ABOUT FIRST HAND LEARNING, INC.

First Hand Learning, Inc. promotes firsthand learning, which is learning from direct experience.

Firsthand learning empowers people by providing them with opportunities to figure things out for themselves, to believe in the analytical abilities of their own minds, and to connect with the world around them.

Firsthand learning arises from the learner’s innate curiosity and the desire to investigate real phenomena. It requires close engagement with the immediate environment.

Firsthand learning generates questions that focus subsequent investigations. It invites learners to gather and record their observations, to analyze and interpret them, and to arrive at provisional answers.

Firsthand learning involves communication of the results of this investigative process. Sharing evidence and discussing findings with others underscores that learning is a social process.

First Hand Learning, Inc. is a New York nonprofit corporation founded in 1998 to promote inquiry-based teaching, learning from direct experience, and closer links between cultural institutions and schools. To this end, FHL designs and implements curriculum materials and professional development programs that emphasize direct, firsthand experiences with natural and cultural phenomena. The organization is an outgrowth of the work of the former Center for Science Education at the Buffalo Museum of Science where several of FHL’s projects originated.

Mission
The mission of First Hand Learning, Inc. is to promote the process of scientific inquiry as a vehicle for learning. We believe that most learners acquire and retain new knowledge most effectively when it derives from firsthand experience. Such learning makes people think for themselves rather than relying solely on the authority of teachers and textbooks. Our materials and programs are designed to assist classroom teachers and informal educators to design programs and pedagogical environments that promote learning from direct experience and original sources. By taking part in these programs, participants learn about the processes of scientific inquiry. Learning to think scientifically is the primary goal of our curriculum materials and our professional development experiences for teachers. At FHL we call this firsthand learning.

First Hand Learning Staff
Peter Dow, President
David Hartney, Managing Director
Patricia McGlashan, Director of Curriculum Development
Kristen Gasser, Director of Publications
Michelle DeFrancesco, Manager of Operations
Benjamin O’Brien, Art Director/Production Manager
Richard Rotolo, Science Materials Center Manager
Bill Rogers, Director of Out-of-School Programs
Marilyn Sozanski, Science Firsthand Project Assistant
Delores Dahn-Anderson, Science Materials Center Librarian
Dianne Johnson, Coordinator - Project ASK

Board of Directors
Peter Dow, President
Kristen Gasser, Vice President
David Hartney, Treasurer
Sam Alessi, Secretary
Kevin Kegler
James Magavern, Esq.
Patricia McGlashan
Richard Sherrill
Cara Stillman
Karen Worth

Object Lessons National Advisory Committee
& Object Lessons Evaluators