Who writes the words in museums and science centres? The words are everywhere: on the walls, in the guide books, in their newsletters, blog posts, and marketing materials, in the visitor activities and kids’ clubs, and in the audio guides and press releases. And that’s just the stuff the public sees. Behind the scenes there are funding requests to write, reports, journal papers, and things like that.
Sci/Why wanted to know what it was like to work on those materials, so I interviewed three writers in Canada and the USA to find out. You an read it on the Sci/Why blog.
Writers Interviewed
- Sara Scharf edits paleontology for materials at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada.
- Maggie Goodman worked at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry in the USA.
- Kimberly Moynahan works on exhibits for the likes of the Ontario and Saskatchewan science centres in Canada. She is a freelance writer with over 25 years of professional writing experience including educational material, museum and science centre exhibits, and web copy. Her creative writing focuses on the natural sciences and her work has appeared in Zoomorphic, Earthlines, The Center for Humans and Nature, and in Scientific American’s Best Science Online. Find her at her blog Endless Forms Most Beautiful, on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Resources Mentioned
- school curriculum (available online by province)
- Next Generation Science Standard
- science vocabulary by grade
Do you remember an exhibit whose writing really stood out? Did you ever think about being on that creative team? Did you learn something when writing an exhibit that you’d like to share? Leave a comment and tell us about it.
