Erie Canal Village Memory & ASTC Connect

ASTC logo

If you have ever gone to a science museum and looked into their memberships, you probably noticed that buying one membership allows you access to over 300 other museums. In fact, I wrote a blog article about this. The reason you can get into these other places is because they are all part of the Association of Science & Technology Centers or ASTC. ASTC is a great resource for informal science educators. They publish an inspiring magazine called Dimensions, host a big annual conference, and have some great resources on their website. I recently started checking out the ASTC Connect portion of their site, which has online workshops. The first one, called Science Center Basics is great resource for museum educators, particularly for newer workers. The workshop is described as a "self-paced tutorial" that "introduces key aspects of science center philosophy and practice." The goal is to have the student learn more about their museum and visitors, and to use this information to better understand their job. The first activity relates to thinking about the importance of museums in your own life and asks the student to write about their first museum experiment. I enjoyed this assignment and hope my memories will spark some of your own. Enjoy!

What is your first memory of a museum?

The Erie Canal Village in Rome, NY

The first museum I can remember visiting was the Erie Canal Village in Rome, NY on a 4th grade school field trip. I don’t recall the museum portion itself, but I do have some fond memories from the day. I remember walking around outside, learning about the canal locks and about how mules helped to pull the boats. Going inside a one- room school house was fascinating, and made me curious about what it would have been like to be a student there. My mother volunteered to help with the trip, too, and I loved that. She let me buy a toy train whistle from the gift shop and I just thought it was the coolest thing. That wooden whistle ended up in a drawer of old things. Years later I would find it now and then accidentally, blow a couple toots, and remember how excited I was when I first got it. My favorite part though, had to be the Erie Canal song. I don’t recall if we learned it before, during, or after the trip, but that song has always stuck with me. I just looked up the website for the Erie Canal Village and was glad to see that they have the lyrics prominently posted on the site. Even today the song will pop into my head. A year or two ago I bought my father a Bruce Springsteen DVD, and would you believe it, it had a performance of him singing the Erie Canal song. One doesn’t always realize the historic importance of the places you live, but if Springsteen is singing about it, then it’s got to be important. I only visited the Erie Canal Museum that one time, but what I experienced there is still a part of my life today.

Science Museum Memberships- A Great Deal

In my last post I mentioned that museum memberships have great value and can save you money.  I would like to expand on that by using as an example the Family Membership at The MOST in Syracuse, NY (where I work).  This article doesn't address the importance of visiting science museums, or why supporting museums is important; it's purpose is to explain why science museum memberships are such a good deal.

A Family Membership at the MOST costs $79.00.  It includes 2 adults and all dependent children living at home.  This membership lasts a year and has several major selling points:

-  Free Admissions to the MOST
-  Free planetarium shows at the MOST
-  Free Admissions to over 300 science centers worldwide
- 10% discount at the gift shop
- Discounts on IMAX tickets and birthday parties
- Free subscription to the MOST newsletter
- Special invitations to members only preview events

Let's talk about "Free admissions to the MOST."  Sure $79 might seem like a lot to spend on one visit to the MOST, but let's imagine that we are a family of four (2 adults/2 children).  One trip to the museum, if we buy only general admission, will cost us $30.  That means that within the year if our family visits only three times, we will already have paid for the membership and started saving money.  And if our family visits every other month, than we save $101.  In addition, if we had seen a planetarium show during all 6 visits, we would have saved another $48.

Museum Prices as of 12/21/2011
(click to enlarge)

I think the greatest value of the membership is the free admissions you get to all the other science centers in the ASTC Membership Passport Program.  ASTC is the Association of Science & Technology Centers.  It is an international group of more than 300 science centers that offer reciprocal memberships.  You can check out their website to learn which centers participate.

Please click on the table to the right to enlarge the image and read the prices for some participating science centers.  I chose all these centers because they are within a day's drive from Syracuse.  With my membership I can visit any of these places and not have to worry about paying to get in.  If you do have a membership to the MOST or any of these places, I recommend checking some of the others out.  Every science center offers a different experience.  If you check the prices, you may  be surprised to see that two of the places, the Boston Museum of Science and NYC's Intrepid both cost more for a family of four than the MOST's family membership itself.  Let me repeat that:  A Family Membership for a family of four costs less than the price of one visit to some of the other science museums that are within a days drive, and can be visited for free with the membership.

If you value visiting science centers enough to visit yours a few times a year or check one out while on vacation, than a membership may be a great deal for you. Or maybe a great present for someone you know.

If you work at a science center, please remember to talk to your visitors about memberships.  You are helping your visitors to save money, while they also support the museum.