Week 3

This week I finished my curriculum guide and began reading some of the exhibit guides to learn more about the museum I will be working in all summer. This way, if a camper asks me something about an exhibit, there's a better chance that I can answer it. I am enjoying this too because this was one of the reasons I was excited to work at a museum this summer...to learn a lot about things I did not previously know about.

I also spent a little bit of time cleaning up the Discovery Room at the museum. This is a fun, hands-on room where kids can explore and play with an array of scientific objects and "toys." It contains things like shells, a fossil digging section, a wind-tunnel, and a lot more. Amanda (my supervisor) said that when I am not directly helping with the camps one of my jobs will be to hang out in the Discovery Room to make sure everything is running smoothly and to interact with the kids who are exploring. I am very excited about doing this, because I thoroughly enjoy working with kids in situations like that where they are playing and learning and having a good time. This will also be good practice for informal science teaching.

First Couple Days of Work at the Museum

Hey everyone!

I am Max Sommer, fourth year Geography major and UFTeach minor. I have a lot of experience with kids both through volunteering with UFTeach and coaching basketball, and I am excited to get more good experience this summer through this internship. 

Yesterday and today were my first couple days working at the museum. Waking up early was definitely different for me…I am usually someone who enjoys sleeping til noon and wasting half my day and now I am working the 8am-noon shift every weekday at the museum. It is good for me though, it makes me feel like a productive, real person.

At the museum my job so far has been to write Curriculum Guides for the summer camps that will be starting in June. These are guides to teach the camps, with background information, learning objectives, and recommended activities.  I am so glad that I am doing this internship after I have completed a few UFTeach courses, because it is similar to what we have to do when writing lesson plans and if I did not have that experience, I would surely be lost.

Everything at the museum has gone well so far, thankfully. I enjoy the people I work with and the work I am doing is interesting. I also enjoy just walking around and seeing all the exhibits. It has been a very positive start and I'm excited to continue!