General Summary of Job Duties
The B&O Railroad Museum seeks an organized, creative, and energetic candidate for the position of Education Specialist for STEAM and Sensory Inclusive Learning. Working closely with the Director of Education, the candidate will research, develop, and implement creative museum educational initiatives and programs, primarily focused on science, engineering, and sensory-inclusive programs. The museum’s educational offering reflect our mission and are centered on the themes of railroad history, transportation, and innovation. The Education specialist will support our group and school field trip program for our younger learners – primarily in the toddler through Elementary school ages. Our field trip program serves over 5,000 students annually. We also maintain a respected and robust series of programing for children in the neuro-diverse community and we aim to expand these programs. The education specialist should be a creative person who enjoys developing new programs, scaling existing programs, working with and supporting neuro-diverse communities, contributing to the museum’s educational content, a passion for the sciences and/or technology, and supporting teachers with their classroom objectives.
Qualifications, Skills, and Experience:
A Bachelor of Arts or Science degree in education, special education, science/engineering, museum studies, or another related field is required. A minimum of 2 years’ experience working full-time in formal or informal education, including the designing and delivery of quality education programs for students with diverse backgrounds, ages, and interests. Priority will be given to candidates with experience with the neuro-diverse community. If you find that you possess much of the required skills below, we encourage you to apply.
Required skills:
- Ability to deliver quality education programs to diverse learning populations of all ages, younger learners in particular.
- A passion to develop inclusive programming for youth of all learning types.
- Experience in the Science fields, either teaching or otherwise. Excited about learning new concepts and teaching the connections between STEM and history.
- Experience working with children with special needs, particularly, students from the neuro-diverse community.
- Determination to create community partners and build relationships with stakeholders.
- Strong communication and interpersonal skills
- Excellent organizational skills
- Creativity and desire to craft museum content with strong educational goals.
- Ability to work well with groups as well as work effectively on independent projects.
- Ability to work professionally and respectfully with museum guests, volunteers, and interns of all backgrounds and ages.
- Computer skills including Microsoft Office, Zoom, email, and web-based research.
- Ability to pass background check.
Duties:
This position is one of two education specialists in our Education Department. While we value collaboration and teamwork, this position is primarily focused on: (1) developing STEAM programming for all grade levels, (2) developing and expanding our Sensory Programs, and (3) implementing educational programs from grades Pre-K – 4th grade.
- Facilitates hands-on workshops and tours to visiting student and adult groups, with a primary focus on grades Prek-4th grade. Sometimes acts as contact for greeting and introducing groups to the museum.
- Maintain and expand our sensory friendly programs and summer camp to ensure our neuro-diverse visitors are supported while at the museum. This is both ensuring their everyday experience is good as well as implementing targeted programs just for this community.
- Develop and implement STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) programming for youth of all learning types and all age range groups, including curriculum-based tours and hands-on workshops.
- Facilitate youth literacy and educational programs for a wide range of grade levels and specialty programs, including toddler story time and Scouting programs (Girl Scouts, BSA)
- Collaborates with the curatorial team to research and develop educational content and programming for the museum.
- Contributes to the development of in-person, virtual, and self-guided tours, and experiences for visitors of all ages.
- Assist the Education Director in fostering relationships with stakeholder interest groups and partner agencies, as well as with outreach to state and local educators.
- Be available for occasional weekend programming (1-2 weekend programs per month). The museum is a hybrid workplace with employees expected to work on-site with the opportunity to work remote at their supervisor’s discretion.
To Apply
Please apply to SHughes@borail.org with a resume and cover letter expressing interest. Applications will be processed and review on a rolling basis until the position is filled.
