The Greatest Places
Museum Educator Action Plan
Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center
San Diego, California

Program Title Teacher Programs

Museum Educator Aly Evans, Education Specialist
Reuben H. Fleet Space Theater and Science Center
P.O. Box 33303
San Diego, CA 92163
Phone (619) 238-1233 ext. 847
FAX (619) 231-8971
E-mail aevans@rhfleet.org

Overview : Teacher programs will provide for a variety of museum based programs linking geography, math, science and technology with other areas of California curriculum. Teacher programs will serve to highlight the wealth of resources found in Balboa Park in relation to the areas of geography, science ad math. Many programs will be museum based, while Leadership Institue Teacher being involved with planning and implementation of some programs indicated below.

Components
Conference Sessions - Concurrent sessions, or presentations will be designed to be conducted at San Diego County area educator conferences, i.e., Math Conference, San Diego Science Educators Conference, Geography Day and other related meetings. Actual sessions will be done by museum educator or teacher partner, depending on the scope of the particular conference. For example, museum educator will present to the science teachers, while teacher partner will conduct presentations to geography educators. Each session will present hands on ways for teachers to form their own local links between The Greatest Places and the subject of the conference.

Connections between The Greatest Places and local and national standards will be presented to teachers in attendance. Depending on the date of film screening, this portion of the Action Plan may be scaled down to include a booth presence at area conferences to share lesson ideas at "Make-It and Take-It" booths, or informational booths at conferences.

Teacher Sneak Preview - A Teacher Sneak Preview will be planned, free of charge, for teachers, before the opening of the film. This will provide teachers with the chance to see The Greatest Places film, experience the trunk and receive related educational material. Possible program agenda (based on past Sneak Preview events) could include a behind-the-scenes look at the OMNIMAX( dome theater, an educational speaker related to the film, demonstration/lecture in Lecture Hall, and time in the Exhibit Galleries. Tables may be set up in the Exhibit Galleries to highlight The Greatest Places trunk or other materials.

Teacher Workshop - A single-day workshop will be developed in conjunction with the San Diego Chapter of the Geography Alliance, San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, San Diego Museum of Man, and San Diego Museum of Natural History. We will work together to provide local connections to the major themes of The Greatest Places film/trunk, and local places and those found in the film. PROPOSED workshop may include behind-the-scenes tours of the educational institutions involved, and related lectures by scientists working with plants, animals or artifacts from film locations. Teachers will also screen The Greatest Places OMNIMAX( film.

Possible agenda items for the workshop could include: film screening and visits to two Balboa Park institutions in the morning, a bag lunch outdoors and visits to two other Balboa Park institutions. Groups of teachers may be broken into two groups and would rotate through the sessions held at each institution. Each workshop would highlight the plant and animal life, both native and introduced, relative to the places highlighted in the film. This will provide teachers with information needed to link similarities and differences between their local place and those found in The Greatest Places film.

This type of workshop may be extended to become more of an institute and could include college credit. This form of workshop could be extended to several days, possibly every Saturday for one month, and would provide more The Greatest Places practical teaching strategy for immediate classroom use. This type of program would require the support of the local universities and the Geography Alliance of San Diego. NOTE: Both of these types of Teacher Programs would require the efforts of The Greatest Places leadership teacher.

Program Goals - Teacher programs will provide a variety of programs, at different content and commitment levels as teacher resources. Teachers can choose to become involved with The Greatest Places content and materials as a part of hands-on conference sessions, in-depth teacher workshops or simply attend informational gatherings related to the film and its concepts. In the event of a lengthy delay in the film's opening in San Diego, the informational booths and talks will be presented. The goal of these types of programs is to "plant seeds" of interest in the educational arena for The Greatest Places film project.

Implementation Procedures
Fleet Center Education Department briefing to inform staff of The Greatest Places themes and relevant connection to the mission of the Fleet.
Begin initial contact with community groups and Geography Alliance of San Diego to set guidelines and proposed curriculum for the teacher workshop.
Work with Multimedia Services and printers to design all written materials for programs, including flyers, brochures and program guides or curriculum.
Work with Fleet Center Education and Marketing staff to promote events and perform reservation duties.

Program Audience - The Teacher Program Action Plan will be developed to link upper Elementary, Junior High, and High School teachers with the valuable resources found in the Balboa Park area.

Internal Contacts - Education Coordinator, Fleet Center for advertisement in up coming brochures and flyers, and room arrangements. Exhibit Developers and Mangers to find appropriate links with program content and exhibits on the floor or those proposed to be developed. Education Specialist for program development, content and guidelines.

External Contacts - Education Department and possibly science staff, or curators, from San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Parks, San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego Natural History Museum, San Diego Geography Alliance contacts, San Diego State University, University of San Diego, and The Greatest Places teacher, Stephen Prendergast.

Venue Dates for The Greatest Places - Estimated time of program implantation is June of 1999. Some somponents could begin as soon as Fall 1997.

Timeline for Planning and Implementation - A minimum of 5 months will be needed to plan and implement the one-day portion of the Teacher Program Action Plan. The Sneak Preview component will require a minimum of 4 months to plan and implement. The more involved, multi-day teacher institute, will require an estimated 12 to 20 months to plan and implement, due to the number of outside entities involved, primarily the universities.