The Greater Boston Museum Educators’ Roundtable is sponsoring a professional development event on March 13, 2014, from 1-4pm at Danforth Art. Join colleagues for a discussion of how best practices in customer service outside of the museum field can be used to enhance the visitor …
Current Tufts graduate student Barbara Palmer is putting out the call on behalf of AAM’s EdCom, the Alliance’s educator professional affinity group. Calling You! As your bimonthly newsletter, we want to hear from you! Want to highlight events at your museum or in your community? Is …
by columnist Jenna Conversano
Hi all – I’m Jenna, a new Science in Museums columnist, with a particular interest in biology, zoos, and aquariums.
The “hot item” in the news last week was the euthanasia of Marius, a two year-old giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo, followed by a massive uproar across the web. If you somehow missed this news story, here is a short recap: the Copenhagen Zoo euthanized their two year-old male giraffe with a shotgun on February 7th. The giraffe’s genes were overrepresented in the EAZA (European Association of Zoos and Aquariums) population and would present an inbreeding risk. Other options—such as sending to a non-EAZA zoo or private individual—were not considered viable. After Marius’s death, zoo staff led a public dissection of the giraffe, followed by visible feeding of the giraffe to its lions. The EAZA executive director, Leslie Dickie, published a statement via CNN fully supporting the Copenhagen Zoo’s actions. The AZA, while itself operating under a firm contraceptive policy, has also been supportive.
One point to consider here, in terms of this column, is whether the Copenhagen Zoo’s culminating actions—the dissection and feeding—was a step towards transparency and the furthering of public science or a misstep in the public perception of zoos.
Here’s the call from Campus & Community Outreach Coordinator Courtney Klemens for volunteers to help with the List Art Center’s School Vacation Week programs. Their biggest need is Wednesday morning, but the full schedule of activities is below. If you’d like to volunteer, contact Courtney …
Congratulations to the department and staff for all their hard work on the new Museum Studies department website! Check it out at museumstudies.tufts.edu
by columnist Cira Brown
I am in currently in the midst of a project at the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments at Harvard University as part of my fellowship, but I thought it would be useful to write about some of my experiences. My primary responsibility has been the planning and development of digital gallery guide for our upcoming exhibition on the cultural history of anatomy. The curatorial team has defined 3 major thematic narratives (Preparation, Practice and Afterlife) as well as 3 key time periods (roughly, the 16th, 19th and 20th Centuries). Continue reading Science in Museums: Planning and Development of a Digital Gallery Guide