Laurie Giarratani
Director of Learning & Community, Carnegie Museum of Natural History
About Me
Hi! I'm Laurie Giarratani, Director of Learning at Carnegie Museum of Natural History which is located in Pittsburgh, PA. My work focuses on building relationships that help people connect their interests and experience to natural history. I work with a very talented team at the museum to integrate these perspectives as we work to make the museum a more inclusive learning space and active community partner. I did not expect to end up working in a museum or to be immersed in the science of natural history. I spent a lot of time outdoors growing up and was very curious about patterns in nature. The educational pathways that opened up for me were in molecular biology, but after an early career at a lab bench, I realized that I was mostly in it because I love learning. I've been very fortunate since then to find different job opportunities that focus on helping people learn. One of the things I love about working in natural history is that we focus on the intersections between science, nature, learning and community. Our collections, research, exhibitions and programs create opportunities to examine what the world was like in the past, how that record of the past can help us understand the present and also imagine many possible futures. I get to work on learning in a very reciprocal way, inviting wider audiences to engage with the museum, while helping the museum learn from their perspectives.
Focus of current FEW-Nexus-based education work
The mission of Carnegie Museum of Natural History is to deepen wonder and advance understanding of our natural world—past and present—in order to embrace responsibility for our collective future. In addition to providing a wide range of learning experiences and programs, we actively seek opportunities to work with wider communities to identify ways that scientific data, research or inquiry can be used to ground understanding of issues and options for decision making to support ecosystem and community health.
Our work in this area has focused largely on climate change communication. The Climate and Rural Systems Partnership (CRSP), is a research practice partnership that supports the development of a learning network in Western Pennsylvania to connects educators, scientists, and community leaders with the goal of increasing regional capacity to use scientific information and community knowledge to inform transdisciplinary problem-solving on civic issues.
CRSP brings an inclusive approach to discussion of socio-scientific issues in a region rich with natural resources, and full of diverse communities that face challenges and opportunities posed by resource extraction. We have been in a unique position to collaboratively develop innovative learning strategies for civic engagement around Anthropocene issues like climate change and the recent expansion of petrochemical development for the plastics industry. CRSP has been cultivating relationships with rural audiences and works with community leaders to improve strategies that support discussion about socio-scientific topics.
A cross-disciplinary team leads this initiative, with Carnegie Museum of Natural History providing expertise in interpretation and ecological science, the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out of School Environments providing expertise in learning research, and rural Hubs centered at Powdermill Nature Reserve and the Mercer County Conservation District providing expertise in environmental education, conservation, and engagement with rural communities. The Hubs coordinate professional development workshops, collaborative design sessions, and community gatherings that bring local stakeholders together to examine and adapt existing resources, including environmental science data and climate change education tools, to local issues. These activities are structured through a Research Practice Partnership.
Our approach to climate dialogue in CRSP uses a framework that starts conversations around topics of relevance to local communities, then makes connections to climate change that examine how individual experiences connect to larger social and ecological systems. We use approaches that invite participation, are focused on climate solutions and actions, and make space to examine the range of feelings people have around these topics and outlooks for the future. We have not been using Food-Energy-Water nexus as a focus, but these topics are all essential and integrate into the issues that our community partners center, which include farming, outdoor recreation, intergenerational care for land and communities.
FEW-Nexus-based education experience, expertise and interests
I bring expertise in building relationships with community partners and working with them to collaboratively develop learning experiences. In our current research practice partnerships we provide feedback to our research partners about how to make academic frameworks more relevant to practitioners and wider public audiences.
I need to learn more about the FEW-Nexus to understand whether the case studies we are working on with CRSP would fit the criteria, but if they do one possibility is sharing the FEW-Nexus perspective with our partners as we shape our next steps with resource development and activities with CRSP network members.
Another possible opportunity for case-based learning is through the development of narrative frameworks for exhibition and programming at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Audience research has indicated that both current museum visitors and wider audiences of non-visitors are interested in topics that connect the past, present, and future; focus on local nature, culture, and community; and that they are also open to learning about climate change. We are currently examining a wide range of possibilities for how to interpret natural history throughout the museum experience and the integrated look at food, energy and water seems consistent with audience interests.
We would need research collaborators who are open to working in partnership to find pathways to shared work that are mutually beneficial between the museum, community partners and the researchers.
Publications, presentations, and other references
- https://carnegiemnh.org/educator/crsp/