Sunday, June 2, 2019

Sciencenter in Ithaca, NY: Science Museums and US-International Networks

Sciencenter in Ithaca, NY: Science Museums and International Networks

by Julie Ann Racino
Member, Science and Technology in Government
American Society for Public Administration

June 2, 2019

     In 2016, I visited the Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York, one of the discovery center style museums that were created as community development projects in small towns and mid-size cities in the US. On one of my visits to Cornell University in the 2000s, where I studied the sciences in the 1970s as an undergraduate on a Dean's scholarship, the new Sciencenter was visible from the highway on the way into Ithaca via the Finger Lakes region.

     In the 1980s, the Discovery Center in Syracuse, New York opened its first downtown storefront exhibit, later moving to the Armory redevelopment district as the Museum of Science and Technology (MOST). The Museum already was the base for the Syracuse Science Congress hosted annually at then Nottingham High School and the Discovery Center Education Director already snagged this volunteer to coordinate judges for the Congress that year.

      I met the Science Museums not as a child, as many do (star parties and skylabs today), but as medical student majoring in clinical psychology at Northwestern University Medical School in the late 1970s, and spotting the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry on the Chicago city bus route (the Chicago Transit Authority). Visiting on a free admission Sunday, I marveled at the excitement of the school children running into the Museum and the bustling interest and learning, entering to see the swinging pendelum in the Grand Hall.

     The Sciencenter was delightful- the modern museum kiosk and travel passport program, the Carl Sagan Planetwalk through downtown Ithaca, New York, the classic build a dam albeit without waterfowl and plant effects, the underwater film on Cascadilla Creek and the water supply, the diverse natural habitats for species (e.g., Florida Mangroves), the new anatomical display structures of the hu'man' body (e.g., circulatory system), NASA live in space, and the ingenious display on mechanics and basic physics (e.g., gravity and motion).

     These centers are still options for new development today and attract visitors to the region, offer ongoing science education to children and adults of all ages, provide the base for community functions (e.g., meetings, events), (national-international) networking, experimentation and scientific studies, marketing sciences (e.g., STEM-Science, technology, engineering and math education), progressive science agendas (e.g., environment), new developments and competitions (e.g., robotics), and even retail sales!


Association of Science and Technology Centers (2016)

     In 2016, the Sciencenter served as a Member of the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) which melded Science Museums from different periods and genres, specifically the children's museums (one in neighboring Utica, New York; Staten Island, New York; Madison, Wisconsin; Portsmouth, Virginia; Dover, New Hampshire), freestanding planetariums and observatories (including the famed Adler Planetarium and Kopernik Observatory in Vestal, NY), selected science and industry museums (e.g., the Seattle Science and Industry Museum we visited with ASPA was not on the list), specialty museums (e.g., New York Transit Museum and National Museum of Mathematics in New York City, National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin), museums of natural sciences and history (e.g, in Texas and Washington), air and space museums (with US lead at the Smithsonian; Intrepid Sea, Air and Space in New York), and the discovery centers and sciences (also exploratoriums; Discovery Cubes). 

10 comments:

  1. Individual museum websites in the international community may appear on the "Windows 10 desktop" or mobile devices in "native languages" (termed original language on UN web tv). Translations may be available (e.g., Google translators), and the situation is similar for international ministries, selected international conferences, and nation-state departments. For example, science curriculum book was in Spanish (Mexico) and the Czech and Nordic museums also were in original languages; the former linked to world planetariums (English) and on the latter, page translation was available at the new architectural building. Accessibility web features are also available on users' computers. Julie Ann Racino, ASPA, International Chapter, 2019

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Polish Slavic and Russian Cyrillic sites were not translated into English for the Science Museums. You Tubes were in the native languages without the translation feature (other features, closed captioning, transcript) the week of June 26, 2019.

      Chinese sites were both Chinese, and sometimes English (e.g., Heaven and Earth Hall, Wisdom Hall and Olympic Park), and Iranian site (photos of visitors, Abbas Puya, Somayeh Aladgaran)was not translated into English.

      Dome Theaters (4D and Motion Theaters) "have international syndications", and amazing musical instrument exhibits were introduced to the science museum industry. I loved the "local environmental" as the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers in China, and the "Arabian Gulfs" (e.g., Gulf of Oman, Red Sea)and reefs!

      Julie Ann Racino, ASPA, International Chapter, 2019

      Delete
  2. On the worldwide web in June 2019, we toured the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, Jeddah Science Oasis in Saudi Arabia, Ottawa Canada Science and Technology Museums Corporation, the Okanagan Science Centre in British Columbia, Canada, and Singapore Science Centre, among other Science And Technology Center Museums. Julie Ann Racino, ASPA, Science and Technology in Government, 2019

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. On Fathers Day checked out one of the science museums in Puerto Rico, Centro Criollo Ciencias y Tecnologia del Caribe, Caguas. Julie Ann Racino, ASPA, SSTIG, 2019

      Delete
    2. On 4th and 5th of July, visited Science Museums in Italy (e.g., Galileo Museum), Indiana (USA) on Health and Technology and Germany (city of Berlin). Julie Ann Racino, ASPA, Science and Technology in Government, 2019

      Delete
    3. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

      Delete
  3. Science museums vary in their accessibilty policies with the Canadians with Disabilities Act receiving a mention, and sensory impairments, guide dogs, and sensory stimulation also on todays access lists. Generally, traveling exhibits, birthday parties and workshops are available, though a new emphasis on retro age graded systems based on school programs. Thank you to all the science museums, with one exception, for keeping public and affordable at the top of the agenda! Julie Ann Racino, ASPA, 2019

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Indiana Wonderlab Museum of Science, Health and Technology featured noise reduction, barrier-free building and exhibits, ADA-compliant signs which incorporate Braille, accessible restrooms and water fountains, handicapped parking space, wheelchairs, and first aid. On 7/5/2019, the Museum also was advertising a LGBT STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Day. Featured sites included Science Sprouts Place with caregiver resources (e.g., infant and child physical and brain development), story space, toddler trails (e.g., with goggle eye protection), and baby wonders (e.g., tummy time). The Museum is located in Bloomington, Indiana and hosts a new aquarium in 2017.

      Delete
  4. Today, June 26, 2019, the Copernicus Science Centre website (Centrum Nauki Kopernik)located in Warsaw, Poland, indicates a partner membership in the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) with 50 countries now members of the Association. The museum is also a Member of the European Network of Science Centres and Museums (ecsite) and European Science Events Association (Eusea). Two Polish ministries are partners: Ministerstro Edukacji Narodowej and Ministertro Nauki i Szkolwxtwa Wyzseego. Julie Ann Racino, 3rd generation Polish-American, 2019 and American Society for Public Administration, Science and Technology in Government, 2019

    ReplyDelete
  5. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete