Professor in Science Education

professor Maartje!

I apologise: professor of science education is not her official title. But she knows a heck of a lot about it and researches that topic. I am talking about prof. Maartje Raijmakers Phd.. Nearly six weeks ago she was installed as an affiliated professor Cognitive Development. Her inaugural speech (in Dutch only, sorry!) I thought was enlightning. Her goal is to gain further scientific insight in how children learn especially in the field of science and technology. A fascinating field as a a lot of assumptions are made on this process but surprisingly little actual research is done to provide fundaments to hypothesis made or to counter commonly used methods.

Exploring this field will undoubtedly be an innovative journey. To me her "professorship" in itself is an innovation, a huge step for science centers and others involved in what is commonly known as in- and/or nonformal education (the boundaries between the two are so theoretical). Maartje is professor on behalf of the Dutch National center Science and Technology/Science Center NEMO. And that alone is an innovation! Or maybe rather: a new step in the continuous professionalisation of the sector. A milestone in the development I'd say!

Maartje was so kind to be part of the annual sabbatical days of the education department of the Dutch National Center Science and Technology which I happily chaired. She shared her research with us and we discussed how to best feed into each others activities: the professionals from the educational department from their hands on/brains on work and Maartje from her scientific perspective. With Rooske Franse as the proverbial bridge between them as she is both working for the educational department and has taken up a position as Phd student with Maartje. I cannot wait to experience what this new milestone will mean for the National Center, Maartje, Rooske and the science center sector as a whole!

Death by detail :-)

Over the past months I was a happy part of the Europeana office, supporting, coaching, guiding and helping the event organisation to reach the next level. A challenge because Europeana is above all a network organisation. Which means that pretty much every event is organised with an external partner usually in another country.

Organising a tight event, with strong, interlocked content that offers a real experience to the participants as well as inspiration and that is not finishing off the crew is at the best of times quite a feat. Having to do so with external partners adds different organisations with each their own logics and different cultures to the equation. And with that a heap of things that are basically out of your hands.

Over the course of the first half of 2012 I think we indeed achieved incredible progress! We introduced event briefings, a format in which the event leads jot down their vision of the event in a structured way including budget etc. which helped internal but also external communications forward. In addition we started working with roadmaps, which to those not so used to running conferences might easily bring on “death by detail”. In these docs we think through the entire conference step by stap, action by action in the preparation, interlocking everything into a smooth event. And finally a roadmap for the conference days themselves, outlining every little step that needs to be undertaken to make guests and speakers feel at home and thus perform at their best.

The Europeana team organised a staggering 6 high level, all totally different big events in the first half year. Mind you: for no one at the office this is full time work! It’s all in addition to other tasks with their own deliverables. The much anticipated Europeana event in Brussels was attended by many Ministerial delegations and ran very smoothly also with the Brussels team. The Plenary in Leuven was nothing short of a smash hit, with Europeana receiving many compliments via twitter. Rightly so! And how nice of guests and speakers to openly give their compliments this way! It's really heartwarming.

To me the entire experience and my role as an “advisor” (never ever thought I’d be one in this lifetimeJ) was magic. To me professionaly you added a new layer of fun, a new depth to my experience and a confirmation that one best leads by example in stead of offering theoretical advice and “training from a distance", by which I mean training in an artificial setting with thought out situations. The challenge is in the lack of control of many factors and then act accurately, decisively, in good spirits with a good sense of humour. Rather: just do it, do it together, learn from each other in good spirits and off we go to the next level! From this little corner of the internet I wholeheartedly applaud the team for their achievements over the past months. We really managed to deliver great team work. I felt very much at home in your team. Thanks for your warm hospitality! I’ll surely miss my Wednesday at your office.

