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A Science Education Center for the Third Age: Lessons Learned, Next Steps
National ConferenceOsher Lifelong Learning Institutes
April 13-15, 2011
Itasca, Illinois
2009 NSF Planning Grant
• National OLLI Survey• National Science Center Survey• OLLI/ Science Center Collaborative
Partnerships• Full Scale Development Proposal
National OLLI Survey
• 66 responded
• 12 OLLIs with most STEM courses have collaborated with Science Centers
• 39 have not collaborated at all
• A slight majority intend to collaborate in future
Challenges to Offering STEM Courses
Lack of expertise available 25.4%
Lack of Facilities 18.6%
Lack of Funding 15.3%
Other 42.4%
National Science Center Survey
• 19 Responded from 11 states
• 13 offered no 50+ programming, 7 of those are interested in future collaboration
• Obstacles to collaboration most often: staffing, priorities, lack of funding
• Those with 50+ programming experience felt positive about it.
OLLI/Science Center Collaborative Partnerships - OSCPs
• Competitive Request for Proposals:• OLLI + Science Center/Museum Partners• 13 Proposals• 6 selected to receive $1000 each
• Geographic, topical, participant diversity
• All projects completed by June 2010
CSU East Bay + The Exploratorium (Sonoma, SFSU and Dominican)
“Green Architecture and Engineering”
• Courses at each OLLI
• Culminating day at Exploratorium
U Montana + spectrUM Discovery Area
“Classic Mediterranean Cuisine: Chemistry in the Culinary Laboratory”
“Wonder Wheels: Physics of Cycling”
• 2 Team-taught one-day Workshops
U Pittsburgh & Carnegie Mellon + Carnegie Science Center
Introduce OLLI members to robotics and applications of robotics to society
Familiarize OLLI members with Carnegie Science Center – increase their comfort zone
U Richmond + Science Museum of Virginia & VCU Rice Center
Target 50+ who had not attended “Lunch Break Science” at SMV and UR OLLI because of transportation challenges. Also a daylong program at Rice Center
U Southern Maine + Gulf of Maine Research Institute
•educational materials for the Vital Signs website, or
•an extra pair of hands in support of middle school teachers and their students.
“Invasive Species Monitoring Project
S. Oregon U + ScienceWorks Hands-On Museum
Continue a 1-yr collaboration through:
1. Lecture series
2. LEGO robotics workshop for adults
3. Nanotechnology steering committee
4. A plan to build a da Vinci invention
Lessons Learned:
1. Majority found the O/SC collaboration
rewarding, productive and will do it again.
2. None reported difficulties between the project planners, half had problems with scheduling and institutional procedures that had to be resolved. The more the merrier is definitely not true with institutions.
SECTA is about building aCADRE of SCIENCE Learnersand Teachers.
• a virtual resource center for collaborations
• 15 demonstration projects with science centers and LLIs
• a national survey of older adults about their experience with and interest in STEM learning
• regional conferences and support for science centers and Third Age Learning organization educators
A Science Education Centerfor the Third Age (SECTA)
The Team:
Principal Investigator:• Kali Lightfoot, National Resource Center
Co- Principal Investigators• Bette Felton, CSU East Bay• Kurt Feichtmeir, The Exploratorium
Evaluator• Babette Moeller, Educational Development Center
Science
Education
Center
for the
Third
Age
(OLLI + ScienceWorks, OR)
(OLLI at U Montana)
(OLLI at U Alaska)
(OLLI at George Mason U)