The Exploratorium will create the "Outdoor Exploratorium," a 10,000-square-foot, open-air exhibit environment comprising 20 to 25 original installations. Each exhibit will allow visitors to interact directly with a variety of elements, that is water, wind, sound, light, and living things, as they exist in the natural world. One of the key components of this project will be the use of "Noticing Tours." Led by staff scientists, artists, educators, exhibit developers, and other "expert noticers," the tours will initiate a dialogue with the visitors as a starting point for exhibit development. To augment visitor learning and unify the museum's entire collection, exhibit text will relate the "Outdoor Exploratorium" experiences to exhibits. The project will culminate in a workbook for the field and two workshops for museum professionals. The Exploratorium Teacher Institute staff will develop two-week institutes that make extensive use of the "Outdoor Exploratorium." Classroom activities and inquiry-based learning experiences will be developed based on the new exhibits.
DATE:
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Peter RichardsThomas HumphreyThomas RockwellTheodore KoterwasJoyce Ma
The American Association of Botanical Gardens and Arboreta (AAGBA) requests a 24-month conference grant for a professional development workshop, "Starting Right: Team Building and Project Planning," to be presented at all six of the AAGBA regional meetings. The emphasis of this worshop is on the critical early planning stages of an informal learning project. In order to increase the professional capacity of those working in botanical gardens and arboreta, the primary goals for this workshop are to enhance the ability of institutionally-based teams to work together and to define clear goals and objectives for a project on which they are working.