Aimee Davis

Aimee Davis is the director of learning at the Field Museum in Chicago, USA. She worked as a classroom teacher for 10 years before switching gears and starting her museum career first at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, and then joining the Field in 2015. In her role, she helped launch and now oversees the Discovery Squad and the Grainger Science Hub, projects at the Field designed to support inquiry-based and hands-on science education. She is also a teacher and improv coach at The Second City, a comedy theater.

​

This interview was conducted in February 2020 and has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Tell me a little bit about your origin story. How did you end up working at the Field Museum?

 

“I was a classroom teacher for about 10 years, and as a hobby I also did some work at The Second City, which is a comedy theater. Through learning improv at The Second City, I met some people who worked at the Museum of Science and Industry and they were looking for somebody who had a background in education and also improv. Through those connections, I was encouraged to apply and ended up with an offer from the Museum of Science and Industry to work on their public program development from an education perspective, and then training of their four staff from the improv perspective. So without much of a big plan to leave teaching, I decided to just give it a try, and I went to Science and Industry. I really loved working in a museum, but Science and Industry wasn’t quite the right fit for me. 

 

But the Field Museum, which is just a few miles down the road, was looking to start having public floor programming, which was something they hadn’t done before. They were looking for someone with a similar skill set, plus now I had some time working in a museum to add to that resume, so I got hired to launch their public floor initiative. I created and launched the Discovery Squad, which is hands-on science through carts, using specimens. The carts have a theme and each tell a story from the research and collections we have here at the Field, and we have a small exhibit space that’s run by Education that switches content regularly. Each exhibit in the space switches every three months on a split rotation, so every three months there’s a new exhibit in that space. It’s always staffed by an educator who’s doing a hands-on activity to give background knowledge, context, and appreciation for what’s inside the cases of the exhibit. 

 

I had those projects for about four and a half years, and about six months ago the director of our department resigned to go to the Smithsonian. I was interim director, and then about three months ago it turned into a permanent position, so I’m now the director of learning here at the Field, overseeing my old job, as well as our overnight camps, all kinds of registration-based programs, teacher professional development, field trips, partnerships, and things like that.” 

 

What do you love about your job?

 

“Most people don’t realize that the Field Museum is more than what you see behind the glass when you come in, that we’re a world-renowned research institution. We have over 100 scientists constantly on expeditions, and in the labs here at the museum, making scientific discoveries, finding new species. And then we have over 40 million specimens in our collection and less than 1 percent is out for the public to view. So my job is to find out ways to get people to be more aware of these things, to be inspired by things, and that’s pretty cool. There’s a wow moment just in the idea that we’re a research institution. There’s so many interesting stories to tell about what happens here behind the scenes, and finding new audiences and always having new content to share is really exciting.”

 

Do you see yourself as a science communicator?

 

“Yes, definitely. We have to do it in a lot of different ways because our audience is so broad. We have everything from three year olds to senior citizens, but what we’re doing is communicating science, particularly Field Museum science, to all of those audiences regularly.” 

 

You’ve been an improv coach for a long time. How do those skills and interests relate to your work at the Field?

 

“Successful improvisation is successful communication — it is listening and responding to what has been said, as well as reading energy. When I was working on the Grainger Science Hub and the Discovery Squad carts, that was key in training staff and volunteers. We practiced not making assumptions and listening to the visitors to respond to them each as individuals, not reciting scripted material to them. In addition, reading the energy of visitors makes for more comfortable and successful interactions.  In my current position, being a good communicator is also really important, as I speak about the museum and the work of the Learning Center regularly to a variety of audiences.” 

 

How has your experience as a classroom teacher also translated into this work?

 

“As a classroom teacher, the approach to learning is what’s translated most for me. For example, recognizing that people are more excited to learn about things that they have some type of reference point or background knowledge or personal connection to. I feel like that drives a lot of the work that I oversee or that I do, thinking what is that hook for different people and how do we activate it. Also, getting people to ask questions and think critically about things, to not just look at something but to think about what they're looking at. I think those types of teaching skills come through a lot in the daily work that I do.”

 

You’re one of the co-chairs of the Field Museum Women in Science Steering Committee. What is it and what does it mean to you?

 

“We have different types of events and opportunities for young women scientists. Right now, we have a monthly lecture series on the first Monday of every month. We have a different woman scientist talk about not just their work, but their story of being a woman in the field and doing their work which is really interesting. In October, we do a mixer where we have a whole panel of women scientists. We usually get about 100 or so mostly students from the area that come to that event. We do internships and fellowships for high school through postdocs, and we’re just looking to find more opportunities to create networks for women scientists to have a support system and also to mentor and inspire young women scientists.” 

 

What prompted you to take on that leadership role as a co-chair?

