Informal educators get a powerful new way to speak their mind and boost their skills

Few elements of our culture are as firmly established in the 21st-century Western zeitgeist as the fact that teachers are underappreciated and poorly paid. That goes double for informal educators—those who work outside the confines of diploma- or degree-granting institutions. In the realm of science, informal educators can be found at museums, zoos, aquariums, botanical gardens, planetariums, and other science centers. Many of them work part-time or volunteer, and the rate of turnover is high.