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On many previous occasions the Council has been impressed by the quality and creativity of educational programs to be found within various bureaus of the Smithsonian Institution. At this meeting we confronted questions that concerned the educational programs as a whole.

Two large problems emerged from the morning discussion. The first comprehended the various programs in place throughout the Smithsonian Institution. Should they assume generally similar shapes through a centralization of SI educational services or the imposition of Institution-wide policy guidelines? The Council did not receive the information to persuade it that centralizing the education programs would make sense. We do believe, however, that further discussion of the desirability of overall guidelines would be useful, guidelines to help related bureaus (such as those dealing with arts and history) interact.

The second large question concerned the nationalizing trust involved in supplying curricular information and materials to pre-college institutions throughout the United States. While some Council members were concerned about the possible costs of Smithsonian involvement, the great importance of teacher-training on a national scale was taken to be given, and its presence as an essential part of this particular program was reassuring. Noting the fact that teachers vary so widely in skill, experience and ability, the Council felt that their testing on the use of materials with different students should be as much a part of the program as the final design of the kits themselves. Although teacher-training would take place on a smaller scale than the distribution of kits, it seemed to offer more profound long-term advantages. The Council received with interest the proposal for Smithsonian Institution collaboration with the National Academy of Sciences, seeing the link between these two national science and teaching organizations as an appropriate and progressive response to an acknowledged deficit within our national educational efforts.

One further special opportunity for curricular initiative would be within Native American communities, where there is a crucial need for improved scientific education. but both for this group, and other targets of concern, instruction in the cultural and historical context of science remains a high priority. It is hoped that ways can be found to include these subjects within the larger program.

The Council also agrees that an analysis of the audience for educational programs is essential. We learned too little of studies which have been launched in the past by the Smithsonian, and we believe that planning for this Center would benefit from a thorough and early marketing survey.

[[underlined]] Saturday afternoon, October 19th [[/underlined]]:

During the afternoon the Council's discussion of museum education centered on art and history museums. It was addressed by Smithsonian