Summary
NOAA and the Exploratorium
Memorandum of Understanding

NOAA and the Exploratorium have signed a Memorandum of Understanding solidifying a renewable five-year partnership involving the co-development of exhibits, education and public programs. The partnership will include media-rich websites, staff exchanges, public programs around visits by research vessels, and learning research programs. These efforts will promote public engagement with critical issues concerning Earth systems and the ways in which individuals can create a healthier, sustainable future.

Pursuant to this agreement, the parties will develop, plan and execute multiple educational projects, with the overall partnership goal being to collaborate on educational research and project development with the purpose of enhancing the awareness, understanding, and engagement of the public with respect to key environmental science and technology subjects underlying NOAA’s mission.

The activities under this agreement will allow NOAA to explore and deploy new methods of presenting the work of the Agency in a unique educational setting that is provided by the Exploratorium and the unique capabilities of the institution. The Exploratorium is a leader in the field of informal science education. It has developed a model for informal education exhibits that involves a high degree of collaboration with scientists and artists, an emphasis on interactive demonstration of a scientific phenomenon, and research into how people learn using these exhibits. Its model of scientific exhibit development has proven highly effective and, through this partnership, will now be applied to NOAA-related sciences.

The Exploratorium’s unique facilities and capacities include remote worldwide webcasting capability and a staff of scientists, designers and educational researchers with experience in working cooperatively with the scientific community. It has a leading research and development capacity in exhibit development, scientific visualization, online activities, and professional development for teachers and museum staff designed to provide support for the informal science education field. The Center for Informal Learning and Schools at the Exploratorium leads the nationwide effort to connect informal science education centers to the formal science educational system. The Exploratorium also plays a major leadership role in the international Association of Science Technology Centers by creatively conceiving, designing and testing exhibits that are adopted by many other museums through its Exhibit Services division and through professional publications for museum staff.

This agreement also looks forward to the Exploratorium’s future access to the San Francisco Bay through a deep-water pier at its proposed new location.

The intent of this agreement is that NOAA and the Exploratorium will work together to develop projects that assist NOAA in meeting the America COMPETES Act and that simultaneously assist the Exploratorium in meeting the mandates of its charter. The parties will work collaboratively to identify educational research projects which will enhance knowledge in the environmental sciences.

Specific project ideas, once identified, will allow NOAA to explore new education models that support NOAA’s mandate to educate the public about the earth system, and they will allow the Exploratorium to make further progress in its chartered mission and its movement to demonstrate the “museum as education center.”