NISE Network Blog

Carnegie Science Center Space Out Astronomy Weekend inflatable astronaut

Partner Highlight: Carnegie Science Center hosts Space Out Astronomy Weekend

December 16, 2020

Brad Peroney, Carnegie Science Center

Space Out Astronomy Weekend is Carnegie Science Center’s annual celebration of all things astronomy.

Sustainability Cohort C Fellow Cape Fear Museum image

Partner Highlight: Finding Success in Virtual Sustainability Programming

October 7, 2020

Nich Weller, Arizona State University

Efforts to incorporate and promote sustainability in the age of COVID might look a bit different than they did last year, but that hasn’t slowed the progress and ideas of some dedicated museum professionals. In September, the third cohort of NISE Network's Sustainability Fellowship Program shared their progress implementing a sustainability project at their museums.

Partner Highlight: Hawaii Science and Technology Museum Working Hard to Bring STEM and NISE to the Big Island of Hawaii in Challenging Times!

September 2, 2020

Christian Wong, Executive Director, Hawaii Science and Technology Museum

The Hawaii Science and Technology Museum wanted to share our current and upcoming activities with all of you. Needless to say this is going to be an incredibly challenging school year as we deal with the effects of COVID-19 and how it has affected our society, economy, and educational infrastructure. We feel a duty to continue to serve Hawaii Island as best we can through our various educational and research programs and partnerships.

Partner Highlight: Reopening the world’s largest children’s museum – examples of best practices from the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis

September 1, 2020

Christina Leavell, Science Museum of Minnesota

With 472,900 square feet of space and 120,000 artifacts, re-opening the world’s largest children’s museum during a pandemic may seem next to impossible. Nonetheless, the intrepid staff of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis did just that in July 2020. Currently, they are still going strong, and a quick look at their website can provide us all with some simple strategies to facilitate bringing audiences back through their doors.

Partner Highlight: El Seminario Pandémico - Hosted by the Museum of Life and Science and Duke IGNITE 

August 5, 2020

Libby Dotson, Center for Global Women's Health Technologies, Duke University and Max Cawley, Museum of Life and Science

This Partner Highlight is written in both Spanish and English Está claro que la pandemia de 2020 causada por el nuevo coronavirus presenta un serio desafío para una comunicación científica efectiva: las comunidades de todo el mundo necesitan información científica...

Partner Highlight: The Lawrence Hall of Science Pauses for Racial Justice

June 30, 2020

<p>Rena Dorph, Ph.D., Director; Frank Kusiak, NISE West Regional Coordinator; Kalie Sacco, MPA, Chief of Staff, Director's Office</p>

These are indeed difficult times. We have been challenged by a series of racist killings by police that once again have laid bare the systemic institutional racism that persists in the United States. The Lawrence Hall of Science is the University of California, Berkeley’s public science center and much of our work in science education is motivated by our values of equity and social justice as well as our hope for a better future. However, recent events led us to realize that we had yet to do enough and that we need to take further and immediate action.

Franklin Institute Derrick Pitts Race and Space Video screenshot

Reflecting on Race in STEM

June 11, 2020

Catherine McCarthy, Arizona State University

Many of our partner institutions are going through a process of reflecting on racial justice and how we can all move forward to eliminate racism.

Partner Highlight: COSI Science Festival - A Digital Transformation

June 2, 2020

Josh Sarver, VP of Exhibits & Programs and Stephen White Esq., VP of Strategic Initiatives, COSI, Columbus, OH

With its sights focused on another record setting experience in 2020, COSI and its partners prepared for an assortment of exciting programs as well as the infusion of new cities from across the state. With a broader regional focus and a year’s experience under our belts, the possibilities seemed endless. However, as the impact of the pandemic grew, COSI was forced to execute a broad-based strategy to engage public, private, and nonprofit partners to produce digital experiences around science and technology.

Partner Highlight: Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center uses NISE Network Kits to Create Online Educational Videos for Families

May 27, 2020

Liane Usher, President, Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center

Since March 15th the Hawaii Children’s Discovery Center closed its doors due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Like many children’s museums, we were faced with the challenge of keeping our families and the greater community engaged with hands-on interactive learning without a physical facility. While the Center has never done much online content development before, our staff quickly shifted gears and learned new skills in video production, editing and social media.

Partner Highlight: Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Connects Local Students to Gardening through School Lunch Program

May 27, 2020

Erika Huber, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens

During the quarantine, Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens has supplied gardening kits and flowers to the local school lunch program. In April, we made 180 mini garden kits that were made available to students at lunch pickup spots throughout the peninsula as well as delivered to individual homes.

Blog: Partner Highlights