The Hansen Planetarium proposes the creation, writing, and production of a 50-minute star theatre program, Cosmic Catastrophes: A Planet At Risk?, aimed at informally educating over a million individuals regarding the vulnerability of our Earth. The further production of four interactive exhibits is planned to accompany the program. This program will be marketed and distributed at a nominal charge to 250 national planetariums, with 50 additional production packets planned for loan. In this fashion, top-quality, accurate, and timely science education can be guaranteed to a large selection of audiences. Scientific research tells us that catastrophes of global and interplanetary proportions have happened in the past, there is evidence that they could occur in the present, and they pose an imminent danger in the future. The utilization of expert consultants, in conjunction with Hansen Planetarium staff, will insure this program presents the most current information available about these cosmic catastrophes. Its interactive format is designed to stimulate a proactive approach to problem solution on the part of the audience, especially in reference to ecological or environmental issues. The star show format, with its dynamic special effects, will make scientific theories surrounding cosmic catastrophes accessible and excitiong.
This paper presents findings from a label study project at the Franklin Institute Science Museum, part of the Naive Knowledge Research Project, funded by NSF to identify "naive notions" about science, in particular the cause and nature of gravity, and test the power of interactive devices to alter them. The device which prompted this label study was designed to correct the misconception that spinning pulls things in and, more specifically, that the earth's rotation generates its gravitational pull.
This paper describes a complex process being undertaken by a major Canadian institution, the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature. The evaluation process is systematic, multi-faceted and demonstrates the fruitful interaction between evaluation and gallery development. The front-end phase is the focus of the paper. Discussion concentrates on the elements of the process which are unique to the Canadian experience, specifically the whole community aspect of this process (wherein input was from sources distant from the physical setting of the institution), and the mix of novel and "traditional"
In this article, researchers from Jacksonville State University and the Center for Social Design discuss a study that attempted to use questions as label-reading prompts in a new way. Questions were written on a sheet of paper and made available as a handout to visitors at the Birmingham Zoo and Anniston Museum of Natural History. The answers to the questions could be found in the exhibit labels.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephen BitgoodDonald PattersonArlene Benefield
The Exploratorium proposes to create a multidimensional exhibition on the theme of navigation. The exhibition proper will contain approximately 20 new interactive exhibits dealing with topics of human orientation, wayfinding/exploration, the importance of time in navigation, maps and navigation traditions. Alongside the exhibits we will display real navigational artifacts borrowed from other museums. We have identified approximately 40 existing exhibits which, while not in the main show, will receive textual modification to show their relation to navigational topics. In addition to the exhibition of artifacts and interactive exhibits, we will present a series of lectures, theme weekends, and demonstrations of navigational techniques. During the run of the show we will host a Symposium On The American Encounter wherein we will hold an open forum of lectures and discussion of historical, anthropological and social consequences of cultural encounter on the North American Continent. We will produce both a brochure and a high quality catalog for this show. In addition we will create written "pathways" of organization of this museum-wide show to bring to focus different features and approaches to navigation. Our education departments will play a leading role in creating more formal programs for our visitors. The physical show will be reproduced in a travelling version to tour nine venues in the three years following its opening at the Exploratorium. We will collect the results of our researchers in a dissemination package to be made available to others in the field.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Thomas HumphreyPeter RichardsMichael Pearce
The Science Museum of Connecticut (SMC) proposes a three- year exhibit project called The State of the Environment. This cost-effective project will serve over 500,000 citizens a year by producing two permanent exhibits - 2400 sf for SMC and 400 sf for SMD's Roaring Brook Nature Center -- and eight traveling exhibits for use primarily in connecticut's Priority schools. These innovative exhibits use highly accurate sculptural relief maps which are animated by laser graphics and responsive to visitor inquiries through a research-calibre database containing vast information on Connecticut's environment. Thorough evaluation will help SMC design visitor experiences that make map-database interaction attractive, easy to use and understand, and educationally satisfying. State accredited teacher workshops will give educators a firm grasp of database capabilities prior to its use in the traveling exhibits for schools. Traveling exhibits will support goals in Connecticut's NSF-funded Statewide Initiative. Teacher's Guides will facilitate in-dept investigations for high school science lessons. These exhibits will provide hands- on experiences with professional tools for environmental research, show how environmental maps are made, teach basic principles of environmental science, and provide-in-depth information about the ecology of an entire state.
