Hi Mary:

Thank you for raising a question that should be raised!

At the California Museum of Science and Industry, a free admission science
center in Central Los Angeles with a visitorship that is 50% Latino, we
have had a lot of success actively involving parents in the programs we
present on the exhibit floors as part of our normal public programming.   A
"story hour", Under Cover Science," that uses children's literature as the
backdrop to simple hands-on science activities, consistently engages both
parents and children, as does our bi-lingual science theater program,
"Science Comes Alive!".  Some of this has been attributed to the fact that
these programs, both highly visually entertaining and fast-paced, are easy
to follow and appealing for limited-English speaking visitors, regardless
of age.

        But we have experienced our share of Mom sitting on the bench with
the baby while the older brother and sister run around the exhibit halls,
in fact, it was the desire to create experiences within the new California
Science Center that better meet the needs of entry-level science learners
and their parents, that was the impetus behind, "Our Place," a project
recently funded by the National Science Foundation.   "Our Place,"in a
pilot phase now in temporary "discovery spaces," will open with the first
phase of the new California Science Center in 1997.  The primary objective
of the project is to demonstrate how a museum "discovery room" can provide
rich science experiences for preschool and school age children from
culturally diverse backgrounds, and at the same time be capable of guiding
parents towards more effective ways of supporting their children's science
learning.

        From our experiences with the Curator Kids Club (our YouthALIVE!
project), and several "parent workshops" we have held, we have learned that
parents are most likely to get engaged in informal educational experiences
with their children when they are given the opportunity to learn more about
their child and the child's learning experience, and when they can learn
real, replicable ways to be supportive of that process at the museum and at
home...oh yeah, it has to be fun for them as well (your point, I think).

        "Our Place" has two major activities.  The first is the development
of two,  2,250 sq. ft. Discovery Rooms, one in the exhibit hall "World of
Life" and the other in "Creative World."  These rooms, through permanent
exhibit elements, discovery boxes, live interactions, printed "take-home"
materials, and intensive computer and wet lab areas, will be designed to:

        --stimulate interest in science in entry-level learners;
        --guide parents in facilitating their children's science learning; and
        --serve as the focal points for repeat museum visits and in-depth
exploration.

        The second component is a parent education and employment program,
the Our Place Academy, that will create a paid and volunteer workforce for
the discovery rooms that:

        --understands and is comfortable with the science concepts being
presented;
        --is trained to be effective learning facilitators for different
age groups,
genders and cognitive abilities;
        --can "model" replicable approaches for other adults; and
        --is able to communicate with a culturally diverse visitor base.

       An important product of the project will be an evaluation by Dr.
John Falk of Science Learning, Inc. documenting how parents transitioned
from being inquiry learners themselves to facilitators of inquiry learning
in others.   The information learned in this study will be useful not only
to the museum field, but to the informal education community as a whole.
If you'd like more information about "Our Place," please contact Azucena
Bonillas, the project director at (213) 744-7419.

>Many children's museums' missions target children AND families as their
>audience. There are very few children's museums where children wouldn't have
>a good time but I wonder how many adults leave these places having had a
>satisfying visit of their own. Aside from watching their children have
>fun--or even getting right down on the floor and playing along with them,
>both of which work for awhile-- how do your exhibits and programs appeal to
>the "drivers" of your young audience?