Icon for: Brad Herring

BRAD HERRING

Museum of Life and Science, Nanoscale Informal Science Ed Network, Marbles Kids Museum
Public Discussion

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  • Icon for: Carolina Milesi

    Carolina Milesi

    Facilitator
    Senior Research Scientist
    May 11, 2015 | 12:50 p.m.

    Do you plan to expand the network of core partner organizations or expand the reach of the current network? Do you foresee any challenging in expanding?

  • Icon for: Brad Herring

    Brad Herring

    Lead Presenter
    May 11, 2015 | 02:22 p.m.

    Thanks for the comment, Carolina! We’re always looking to expand the Network but as we begin to wind down our 10 year project (we are finishing our 10th year now) our focus has mostly shifted towards sustaining the network. Currently, we have over 550 network partners from museums and universities all over the US who use our products (programs and exhibits) to engage the public in nanoscale science, engineering and technology. We do have a few other projects in the works that are looking to use the established network to deliver more materials to our partners. The best way to keep up with what we’re doing and what opportunities are available is to subscribe to our monthly newsletter (The Nano Bite: http://www.nisenet.org/nanobite). You can also read more about the impacts of the Network here: http://www.nisenet.org/catalog/nise-network-imp...

  • Icon for: Tamara Moore

    Tamara Moore

    Facilitator
    Associate Professor
    May 12, 2015 | 01:23 a.m.

    I love that you are engaged in public learning. I am thinking about the impact beyond just your group. How will you get others to know about the challenges and successes you have had? Will you do something that might help others replicate your work?

  • Icon for: Brad Herring

    Brad Herring

    Lead Presenter
    May 12, 2015 | 01:05 p.m.

    Great question, Tamara, thanks for bringing this up. Sharing our work through evaluation and research has been one of the major goals of this project. We’ve conducted a lot of evaluation and research over the last 10 years and have everything available on our website for folks to browse: http://www.nisenet.org/About_Evaluation_Research

    We’re also in the process of creating a series of guides (Program Development, NanoDays, Exhibits, Administration, Evaluation, Community Network) that describe some of our projects and development processes over the last 10 years. Once we’ve finished these they will all be available through our website.

    And we also share a lot of our work through a series of Online Brown Bags which are all archived and can be accessed here: http://www.nisenet.org/events/online-workshop

  • Icon for: Dacid Lustick

    Dacid Lustick

    Facilitator
    Associate Professor
    May 12, 2015 | 05:05 p.m.

    Anytime we combine ‘play’ with ‘science learning’ good things are bound to emerge. The first half shows kids playing and learning—what they are learning is not clear—but it definitely looks sciencey. Unfortunately, the second half shows kids at college standing around listening to people talk about science. The mood is completely different from what takes place at the Marbles Museum. While the process of the project is clear, I don’t get a sense of what the learning goals for the project are beyond engaging students in STEM learning. What are students learning about NANO techology? How do you make something so abstract meaningful and relevant to students?

  • Icon for: Brad Herring

    Brad Herring

    Lead Presenter
    May 13, 2015 | 02:14 p.m.

    Hi David, thanks for watching the video. Since I don’t run the STEM Play Corps program I may not be the best person to ask about the specifics of the program. What I was trying to show with this video was how the NISE Network was successful in helping museums build partnerships with local researchers and scientists. Marbles took some of the contacts they made at both Duke and NC State through their work in the NISE Net project and then extend them beyond our project to create a project of their own. This was just one example among many of our NISE Net partners who have successfully developed a collaboration with their local universities.

  • Icon for: Joni Falk

    Joni Falk

    Co-Director
    May 12, 2015 | 09:58 p.m.

    What a great video and fabulous images of the kids. I really like the idea of a play core -having middle school students working with younger students. Do you have any early indications whether this has a positive impact on the middle school students? Thanks for this!

  • Icon for: Brad Herring

    Brad Herring

    Lead Presenter
    May 13, 2015 | 02:21 p.m.

    Hi Joni, I’m actually not the one who runs the STEM Play Corps program at Marbles (see previous reply) so I can’t really say what impact it’s had on the students. I did interact with them while filming this a year ago and then again 2 months ago when they presented on their work at NanoDays and just through observing them I would say it has had a positive impact.

  • Icon for: Joni Falk

    Joni Falk

    Co-Director
    May 13, 2015 | 02:26 p.m.

    Thanks.

  • Icon for: Dacid Lustick

    Dacid Lustick

    Facilitator
    Associate Professor
    May 13, 2015 | 02:18 p.m.

    Brad,
    Thanks for the clarification. Upon second look at the video, I think I understand the project better. Best of luck!
    david

  • Icon for: Brad Herring

    Brad Herring

    Lead Presenter
    May 13, 2015 | 02:22 p.m.

    Sure thing, David! And I’d be happy to put you in touch with the folks at Marbles if you have further questions that I can answer.

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