 

“Someone was stepping off the committee and was looking to fill their own spot doing programming, so they asked if I’d be interested in taking their role on the programming committee. It’s just a really great group. Particularly the work with young women, the internships and talks were of interest to me. I took on that role and over time with experience and particularly stepping into the director role, it seemed to make sense. So when the committee asked if I would step in as co-chair, I was excited about the opportunity to step in with my other co-chair, who is also fairly new. We’re interested in thinking of some new ideas and trying some new directions with the group that maybe hasn’t been explored before.”

 

What types of internships are available?

 

“You name it. We have internships in exhibitions, there’s internships in HR, there’s internships through the learning center. Most of the internships are with the scientists, for obvious reasons, but all over the building we post internships. They’re all listed on our website. Most of the internships post between January and April, and they are on the careers page on the Field website.” 

 

What would you go back in time and tell past-you? What advice do you wish you’d been given earlier on, that you might give yourself?

 

“My advice to myself would be not to worry about the end point but just to enjoy the journey. When I first graduated from college, working at a museum never really even occurred to me and it’s been mostly just taking advantage of opportunities that come my way. When I left the classroom teaching position and went to the Museum of Science and Industry, it wasn’t a good fit for me. It seemed like the biggest mistake I ever made – but really stepping back and thinking back and saying, you know, at least I was willing to acknowledge that I liked the work and wanted to try and find a new job in the same field before I went back to teaching. Even though I didn't love that job, I learned so much in that job. Just looking at everything as a learning experience even if it’s not something you’re enjoying at the time. All of these things were definitely stepping stones for me.”

 

What were some of the things you learned from that job even though it wasn’t the right fit?

 

“For me, it was the first non-teaching job that I had had and that’s a huge difference to go from a job where you are in front of a class and you’re in full control of your day every day. You’re in charge of planning the day and you maybe can't go to the bathroom every time that you want to, but generally you are in control of what happens every day. To go from a job like that to a job in a massive museum, where you’re somewhat of an entry level and you have zero control over your day. Whether it’s the visitors or the facilitators that I was training or my bosses, all of a sudden there’s all these things being thrown at you. Your school is you and your assistant principal and principal and maybe a superintendent, to over 100 jobs around you and it can be extremely overwhelming to leave the classroom. It takes a lot to get used to a new environment, a new pace of work, new types of demands, and significantly less control of your day-to-day.”

 

What was so good about the Field Museum when you transitioned there?

 

“Part of it was when I worked at the Museum of Science and Industry, I worked in a department called guest experience. They had an education department, but my position was not in that and I think that was part of why it wasn't a good fit for me. I was still coming from an educator perspective, and they were thinking more like the amusement park of science, more of a visitor experience perspective and the education was coming secondary. When I moved to the Field I was in the education department and it just felt like the mission and the goals of the department aligned more with the goals that I had.”

 

How would you frame the museum to someone who has never been? Why should people come?

 

“The new branding is that we’re the scientific force, but you almost have to look for that when you come into the museum. A lot of the work that I do with the science stuff and Discovery Squad is pushing forward some of that science. The best recommendation I can have for people that are coming to the Field Museum is to stop and talk to the people. We get so used to going into stores where people are like, can I help you, can I talk to you, can I show you something, that a lot of people are turned off by that. But particularly with this rebranding and being a scientific force, most of that is coming through by stopping and talking to people who are holding the objects or standing in the exhibits or doing activities related to the exhibits. The Field Museum is an amazing place full of culture and science. It holds amazing treasures in its collections. You should visit the Field to learn about the past, look more critically at the present, and think about a better future. Stop and talk to the educators and volunteers that you see to learn about what happens behind the scenes, and stop in the Grainger Science Hub.

Plus don't miss the dinosaurs, mummies, and gem hall.”

 

What is up-and-coming for you that you’re excited about?

 

“Our CEO has put in for his retirement, he’ll be retiring this summer, so we’ll be getting a new CEO. To me that’s really exciting because a CEO’s vision is a big piece of what drives what we do and how we’re viewed, so one of the things I’m really excited about is finding out who that person is and where they came from and what’s their experience and their passion. We have some really interesting things coming, particularly with my department. Being only in this position for a few months, we’re rethinking who we are as a department and we’re excited to be relaunching our adult programming in the next few months and trying to expand the many communities outside of the museum that we work with. I’m more excited about some of the things we’re doing inside of our department and also curious and excited to see what our new leader brings with them.”

 

Is there anything I didn’t ask you that you’d like to share?

 

“I think it’s just an interesting time for science in general and it’s exciting to be a part of an institution that is not afraid to voice their support for science and for climate change and for educating our future. It’s a cool place to work, for sure.”

​

Read more interviews.