Skip to main content

Improv Exercises

Improv exercises can be used by professionals as icebreakers, getting-to-know-you activities, and as tools to empower educators to facilitate positive, learning conversations with visitors.

DESCRIPTION

Improv exercises empower educators to facilitate positive, learning conversations with visitors. Incorporating improv exercises into staff and volunteer training helps create a supportive and upbeat environment for educators to practice and strengthen essential skills. Included are tips on how to lead improv exercises with your staff and guides for 13 separate improv activities you can use.

JUMP TO BROWSE RELATED RESOURCES
  • Man in red shirt and lady in blue shirt participate in a Improv exercise with other professional museum educators
  • Man in red shirt and lady in blue shirt participate in a Improv exercise with other professional museum educators

DESCRIPTION

Improv exercises empower educators to facilitate positive, learning conversations with visitors. Incorporating improv exercises into staff and volunteer training helps create a supportive and upbeat environment for educators to practice and strengthen essential skills. Included are tips on how to lead improv exercises with your staff and guides for 13 separate improv activities you can use.

JUMP TO BROWSE RELATED RESOURCES

OBJECTIVES

BIG IDEA

Improv exercises can strengthen skills educators use when interacting with guests.

LEARNING GOALS

  • Prepare staff to hold learning conversations with guests rather than reciting scripts.

  • Warm up critical skill sets required for guest interaction/guest facilitation.

  • Empower staff to think on their feet and respond in the moment.

NANO CONTENT MAP

Nanometer-sized things are very small, and often behave differently than larger things do.

Scientists and engineers have formed the interdisciplinary field of nanotechnology by investigating properties and manipulating matter at the nanoscale.

Nanoscience, nanotechnology, and nanoengineering lead to new knowledge and innovations that weren't possible before.

Nanotechnologies—and their costs, utility, risks, and benefits—are closely interconnected with society and with our values.

Credits

YEAR CREATED
2012
OWNING INSTITUTION

Multiple owners including: Museum of Science & Industry, Chicago; Sciencenter, Ithaca, NY; Science Museum of Minnesota

FUNDING

Developed for the NISE Network with funding from the National Science Foundation under Award Numbers 0532536 and 0940143. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this product are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation.

PERMISSIONS

Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 3.0 United States (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 US).
View more details

DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

NISE Network products are developed through an iterative collaborative process that includes scientific review, peer review, and visitor evaluation in accordance with an inclusive audiences approach. Products are designed to be easily edited and adapted for different audiences under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike license. To learn more, visit our Development Process page.