Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science Week 1

Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science Week 1

Education Week

Day 1 (7/18/2023) : 

I was warmly greeted by my supervisor, Analisa, who explained to me my roles for each week and introduced me to some of the education team and my other supervisor for the rest of the weeks. I will be shadowing a different department every week as something Analisa calls “The Museum Experience”. I found I will be working with the Education team, the Exhibits team, the conservation team, and the husbandry team. Then I had a fellow intern, who is taking part in another Smithsonian internship, take me on a tour of the whole museum. While I had been to this museum before, it was exciting to see it from a different perspective. This week, working with education, I sat in on one of the activities that they have for the summer camp program, to get a better understanding of how it works, as later in the week I came up with an activity plan to perform on Friday.

Day 2 (7/19/2023):

 Today I started off by presenting my activity to Analisa for approval. I came up with an activity I did during my time with the Everglades Foundation, but I scaled it down so that it would be appropriate for the age group I am interacting with. Afterwards, we went to go take photos of the campers watching a live alligator feeding, which I found really cool :). 

I then went back to the office and wrote up a blurb about the feeding. I was then sent to watch another camp activity and I was watching the kids make comic-strips of a story they created based off of a dinosaur footprint of their choosing. I also took photos and helped them spell here and there. 

I then went back to the office again and wrote up another small blurb about this activity. Both of the blurbs will be featured in the weekly newsletter the Frost Summer Camp sends to the parents of the campers. I then went around their classrooms looking for and preparing my materials for my activity on Friday.  At 3, we had an ice cream party where they had a bunch of different fun flavors. I got taro, to celebrate all the staff members who have birthdays in July. 

It was really fun to get to see a more unprofessional sort of activity for all employees. I have to say the Frost Museum of Science knows how to build employee morale. I truly feel like I’m not just some random intern, I have a place in the team. 

Day 3 (7/20/2023): 

I came to work an hour earlier, mainly because Miami traffic is so icky. This, however, allowed me time to explore a bit more of the museum. I had already done a tour but I was able to see a few things more up close. I saw the roof for the first time, which had a very pretty view. 

I also saw the real mammoth skeleton we have on display, which we have to give back. To make it a long story short, some man is having Frost hold his skeleton of a mammoth until his house is done and then he will move it there. 

I also saw the oculus, my personal favorite, but I did see a scuba diver cleaning the windows as it was before opening hours. You can see his breath bubbles here.

 Exploring the museum before opening hours was also nice because it was more peaceful and I wasn’t worried about stepping on any kids.  Then, for the rest of the day, I just continued working on my activity for Friday. I then did a mock run of it with my supervisor and others to make sure everything went smoothly for the kids. Then Analisa was telling me they were having a meeting with Girl Scouts as they were planning an event. I got excited because I was in girl scouts from 2010-2020, and she invited me to sit in on the meeting. It was really cool to see what goes on behind the scenes of creating these events, many of which I attended when I was younger. I have been really exposed to the other side of things, like how a museum’s education team works or how events I attended as a kid are made. Then, later, Analisa invited me to go with her to do a tour with the University of Miami and Nova Southeastern University Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (CARD). They were doing a tour to first see all the efforts Frost Science Museum is making to be more inclusive. They also gave recommendations as to certain things that could be expanded on for a better experience for those who are Neurodivergent. Frost is in the process of making Just For Me Library, a quiet area for those who may need it. Once that is done, the CARD organization will award them a type of certificate so people know that the museum is all about inclusivity. 

Day 4 (7/21/2023):

 I got to the museum early once again to avoid traffic. I spent about 2 hours making green Play Doh for the activity, and it still wasn’t enough play, so I changed the structure of the activity. 

I then had time to sit down and finish writing this blog post, because I needed to give a presentation about my time at Frost on my last day that aligns with this blog. I went to go do the activity with 3 different groups, the 5-6 year olds and the 9-11 year olds. The 7-8 year olds were too busy to deal with me. My activity was a way for the kids to understand what The Everglades Watershed is and how they need it to survive. I really enjoyed doing the activity and interacting with all the kids. 

My favorite part was when the kids came up to me and kept telling me all the fun facts that they knew. The older kids were definitely more into the lesson, while the little kids just wanted to play Play Doh, but overall my week in education was fun.