National Science Foundation and OLLI 
The National Resource Center (NRC) of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes (OLLI) network was the proud recipient of a 2009 National Science Foundation (NSF) planning grant. This grant enabled the NRC to produce a proposal to NSF for “Full Scale Development” of a virtual Science Education Center for the Third Age (SECTA). If funded, the SECTA will establish partnerships with science centers and universities and link them to the national network of OLLIs. The goal of SECTA is to encourage more programming for older adults in science, technology, engineering, and math at science centers and museums, OLLIs and other Third Age learning organizations.
The SECTA will provide a learning resource for “informal science educators” in museums, zoos, aquaria, botanical gardens and other centers, as well as providing stimulating learning opportunities for older adults. The following projects were exciting pilot studies that six OLLI and science center partnerships completed with funding from the NSF planning grant. These projects helped define how SECTA will inspire future projects. We will hear from NSF about further funding sometime in Spring 2011. Meanwhile, we know you will find great ideas here:
The Physics of Cycling and Chemistry in the Culinary Laboratory
OLLI at the University of Montana and spectrUM
Robots and Robotics
OLLI at the University of Pittsburgh, OLLI at Carnegie Mellon University and the Carnegie Science Center
Lunch Break Science and Environmental Education
OLLI at the University of Richmond, the Science Museum of Virginia and the VCU Rice Center for Environmental Life Sciences
Vital Signs:Invasive Species Monitoring
OLLI at the University of Southern Maine and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute
Green Architecture and Engineering
OLLI at CSU East Bay and the Exploratorium
Robotics, Nanotechnology and DaVinci Models
OLLI at Southern Oregon University and ScienceWorks
To learn more about the National Resource Center and SECTA please contact Kali Lightfoot.
Credits for images on the right starting from the top:
1. © Gulf of Maine Research Institute
2.
© Photo by Amy Snyder, Exploratorium
3. © OLLI at Southern Oregon University
4. © OLLI at the University of Montana
5.
© Photo by Amy Snyder, Exploratorium
