Internship

What has six legs, a body like an armored tank, and spent all summer in the Curriculum Development offices at the Smithsonian Science Education Center? If you answered roly polys, you would be correct! However, the roly polys weren’t the only new addition to the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) this summer. I also spent my summer as an intern at the SSEC, and it isn’t one I’m going to forget. My experience at the SSEC was unique. I learned a lot and spent time doing new things.

I spent the spring of 2012 like most soon-to-be college graduates-- trying to evaluate what life after college lectures and late night study groups actually entailed. A full-time "grown-up" job? Getting a Master's Degree (in who knows what, it's just the thing to do nowadays, right)? Or, what was rapidly becoming more of a reality, being unemployed with a liberal arts degree in my back pocket. As the question, "what do you plan on doing after you graduate?" became a daily inquiry from friends and family, I was frantically searching for anything that sparked my interest.

Are you interested in science? Are you good at things? Do you like to work with nice, smart people? Is money useful for you in your pursuit of goods and services? Yes? Oh good, we're looking for you!

The NSRC's Investing in Innovation (i3) initiative supports and promotes high quality, inquiry-based science education programs and helps establish infrastructures to sustain those programs for decades to come. This initiative studies the effects of the NSRC's LASER Model in grades 1-8 in three regions: North Carolina, Northern New Mexico, and Houston Independent School District.

Washington, DC-based interns will be based at NSRC's DC offices and may be asked to travel to one or more regional sites to assist with summer workshops.