Opportunities for Educators

Opportunities for Educators and Groups:
The Edison Tech Center provides a number of services for teachers, universities, and groups. The center provides a place for the full tactile learning experience as well as online material for those who need information on the past, present, and future of engineering. For online resources see our Resources Page, or the short list of teaching-ready programs below. We also have on-site resources for visiting classes.

Teacher-ready online courses:

The Tour EL - Online course for students which teaches about the 12 forms of electric light, complete with quiz questions and final test.

We have more complete online programs in development, stay tuned. For now you can see our other online reference resources on other subjects here

ON SITE RESOURCES: Visting us

How to use the center as a teacher:

Professors and High School Teachers typically visit the center ahead of time to plan what items and what part of science or engineering they will talk about. After preselecting items that will be used in demonstrations they will schedule a date/time to bring the students. The day the students arrive teachers will use the flexible presentation area to address and show the students all the items. Students may also wander the other display areas after or before the main presentation. We have a video projector, large wall mounted display screen, audio capabilities and wireless Internet which the teacher may use. See below for more details on group sizes.

Our Facilities:

For Middle and High School Levels:
The Edison Tech Center has flexible and permanent exhibit areas as well as a presentation area. The center has hosted many Middle and High School Groups over the last decade. The downtown location is easily accessible from Interstate Interstate 890 in the Capital Region.

We have two maximum capacity ratings:
For groups wishing to use the presentation area only we have a maximum capacity of 30 students + teachers/aids
For groups that would like to have the students wander freely among displays there is a maximum of 20 students.

For groups of students 11-15 years of age strict control is required by the teachers and aids. The building does have sharp objects and breakable items. There must be at least 1 aid or teacher per 6 students for this age range.

For groups of students 15-18 years of age there must be 1 aid or teacher per 10 students.

Warning: Students misbehaving, mishandling items, or venturing in closed areas may be asked to leave on the spot. Students involved in theft will be arrested promptly by the Schenectady Police. Both visible and hidden cameras monitor the display areas and we ask that this fact be made clear to students. Do to the abundance of sharp objects (raw parts and pieces of artifacts) we strongly advise that teachers/supervisors not permit anyone with a recent history of violence or mental illness that may lead to violence be allowed to visit the facility.

For University/College Students and Teachers:
Much of what the Edison Tech Center has can greatly enhance college-level learning. Union College is the most frequent user of the center, however all universities are welcome to take advantage of the full complex with its 10,000 or more artifacts representing all parts of technological development. College level students have access to a greater variety of artifacts than the general public.

For Other Groups:
The Boy Scouts of America and local old age homes have been some of the other miscellaneous groups that have enjoyed the Edison Tech Center experience.

Contact Jim Duggan or Lois Harnden about scheduling a time for your group or class.
(518) 372-8425

Contact Us Page

Photo/Video use:
Commercial entities must pay for use of photos/graphics/videos in their web pages/videos/publications
No one commercial or public is allow to alter Edison Tech Center photos/graphics/videos.

Educational Use: Students and teachers may use photos and videos for school. Graphics and photos must retain the Edison Tech Center watermark or captions and remain unmanipulated except for sizing.

Permissions - Videos: We do not email, FTP, or send videos/graphics to anyone except in DVD form. Payment is needed for this service. See our donate page for pricing, and our catalogue for a listing of videos on DVD.
Professional video production companies may get videos in data form with signed license agreements and payment at commercial rates.