A Network for Science Communication

It’s been quiet on the blog for a while….I was out workingJ Amongst others on a safari to find out whether a Science Communication Network of national organisations involved in science communications supported by a professional could count on passionate support and input. A tricky question seeing the current landscape of recession. Over the course of the past months I spoke to not less than 14 parties, represented by warm and enthusiastic people, who were all granted me a view of their thoughts and feelings vis a vis such a network. I am now in the final stages of reporting back, so it’s a tad to early to write about the results on this blog, but I surely will later.

One of the sources of inspiration mentioned was the Australian Network of Science Communicators. I had vaguely heard from them but of course when it was mentioned I started following it more closely. Definitly a good tip when you are looking for an informative informal network. So check it out!

Another thing in The Netherlands to check out is this network (Dutch only for the moment) with the attractive tagline: for everyone with a story about science. Well we all have one I think! So check it out and contribute!

Meeting of cultures

Through my work on the benchmark for the Delft science center I got in touch with the Legermuseum (army museum) in Delft. A museum with the rare ambition to take on educational projects with a strong ethical dimension. I was contracted as an advisor for the project on Strangers in Focus (Fremde im Visier). An exhibition created by Petra Bopp with the private, long forgotten photos taken by German soldiers in the war as topic. Fascinating topic, espcially when you realise that photography wise it was early days yet for this type of photography. The pictures are sometimes extraordinarely jolly and sometimes harrowing. 


So....what do we do with this project educationwise? Target group was clear: young adults, 16-18 year olds. German young adults and Dutch young adults. We definilty wanted something with a dialogue. Early thoughts went towards the debate form. But that means opposing parties. Exactly what we did not want. We aimed for a good conversation, with the elusive mutual understanding as the envisaged result. The "picture of the other". Out went the debate, in came the conversation. No set model, no set structure. Just a conversation between the groups on different angles of the exhibition. Do you actually think that the pictures are aesthetically beautiful? Although they depict sometimes brutal events? To what extent is society responsible for the behaviour and deeds of its army in wartime abroad? What story do the pictures tell about the country the soldiers were in? What are the stories from your own family in WWII? What is your view on the current relation between Germany and The Netherlands?


Once we had the loose form of a conversation as the finale of the project, we reasoned backwards from their. Preparations to be done: finding schools and teachers that wanted to cooperate. A mailing to several schools in the area resulted in two very enthusiastic teachers responding: Markus Schickentanz from the German School in The Hague and Linda van de Beek from Sorghvliet Gymnasium. They offered their advice and support and involved their students. We organised a class for the students by a professional photographer on what you can read from pictures: from the angle they were taken from, the subject, the composition etc. All the things you think you know but that got me by suprise during a symposium the Legermuseum organised to open the exhibition. A professional journalist gave an interview class. Because during the visit to the exhibition we wanted the youngsters to interview each other on the pictures. Both groups are fluent in both Dutch and German, so little language problems expected and the teachers would be at hand. 


As ever the project was continuous work in progress:-) Whilst organising and preparing we all of a sudden realised that it would be great if the students could be filmed telling their story on a personal item or picture that to them was the quintessential image of WWII. Which they all did! A huge applause for them. Imagine being 16 and telling on video your story, to be seen by your class mates and the students from the other school. Wauw. 


It all came together the morning of 14 June. The movies with the stories of the students were edited and shown in the theatre. Offering input for thought and the conversation. In teams of two - one Dutch one German student - the students visit the exhibition, meanwhile interviewing each other but mainly getting to know each other. Culminating in a conversation with Thierry Baudet as chair. Who offered a great open floor for stories leading to better understanding of each other. Students told their experiences, how they view the other culture, which prejudices are still alive and what they experience living as a German in The Netherlands. Their openness, honesty, well spokenness and authenticity leaving all of us pretty much flabbergasted. 


What a morning. What an experience. And what a guts of the Army museum, the schools and the teachers to dive into such an open structured educational project. As we speak (ehmm....I write:-)) this blog we are still working to push some plublicity out. So watch the newspapers, the project might just appear in it! Below some fragments of the symposium that was organised by the Army Museum on 26 April to celebrate the opening of the exhibition.

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