, Pretoria , South Africa |
| Luisa Massarani, Museum of Life/Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Andrea Motto, New York Hall of Science, Queens, USA |
| Bryce Seidl, Pacific Science Center, Seattle, USA |
^top
R09 - Panel
How Funding Sources Shape Our Museums: The Developing World
Creating the Future
16:00 in Room 206E
Science centers directors will discuss how different business models and sources of revenue (public and private support, visitor and customer revenues, ancillary income, etc.) affect program, audiences served, and public expectations. Panelists will present an overview of how operating revenue streams shape their existing science centers; a government official will describe development of a network of science centers in South Africa with roles for both government and the corporate sector.
The Centre for Science and Technology of the Non-Aligned and other Developing Countries (NAM S&T Centre), has held 5 workshops since 2002. The organizer of the workshop in Bogotá will give a broader view, describing the importance of government funding and its effect on the goals and nature of science centers represented in the Centre. The session will conclude with an open discussion and Q&A to engage audience participants in sharing examples from their own experience.
| Bonnie VanDorn, Association of Science-Technology Centers, Washington, DC, USA (convenor) |
| Nohora Elizabeth Hoyos, Maloka, Centro Interactivo do Ciencia y Tecnologia, Bogotá, Columbia |
| Marcelo Knobel, Museu Exploratório de Ciências - UNICAMP, Campinas, Sao Paulo,Brazil |
| Mondli Mnguni, Mondi Science, Career Guidance and FET Skills Centre, Piet Retief, Mpumalanga, South Africa |
| Lebs Mphahlele, Department of Science and Technology, Pretoria, South Africa |
| Jorge Padilla, Centro de Ciencias EXPLORA, León, Mexico |
^top