Volunteer
At the
Adler
| Department: | Education |
| Supervisor: | Interpretation Manager /Assistant Educators |
| Objective: | Activity Cart Coordinators are at the forefront of our visitor experience and allow museum guests to learn about space science hands-on and to encourage guests to take a more in depth look at Adler's content and collections. Activity carts are interactive and are facilitated in several of our galleries. The weekday activity cart for school groups is a fun (and messy!) cratering demo describing the process and formation of impact craters on Earth using rock samples. Weekend family activity carts include launching balloon rockets, detecting invisible light, and exploring early astronomical instruments. Additionally, experienced cart coordinators will operate telescopes for our guests to observe the sun and Chicago skyline from our observation decks. |
| Responsibilities: |
• Facilitate educational activities with school groups, families and other museum visitors. • Provide connections between activity and surrounding gallery. • Welcome and greet Adler visitors. • Set up and take down activities. • Attend brief meetings with supervisor and other volunteers at start and end of shift to get oriented and debrief. • If selected, mentor incoming volunteers |
| Qualifications: |
• Willingness to work with school groups and families with young children • Comfortable conversing with both individuals and groups of various sizes • Prior knowledge or willingness to learn basic astronomy and space science concepts • Able to stand for three to four hours, bend over to childrenŐs height, push a large cart, and lift about 30 pounds • Dependable, flexible, and enthusiastic • Ability to multi-task • Dependable, flexible, and enthusiastic • Volunteer 3 hours every week on a scheduled day. • Possess a good sense of humor. |
| Training: |
• Attend one 3 hour-long Interpretation Boot Camp at the Adler. • Additional training will be on the job during regular shifts. |
| Commitment: |
• Volunteer weekly or every other weekend for 6 months
• Be available weekdays 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. or weekends 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. |
If you have any questions or want more information, please contact:
| © 2001-2010 Adler Planetarium. All rights reserved. 1300 South Lake Shore Drive • Chicago IL 60605 • 312-922-STAR (7827) |
Regular hours: Mon.-Fri. 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m., Sat./Sun. 10:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. |