Museum Educators

Proposed Plan for The Greatest Places

Program Title: Welcome to our Place!

Museum Educator: Diana Yoder Teacher-In-Residence
Educator Information: Orlando Science Center
 777 East Princeton Street
 Orlando, Florida 32803
 Program Overview: "Welcome to our Place" is a series of hands-on discovery workshops for Science / Geography Teachers and students. The workshops that are under consideration are: Greatest Places Film Preview with one hands-on activity, a one-day geography inquiry conference, designing own cultural trunks, computer lab trainings about GIS/Geolinks/Greatest Places Net link.

Program Goals: The primary goal of this series is to demonstrate how the science center can be utilized as a resource for cross curricular learning experiences in connection with The Greatest Places film.
Program Audience: Middle School Science/Geography Educators, selected middle school classrooms
Internal Contacts: Director of the Cinedome, Vice President of Programs, and Teachers-In-Residence
External Contacts: Orange County Public School Science and Social Studies Department Coordinators
Possible Financial Support: Eisenhower Grant Monies
Venue Dates for The Greatest Places: Within a year after the film is released (Spring of 1999)
Time line for Planning and Implementation: Fall of 1997- Summer of 1999
Evaluation: Written input from teachers attending workshops

Museum Educators

Planning for The Greatest Places

Program Title: For Teachers Who Are Going Places!
Museum Educator: Diana Yoder Teacher-In-Residence
Educator Information: Orlando Science Center
 777 East Princeton Street
 Orlando, Florida 32803
 Program Overview: Teachers-In-Residence will design pre and post activities for teachers to use on a geography field trip to the museum. Contents for the packet could include the following: a geography scavenger hunt, a guide to The Greatest Places film, bus activities, while waiting in line activities for the film and a list of local connections to extend the experience.
Program Goals: The goal of this program is to provide a packet of meaningful learning experiences for teachers to use at their school site and while on a museum field trip.
Program Audience: The target audience will be fourth grade through eighth graders.
Internal Contacts: Teachers-In-Residence, Vice President of Programs, Director of the Cinedome
External Contacts: Local places of interest and Orange County Public Schools
Venue Dates for The Greatest Places : The film will be shown one year after the initial release.
Time line for Planning and Implementation: Fall of 1997- begin research on local places of interest.....Spring of 1998-Begin adapting scavenger hunt to a geographic theme.....Fall of 1998-Develop pre/post activities to support exhibits with a geographic theme.....Spring of 1999.....Prepare packets for use

Museum Educators

Planning for The Greatest Places

Program Title: Connections

Museum Educator: Diana Yoder Teacher-In-Residence
Educator Information: Orlando Science Center
 777 East Princeton Street
 Orlando, Florida 32803
 Program Overview: The Connections program is a multi-faceted program involving the science center, local college student education interns, the teacher partner, educational organizations and the community. In this program the museum educator will coordinate efforts of each of these groups to enhance the promotion of The Greatest Places film.
Program Goals: Goal 1: At the museum a plan of action will be to coordinate Lifelong Learning, Cinedome, EMG studio, Exhibits and Teacher Leadership Center in coordinating a joint effort in promoting the film.
 Goal 2: As part of the educational internship of a local college, interns can develop programs to incorporate geography connections at the Science Center.
Goal 3: The teacher partner will implement classroom lessons about the Greatest Places and help design exhibit pre/post activities for teachers and students. The teacher partner will promote the film by displaying student work around the museum and sharing the knowledge that students gained through the hands-on classroom experiences.
 Goal 4: National Council for Geographic Education, Florida Geography Alliance, Coalition of Central Florida Geography Teachers are 3 excellent examples of educational organizations that will be contacted and made aware of this newly formed partnership and the upcoming film. Another aspect of this connections could include teacher / partner presentations at local / state / national conventions. Presentation topics could include: How to use a Science Center for more than just Science, The Teacher / Museum Educator Partnership, The Greatest Places Adventure in and out of the Classroom.
 Goal 5: The newspaper in our local area supports a page designated to local people writing about a particular topic such as: my best friend, my favorite car, my best vacation. So by contacting the paper you could submit people to write about their Greatest Place to promote the film.
 With a local television connection a TV crew could be sent out to the local school connection to video tape a classroom activity about a particular country in The Greatest Place Film. Then do a follow-up show on the children's interaction at the museum and how their reactions to The Greatest Places film.
Program Audience: Middle School Science / Geography Educators, selected classrooms
Internal Contacts: Exhibits Department, Cinedome, Lifelong Learning, EMG studios, Teacher Leadership Center and Vice President of Programs
External Contacts: National Council of Geographic Education, Florida Geography Alliance, local council for geography teachers, newspaper, TV station
Venue dates for The Greatest Places : Within a year after the first release of the film
Time line For Planning and Implementation: Fall of 1997 - Summer of 1999