Partnerships That Work
The Museum, The Zoo, The Community, and Kids

Produced by the Educational Programming Department

Part of the WGBH Collection
Closed captioned for the hearing impaired
Funded by the National Science Foundation in Collaboration with Children's Museum Boston

Partnerships That Work: The Museum, The Zoo, The Community, and Kids, a new 30-minute videotape and guidebook from WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, Massachusetts, funded by the National Science Foundation. The partnership between the Boston Museum of Science, The Children's Museum, Boston, The Franklin Park Zoo, Charlestown Girl's Center, Gallivan Winners Circle, and Shelburne Recreation Center, introduces kids to the excitement of science.

Educators may purchase Partnerships That Work for classroom use from:
WGBH Educational Foundation
(800) 255-9424

Constructing microscopes. Dissecting owl pellets. Mapping air currents. Building birds nests. Three of Boston's most popular science institutions get together with three community organizations to create Adventures in Community Education and Science (ACES), an exciting afterschool and summer science program that turns urban middle school kids on to science. Learn about building partnerships and developing an afterschool curriculum in a 49-minute videotape created by WGBH Educational Foundation, Boston, with support from the National Science Foundation.

Economic and social barriers often put a community's great museums and science centers beyond the reach of many young people. Partnerships That Work, a videotape and learning guide, show how Boston's Children's Museum, Museum of Science, and Franklin Park Zoo joined with three local community organizations to spark kids' interest in science, to make them feel welcome inside the museum world, to offer inspiring role models, and to bring the excitement of science back to their communities.

Partnerships That Work documents ACES' two-year experience. You'll see the program in action: watch children's initial tentativeness give way to enthusiastic participation; see how museum and community staff strive to increasingly appreciate each others' strengths and contributions. Learn from the program's triumphs, and mistakes, how to create a successful partnership in your community through planning, team-building, negotiation, and, of course, trial and error.

The videotape and guide offer a model for administrators and educators at museums, nature centers, and community agencies nationwide. Build on the strengths of your community's institutions and neighborhood organizations to expand the scientific horizons of the middle school kids who need it most.