[ShovelBums.Org] Summer Internship Positions with the Florida Museum of Natural History

Hello All,

I hope you are all doing well! We are beginning our search for internship applicants for Education and Public Programs at the Florida Museum of Natural History for this summer and would really appreciate your help in getting them filled! We have three types of internship positions available this year:

Discovery Room Interns

Public Programs-Education Administrative Interns

Teaching Interns

The descriptions for each will be at the end of this email. Also, please forward these on to anyone  you feel would be interested in working with us this summer. Our interns and volunteers are such an important part of our program and we are so grateful to you for helping us find such great applicants!

To Apply: Email brief cover letter and résumé to Amanda Erickson, Public Programs, aerickson@flmnh.ufl.edu. Deadline for Summer 2011 is April 10^th, or until position is filled. Electronic applications only, please.

I look forward to hearing back from you!

Thank you again,

Amanda Erickson

(Please see below)

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Amanda Erickson, MA, RPA

Education Assistant

Florida Museum of Natural History

PO Box 112710

Powell Hall on Hull Road

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL 32611-2710

(352) 273-2062

aerickson@flmnh.ufl.edu

The Florida Museum of Natural History is Florida’s state museum of natural history, dedicated to understanding, preserving, and interpreting biological diversity and cultural heritage.

The Mission of the Education Department is to develop and conduct programs for diverse audiences to provide rich learning opportunities that foster appreciation, promote inquiry, and enhance understanding of our research, collections, and exhibitions.

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Position Title: Discovery Room Intern

Hours per Week: 15 – 25, depending on credit and program requirements

Description: The Florida Museum of Natural History’s Education department is seeking interns to help run the Discovery Room, a hands-on learning and activity center open to families during the summer. Interns will work under the supervision of Public Programs Staff and will be responsible for the overall care and management of the Discovery Room.

The Discovery Room is separated into zones portraying the different ecosystems of Florida. Each zone incorporates hands-on learning and play with information about the natural habitat. The Discovery Room offers self-guided activities for families to enjoy throughout the day, as well as specific, scheduled activities. These include:

Eco-art: Natural history-related crafts.

Talking Tales: Story time with a staff member

Tree Musketeers Puppet Show: Discover nature with our forest friends.

Dr. Discovery: Child friendly presentation and activities.

Museum Choice: Museum staff will choose the activity.                                  

During summer 2011, the Discovery Room will be open daily from May 28^th until August 14^th, Monday through Saturday from 10:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m, and Sunday from 1:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Summary of Duties: Interns will be asked to perform a variety of duties involved with the general supervision and maintenance of the Discovery Room. These include:

·         Ensuring that materials are prepared for each day scheduled and that, at close, the room is tidy and ready for the next day’s activities.

·         Facilitating visitor interactions by welcoming families to the room and explaining the activities available to them.

·         Ensuring that visitors follow the posted Discovery Room rules, and do not leave their children unattended.

·         Restocking supplies and materials as needed and informing staff if materials are running low or need to be replaced. 

·         Changing out rotating materials as scheduled.

·         Leading scheduled activities within the room.

·         Developing and modifying activities in the room as needed.

Discovery Room interns will serve as a mentor for Junior Volunteers (ages 12-17) who are scheduled to assist with the room. Two to three JVs will be scheduled in shifts to help facilitate activities with visiting families. Duties involving JVs will include:

·         Modeling and encouraging positive interaction with visitors

·         Directing JVs in set-up, clean-up, stocking and maintenance of the room.

·         Supervising JVs who perform the Tree Musketeer puppet shows

·         Suggesting on-going training needs for JVs and work with the Volunteer Coordinator in implementation of such trainings.

·         Reporting issues with JVs to the Education Staff

Qualifications: Applicant should be an undergraduate or graduate student in good academic standing, with an interest in museum studies, informal education or the natural sciences. Though this is an unpaid internship, it provides a unique opportunity to experience education in an informal setting. Reference letters are provided upon request.

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Position Title: Public Programs-Education Administrative Intern

Hours per Week:  Variable, depending on credit and program requirements. Most interns will work between 10 and 20 hours a week.

Description: The Florida Museum of Natural History is seeking interns for the Public Programs division of the Education department at Powell Hall. Interns will work under the supervision of the Public Programs staff and assist with existing program implementation, research, development and evaluation, as well as administrative duties. Interns will help perform administrative duties involved with our two summer programs; Summer Camp and the Discovery Room.

Summary of Duties: Public Programs is involved in a variety of public education opportunities at the Museum. The intern will be asked to perform an array of tasks, including the following:

Assist with general Summer Camp duties. These include student drop-off and pickup at the beginning and end of each camp session, lunch hour supervision, including planning and leading of games and activities, and classroom turnover between camps.

Assist with program development which may include communication with other Museum departments and community partners via email and phone correspondence and light office duties including filing and organization, as well as preparation of crafts and activities for various Museum programs. This may involve selecting appropriate activities, making copies, cutting, etc. As well as researching components for new and innovative programming.

The Museum is always looking for ways to improve public programming and stay on the cutting edge of informal learning. Research in this area may include collecting information about other natural history and science museum programs, summarizing peer-reviewed journal articles about informal science education techniques, and enhancing components of existing programs.

Preferred Skills: Interns should have excellent written and oral communication skills, be proficient in Microsoft Word and Excel, and be able to follow current organizational systems. Intern should be goal-oriented, able to work with limited supervision, and with deadlines. Previous experience working with children and families, planning lessons, and knowledge of learning modalities and age ranges of cognitive skills are preferred.

Qualifications: Applicant should be an undergraduate or graduate student in good academic standing, with an interest in museum studies or informal science education and programming. This internship is designed for students with a wide variety of majors including education, natural sciences, community leadership, and museum studies.

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Position Title: Summer Camp Teacher

Hours per Week:  Variable, depending on credit and program requirements.

Description: The Florida Museum of Natural History’s Education Department is seeking intern teachers for our Summer Camp program. Interns will work under supervision of the Public Programs Staff and be responsible for the research, development and implementation of one to three half-day, week-long summer camp classes.

Summer Camp classes at the Florida Museum are designed for students enrolled in grades 1-6 for the 2011-2012 school year. Camps provide hands-on, minds-on opportunities to learn through activities, crafts, literature, museum resources and outdoor exploration. Each week-long camp session is half day (morning or afternoon), and has a different science or natural history-related theme. Morning sessions run from 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and afternoon sessions are 1:00 – 4:30 p.m.

Summary of Duties: This practical teaching internship requires the intern to successfully research, plan and teach one to three camp classes. Responsibilities include:

·         Research and synthesis of information about the class topic using background information and research, museum resources, and provided Curriculum Guide

·         Development of a lesson plan outlining classroom activities and a supply list with required materials

·         Implementation of developed lesson plan to a class of up to 15 students

·         Mentor 2 Junior Volunteers (ages 12-17), who act as Summer Camp Assistants

·         Overall management of classroom including supervision of cleaning duties

Preferred Skills: Interns should have excellent written and oral communication skills and be goal-oriented, able to work with limited supervision and with deadlines. Interns should also have experience working with children and families. They should have strong leadership skills and should be comfortable with the duty of classroom management. Experience with formal teaching, lesson planning, knowledge of learning modalities and age ranges of cognitive skills are preferred.

Qualifications: Applicant should be an undergraduate or graduate student in good academic standing with an interest in education or the natural sciences. Though this is an unpaid internship, it provides a unique opportunity to experience teaching in an informal setting. Reference letters are provided upon request.