The Fort Worth Museum of Science and History in Texas will develop a 4,000 square-foot traveling science exhibit on FORENSICS: The Science of Criminal Investigation for circulation to eight major U.S. Cities through the Science Museum Exhibit Collaborative (SMEC). FORENSICS will examine the scientific methods and technologies used in today's crime labs. Core science areas are: DNA profiling; Fingerprinting; Firearms Identification; Evidence Collection; Composites; Forensic Anthropology; Forensic Entomology; Forensic Geology; Odontology; Pathology; Serology; toxicology; Trace Evidence. The development of FORENSICS will draw from the expertise of a distinguished panel of forensic scientists, law enforcement officers, and science educators. FORENSICS will foster science process skills, problem-solving, and deductive reasoning by challenging visitors to solve a crime mystery. A Teacher's Resource Guide to the exhibit will promote indepth classroom investigations of forensics for middle grade (5-9) science lessons. The exhibit will open in Fort Worth in May of 1993, and then tour nationally to eight major U.S. cities, serving over 2.5 million American citizens during its SMEC travel itinerary.
The Florida Museum of Natural History proposes to prepare two versions of a traveling exhibit in the context of the Columbus Quincentennary. The purposes of the exhibit are to show the natural history of the Caribbean at the time when Columbus arrived and to describe the rapid modification of those natural environments for European economic gain. The exhibit will manifest two components, both of which will travel to other museums. One exhibit of approximately 3000 square feet will originate at the Florida Museum of Natural History and then will move to eight other museums around the country. Another exhibit of about 1000 square feet will travel to a different series of smaller museums, libraries and college galleries.
The videodisc-based exhibit, the Powers of Ten in Time, will allow museum visitors to explore the unseen world of natural change - events that occur too quickly or too slowly to be perceived. Through the use of a touch screen and interactive software, users will be able to, in effect, speed up or slow down timeto witness changes that lie outside of the limits of human time perception. Visitors will see scenes such as a forest recovering after a fire, a wall of earth crumbling from erosion, tides coming in and out, the intricate motions of complex machinery and molecules colliding and reacting to produce fire. The videodiscs will contain more than 100 short video segments depicting a wide range of phenomena. We will use time-lapse footage, slow-motion clips and animations to show changes occurring over time periods form 300,000,000 to femtoseconds. Not only will museum visitors be able to watch these video segments at their own pace and in order they choose, they will also be able to learn more about such phenomena through on- screen textual and graphical explanations. The goal of the project is to engage museum visitors with captivating photographic segments, explain the phenomena shown with supplemental text and graphics, and stimulate them to look at the world in a new way - not just with their eyes, but with their minds and imaginations.
The museum of Science proposes to travel a 3,000 square foot exhibit entitled "Bogs". The exhibit will introduce a poorly understood habitat, acidic wetlands, in an interdisciplinary way. the peculiar physical features of bogs has led to a popular view of them as fearful and unhealthy places. This view has led in turn, to their destruction. To show the value of bogs, the exhibit will display their unique natural history. In addition, the exhibit will explore the relationship between people and bogs in modern and pre-historic times. in Europe and in North America. The exhibit will debut at the Museum of Science, and then tour to other museums in North America.
This report presents the results of a front-end evaluation for the upcoming exhibit entitled, "Electric Space: The Sun-Earth Environment" at the National Air and Space Museum. Front-end evaluation is often conducted to provide exhibit planners with information about their audience during the planning stages of an exhibit. This front-end evaluation was designed to determine visitors' familiarity with, knowledge of, and misconceptions about the make-up of space between the sun and the earth.
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Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.National Air and Space Museum
The American Museum of Natural History and the Environmental Defense Fund will produce a major exhibition on global warming. The prospect of global warming is viewed by many with increasing attention and concern, but conflicting reports have resulted in public confusion about predictions of climate change. Thus, a need exists for education on this timely subject, particularly in the direct and vivid way that only an exhibition provides. Wide-spread awareness of the significance of potential climate change will lead to making informed decisions and taking necessary actions regarding this complex and serious problem. Visitors will learn about the forces that drive climate change, the sources and properties of greenhouse gases, how scientists study climate, and debates on the accuracy of global warming predictions. The exhibition will also focus on potential environmental, social, and economic consequences of global warming and what choices individuals and nations can make to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Visitors will be able to explore these topics in depth and integrate the information with personal experience. The exhibition will present scientific data objectively, clearly distinguishing between what is known and what is predicted. The American Museum and EDF will produce scientific symposia, educational programs, and publications for greater outreach to general visitors, schools and the media. Consultants will monitor and evaluate the content and design, from planning through fabrication and display, to ensure the educational effectiveness of the exhibition.