"Their lives became these people's lives. Across the board, in 

 all their classes, whatever they were working on was tied to 

 Native Americans." Examples she gave were the use of 

 geometry to design tepees and igloos; the use of food and 

 culture as the basis of essays and poetry; and science teaching 

 focused on Native American agricultural strategies. 



This is modern learning at its best — active and 

 imaginative. These students are engaged in their learning and, 

 as a result, are invested in it. They make observations, see 

 connections, and find meaning for themselves. Like the 

 curators they resemble, they conduct research and then choose 

 ways to communicate their discoveries to others. It is an 

 encouraging start to an experiment we are watching closely to 

 determine long-term educational benefits. 



The Museum Magnet Schools project is one of a number 

 presided over by the Smithsonian's Office of Education, led by 

 its energetic director Ann Bay. It reflects not only the 

 Institution's commitment to object-based and 

 interdisciplinary education but also our commitment to 

 partnerships as the foundation of all our educational efforts. 

 Whether working in Washington or elsewhere around the 

 nation, Bay's office emphasizes community-based outreach. 

 The Smithsonian goes to communities that invite us to work 

 with them, building bridges between local museums and 

 schools. This was the theme of one of our most valuable 150th 

 anniversary projects, a national teleconference jointly 

 sponsored with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, 

 which presented models of successful museum-school 

 partnerships. Our magnet school program is new, but another 

 formal attempt to test the value of museum -based education 

 dates to 1988 and the establishment of our own Smithsonian 

 Early Enrichment Centet (SEEC). The founding board 

 envisioned this program as a national model, establishing 

 museums as learning centers for preschool children. I'll let the 

 center's director, Sharon Shaffer, describe a typical day: 



Children are fascinated by things that go, such as bikes, 

 cars, trucks, and planes. A group of three-year-olds may 

 listen to the story "Curious George Rides a Bike." A 

 museum visit sets the stage for expanding their 

 understanding of bicycles as the children search for a 

 bike that is just like George's. As the hunt develops, the 

 children view a unicycle, a tandem bike, and an antique 

 bicycle. They discuss the size and number of wheels on 

 each bike and, as they observe wooden wheels and rubber 

 tires, consider why some wheels look different from 

 others. They want to know about spokes and chains and 

 gears and handlebars." The experience continues back in 

 the classroom as children listen to the old-time song, "A 

 Bicycle Built for Two," pretend to pedal around the 

 room, and create collages of bicycles. 



A recent analysis of five years of test data shows that 

 children participating in the SEEC program exceeded expected 

 achievement in all areas. Two-thirds of SEEC preschoolers score 

 in the 99th percentile in nationally normed science tests upon 

 completion of the program. The application of the SEEC 

 curriculum, known as Museum Magic, outside the Smithsonian 

 was tested in the fall of 1997 in Cleveland through an 

 arrangement with University Circle, Inc., in collaboration with 

 five preschools and seven cultural institutions. 



No report on the Smithsonian's new strategies for the 

 "diffusion of knowledge" would be complete without an 

 electronic dimension. There are those who see electronic outteach 

 as a threat to direct people-to-people interaction. I am not one of 

 them. At the Smithsonian, we see successful electronic 

 communication as built on human connections. The more we 

 share our resources electronically, the more we can be of service to 

 our many publics and to the educational goals we all share. 



One of my first priorities as Secretary was the creation in 

 1995 of a World Wide Web site, which has given many 

 Americans easy access to a range of our collections and fields 

 of expertise. More recently, my colleagues have created 

 experimental electronic programs that will invite the richest 

 possible interaction between Smithsonian resources and the 

 needs of our nation's classrooms. Among the most remarkable 

 of these is the Natural Partners Initiative, led by the National 

 Museum of Natural History in close partnership with the 

 National Zoological Park and the Smithsonian Environmental 

 Research Center and, outside the Smithsonian, the National 

 Aeronautics and Space Administration's Stennis Space Center, 

 Mississippi State University, the Council for Great City 

 Schools, and many other partners now and to come. This 

 initiative has already begun to benefit classrooms as far from 

 the Smithsonian's home base in Washington as Alabama, 

 California, Florida, Iowa, Mississippi, North Carolina, 

 Tennessee, and Wyoming. This creative new program has 

 been designed to enliven the way science is taught. It will 

 electronically link scientific and educational institutions, 

 technical experts, teachers, and firsthand experiences in a local 

 classroom setting. The program uses state-of-the-art 

 technologies to enable live two-way videoconferencing 

 between Smithsonian content experts and students and 

 teachers wherever they are situated, as well as virtual tours of 

 exhibits, links to remote Smithsonian research sites, and 

 teacher training and enhancement conferences, among a 

 wealth of strategies. In the words of its founders, the Natural 

 Partners Initiative will "allow educators to become immersed 

 in content that was previously very difficult to access. It will 

 further support those teachers in using inquiry-based 

 learning. Natural Partners would like to see every classroom 

 become a museum." 



So would we all. 



