IN-DEPTH PLANNING AND PROTOTYPING OF GCSEC EXHIBITS, PROGRAMS AND SERVICES

Generating Electricity Exhibit, February 1998

(Revised August 6, 1998)
Consisting of fourteen counties in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana, the Tristate region is a major Midwest metropolitan area. And as the next millennium approaches, the Tristate has demonstrated a growing awareness of problems in several key components of the overall health of the community: education, employment opportunities, work force qualifications, economic strength, business recruitment and general quality of life.

Reasons for concern in these core areas include science and mathematics proficiency test scores; student and employee studies revealing essential skills gaps; inadequate numbers of science, mathematics and technology professionals; and loss of jobs and business opportunities to cities such as Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham (the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce refers to these as "gazelle cities" and feels they are the biggest competitors of the Tristate). Our region has much to be proud of, but these problems must be addressed and resolved or the region will decline.

Many of these problems can be directly linked to the state of science, mathematics and technology education in the Tristate. Teachers and schools are working very hard to try to incorporate state and national education reforms and to keep up with subject content in these rapidly changing fields, but that is a overwhelming challenge. Teachers and schools by themselves cannot meet that challenge. And these three educational areas are vital to both our children's and the region's futures.

A non-profit Tristate science, mathematics and technology education center as envisioned by the Greater Cincinnati Science Education Center (GCSEC) will help the Tristate convincingly solve these and related problems and propel the region into the next millennium.

The GCSEC will achieve this dramatic effect because it will create so many opportunities:

• for students to excel and realize more education and career possibilities
• for families to laugh, experiment and learn together
• for educators to become more inspired and more effective
• for employees to build skills and knowledge
• for businesses to more successfully recruit highly skilled employees and to partner with and enrich schools and learning
• for the economy to compete more effectively for headquarters/support operations, research and development and high skill/high capital investment companies
• for the Tristate to further its reputation as an innovative and leading region of the country

The non-profit GCSEC concept envisions an integrated, multifaceted approach to enhancing science, mathematics and technology education:

• a central facility with hundreds of hands on, large-scale working science, mathematics and technology experiments and demonstrations offering effective and enjoyable self-directed learning opportunities for people of all ages
• traveling exhibits and programs that go to schools and other educational and community events for daytime and evening learning opportunities
• developing in collaboration with area colleges, universities and other organizations an extensive program of short and long continuing education courses, mainly for teachers abut also serving scout leaders, mentors and tutors and other non-professional educators
• developing in collaboration with area businesses and schools a business-school partnership program matching teachers with summer internships and working people with teachers and their classrooms, both of which give students more exposure to the real world
• a rich collection of additional related programs and services

Importantly, the GCSEC will be a place of wonder, fun, play and exploration as well as a site for learning-"an educational playground for the mind."

Atlanta, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, Louisville, Columbus, Cleveland, Fort Wayne, Lafayette, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Harrisburg all already have science education centers. These cities and a hundred others have created education centers because they are necessary and effective. From a narrow point of view, the Tristate needs its own center just to stay even with competing cities.

The goal of the GCSEC however is not just to create a science education center but an integrated, multifaceted science, mathematics and technology education center that will rival the best facilities in the world. During this Concept Development Project, examples of innovative programs and services from around the country will be studied, as well as related local needs and problems. Prototypes and small-scale tests of exhibit themes and promising programs and services will yield better understanding of potential effectiveness and costs. An Advisory Committee of community representatives with expertise in various areas of science, mathematics, technology, education, business and other fields will provide suggestions and advice throughout the Project. By learning from the best examples of enhanced science, mathematics and technology education, this Project has the potential to design a truly unique and outstanding education center for the Tristate. At the end of two years of work, the Project will culminate in a business plan for an education center that the Tristate will be proud of and that will provide the greatest number of opportunities for the entire community in the most resource- and cost-effective manner. The region deserves no less.

Creating the GCSEC

The GCSEC anticipates three phases in creation of a permanent science, mathematics and technology education center. In the first phase the GCSEC completed a very successful Concept Demonstration Project in the Winter of 1997-98. The next phase of growth is this Concept Development Project which was begun in June of 1998. The third and final phase would be creation of a permanent facility and implementation of related programs and services.

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