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Oversight Group
Biographical Sketches
Sue Allen is Director of Visitor Research and Evaluation at the Exploratorium in San Francisco where she oversees all aspects of visitor studies, educational research, and evaluation on all projects involving the museum’s public space. She was the in-house evaluation coordinator for the Exploratorium on the "California Framework Project" which explored the roles that a science museum can play in assisting science education reform in the schools. She and her colleagues study visitors' learning in the museum's public space, and work collaboratively with practitioners in the design of their research and evaluation agendas. Her current research interests include methods for assessing learning, exhibit design, personal meaning-making and scientific inquiry. Dr. Allen has lectured in the Department of Museums Studies at John F. Kennedy University. She teaches graduate-level, action-oriented course on thinking and learning in science to Ph.D. students and Masters/Science-Credential students at University of California, Berkeley, School of Education. Dr. Allen has contributed numerous articles and book chapters to the informal science field. She is a member of many professional associations including Visitor Studies Association, Museum Education Roundtable and Cultural Connections. Dr. Allen received her Ph.D. in Science Education from the Science and Mathematics Education program at the University of California Berkeley.
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Myles Gordon is now working with museums, science centers, and other informal learning organizations around the country including the California Academy of Sciences, the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, the Louisiana State Museum, and Sesame Workshop on strategic planning, educational programming, and outreach. Current projects include strategic plans for education for museums, a human origins education initiative, and a major website on ocean science, education, and conservation. From 1995-2006, Mr. Gordon served as Vice President for Education at the American Museum of Natural History where he was responsible for programming and product development for kids and families, youth, and adults, onsite, in the schools, in the community, and nationwide outreach; and production for the Hayden Planetarium. Prior to joining the Museum, he was Senior Vice President of Education Development Center (EDC), an education R&D group, and director of the Center for Learning and Technology, responsible for all of EDC’s work focused on science and math education and technology.
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Leslie Herrenkohl is Associate Professor in the Learning Sciences and Human Development and Cognition Programs in the College of Education at the University of Washington. She also teaches in the Elementary Masters in Teaching Program. Dr. Herrenkohl studies children’s developing epistemologies of science in formal and informal settings. She also works together with practitioners to apply developmental theory to support the design of learning environments. She has completed projects supported by the National Science Foundation, the Spencer Foundation, and the James S. McDonnell Foundation. Dr. Herrenkohl earned a Ph.D in psychology from Clark University.
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Gil Noam is Director of the Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency (PEAR) and an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital. Trained as a clinical and developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst in both Europe and the United States, Dr. Noam has a strong interest in supporting resilience in youth, especially in educational settings. He served as the director of the Risk and Prevention Program and is the founder of the RALLY Prevention Program, a Boston-based intervention that bridges social and academic support in school, afterschool, and community settings. Dr. Noam has also followed a large group of high-risk children into adulthood in a longitudinal study that explores clinical, educational, and occupational outcomes. Since the establishment of PEAR, Dr. Noam and his team have been contributing to the effort to establish the field of afterschool education. PEAR is also working with Boston afterschool programs to develop a training and technical assistance structure, activities that PEAR coordinates with its partners at Achieve Boston, a seven-organization partnership that coordinates Boston’s afterschool training infrastructure. PEAR is actively engaged in research on afterschool topics. A private-public partnership (Institute for Educational Science, Piper Trust and Haan Foundation) is funding a randomized control study of a reading and resilience intervention for young struggling readers in afterschool settings. Dr. Noam has published over 200 papers, articles, and books in the areas of child and adolescent development as well as risk and resiliency in clinical, school and afterschool settings. He is the editor-in-chief of the journal New Directions in Youth Development: Theory, Practice and Research, which has a strong focus on out-of-school time.
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Natalie Rusk is an educational researcher and developer at the MIT Media Laboratory, working on the development of Scratch, a new programming language designed for use in community after-school centers. She also works on the design team for Crickets, small programmable devices children can use to create artistic interactive inventions. She specializes in developing technology-based programs and materials that enable young people to create projects based on their interests. Ms. Rusk served as Project Director of the NSF-funded PIE Network, collaborating with the MIT Media Lab and six museums to create a new generation of hands-on science activities that integrate art, crafts, and computer programming. She worked for more than 10 years for the Science Museum of Minnesota, establishing the Learning Technologies Center and guiding the development of the Thinking Fountain and other informal science education websites. In 1993, she co-founded the Computer Clubhouse, a model after-school learning program that engages young people in creating projects with the support of adult mentors. Ms. Rusk is a graduate student studying Developmental Technologies in the Eliot-Pearson Department at Tufts University. She is interested in how creative applications of technology can help parents and educators support children's positive emotional development.
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Bonnie Sachatello-Sawyer is the founder and director of Hopa Mountain, Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Bozeman, Montana that is dedicated to supporting rural and tribal community leaders - adults and youth - in their efforts to improve education, ecological health, and economic development. Dr. Sachatello-Sawyer formerly served as the director of Native Waters at Montana State University and the division head for public programs at the Museum of the Rockies. She is the author and co-author of four education books, including Adult Museum Programs: Designing Meaningful Experiences. She has worked with non-profit organizations and museums for eighteen years as a consultant, facilitator and guest presenter. Dr. Sachatello-Sawyer holds a doctorate in education from Montana State University, a masters in political science from the University of Richmond, and a bachelors in political science from Vanderbilt University.
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Dennis Schatz is Vice President for Education at Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. A research solar astronomer prior to his career in science education, he worked at the Lawrence Hall of Science at the University of California, Berkeley, prior to moving to Seattle in 1977. He provides leadership to Pacific Science Center's science education programs, which includes a broad range of programs serving teachers, students, community-based organizations, and families across Washington State. Mr. Schatz co-directs Washington State Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER), a program to implement a quality K-12 science program in all 296 school districts in Washington State. He has served as Principal Investigator for a number of National Science Foundation (NSF) projects, including the Science Center’s innovative Community Leadership project that develops science advocates in community-based organizations, and the nationally touring exhibit, Aliens: Worlds of Possibilities, which explores the nature of the solar system and the search for extraterrestrial life in the galaxy. He is active in the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), being a past member of its Program Committee, Professional Development Committee, and past chair of its Education Committee. Mr. Schatz now serves at the Chair of ASTC’s Leading Edge Awards Selection Committee. He is also active in the National Science Teachers Association, having been Program or General Chair for three of NSTA’s Conventions. He is presently Past President of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.
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