May & June in Review
SSEC’s 40th! On May 6, 2025, SSEC’s Lapp-Keiser Director, Dr. Carol O’Donnell, and colleagues celebrated 40 years of excellence in Science Education. The all-day extravaganza began at NMAAHC for an introductory morning of hands-on learning with close friends of the Center participating with staff as they engaged school groups in a set of SSEC hands-on learning experiments. This then spilled into a wonderfully warm afternoon of STEAM tours across the Smithsonian, with a huge thank you to NMNH and NZCBI for their expertise in leading the tours. The night concluded in style with a formal reception held at NMNH with friends of the SSEC, both old and new, joining the SSEC Board and staff in celebration. Special remarks were provided by Under Secretary for Education Dr. Monique Chism, SSEC Advisory Board Chair Terry Mazany, and Founding SSEC Director Emeritus Dr. Douglas M. Lapp and his wife, SSEC Board Chair Anne Keiser. Guests received copies of SSEC’s newly released report: “40 Years of Transformation.” This is only one of several events SSEC hopes to hold this year as it celebrates 40 years of transforming K-12 science education in schools.
Field trip to MCI!: To discuss potential collaboration in STEAM education, SSEC Lapp-Keiser Director Dr. Carol O’Donnell and Heidi Gibson, manager of SSEC’s Global Goals Series, visited the Museum Conservation Institute (MCI) to learn about MCI’s specialized technical collection research and conservation for all Smithsonian museums and collections. SSEC staff met with MCI’s Director, Sanchita Balachandran and MCI staff, who combine their knowledge of materials and the history of technology with state-of-the-art instrumentation and scientific techniques to provide technical research studies and interpretation of art, as well as anthropological and historical objects. SSEC toured MCI’s collections’ storage facilities and toured several of MCI’s 9 labs with the goal of exploring ways SSEC and MCI can collaborate to advance STEAM education nationally and globally.
International School of Science Education in Heidelberg! On June 17th 2025, Director Carol O’Donnell traveled to Heidelberg, Germany to attend the International School of Science Education summit. Carol’s talk, titled Enhancing Cross-National Collaboration Among Youth, Teachers, and Scientists: Building Transdisciplinary Emergent Networks for Impact was given at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory to a broad assembly of international experts in science education. Carol’s talk focused on SSEC’s Network for Emergent Socio-Scientific Thinking (NESST). Housed at Smithsonian Science Education Center, NESST is a global network comprised of youth, educators, and scientists interested in transforming STEM education for a more sustainable future. Committed to thinking differently through the lens of emergence and complexity, NESST reimagines education for life on a sustainable planet.
