This research was commissioned to explore visitors’ experiences in When the Dinosaurs Were Gone (later titled "When Crocodiles Ruled", a temporary exhibition at the Science Museum of Minnesota. As a summative evaluation, the research sought to address several issues and objectives: 1. overall impressions of the exhibition — visitors’ ratings of enjoyment, interest in the information, what they liked most, and what changes they would suggest (or not want) for a traveling version of this exhibit; 2. extent of use of the exhibition — amount of time spent in the exhibition and the extent to which
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People Places & Design ResearchScience Museum of MinnesotaJolene Hart
The planning project, "Is Global Warming Just a Lot of Hot Air?," is a consortium of twenty (20) research institutions, science centers and environmental organizations which will plan exhibits and outreach programs to address climate change and its affect on communities and ecosystems of northern New England. Research scientists will work with informal science educators to develop innovative approaches to presenting what is known about climate change. The planning project will investigate strategies for helping the 1.85 million visitors in the region understand the issues in relation to the landscape and social environment. There is a wide-ranging group of advisors drawn from science, research, classrooms and informal learning centers to guide the 18-month planning project.
The Center for Atmospheric and Space Sciences (CASS) at Augsburg College, in collaboration with the Science Museum of Minnesota, is developing three exhibit clusters on important weather and climate systems that affect our everyday lives. Each cluster will consist of a micro-computer-based exhibit that runs a mathematical model of the weather system, a supporting three-dimensional display that encapsulates the entire system, a physical interactive exhibit that teaches critical physical concepts, and a graphical environment that reinforces connections to visitors' personal knowledge and interests. The three weather systems that constitute the content of the exhibit will be selected from the following four options: mid-latitude cyclones and the weather they cause, the cycle of ice ages over the past million years, global warming and greenhouse gases, and physical features on the earth that have profound effects on local climates. These exhibit clusters will build on the previous interactive exhibit components developed by Augsburg College: Seasons, Winds, and Clouds. All three exhibit and program clusters will be designed so they can be placed in science and natural history museums nationwide. The computer models will be designed to run on common, inexpensive microcomputers and will be disseminated to museums, libraries, other public sites, and schools. The project content and educational design will be developed by the PI, William Jasperson, a Senior Research Scientist at CASS, working with two of his fellow Senior Research Scientists, David Venne and Anthony Hansen, and with Geanine Gregoire from the Department of Education at Augsburg College. J. Shipley Newlin and James Roe, will be responsible for exhibit design and development at the science museum.
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William JaspersonJ NewlinDavid Venne
The Children's Museum of Houston (CMH) and Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) collaborated to create and travel a museum exhibit on children's environmental health for a target audience of children 5-10, their parents, caregivers, and teachers. My Home Planet Earth (MHPE) is based on the NIH-funded, interdisciplinary My Health My World educational program developed at BCM and disseminated nationally through Carolina Biological Supply. The aims of the project are to: (1) expand understanding by children (ages 5-10) and their caregivers of the health consequences of human induced changes in the environment and increase their abilities to make healthful decisions through informal self-directed activities in a museum setting; (2) encourage linkages between formal and informal education settings by providing a model for connecting classroom-based curricula to museum-based exhibits and informal learning programs, based on the My Health My World educational materials and the My Home Planet Earth exhibit and support programs; (3) help parents provide additional environmental health-related informal learning experiences for their children, and promote awareness of science and health careers; and (4) partner scientists and educators in the creation of a model environmental health sciences exhibit and support program for the field of family-centered informal learning. The exhibit and support programs are in the process of touring 18 youth museums, science centers and health museums over six years of travel (2002-2008). An estimated 1.5 million visitors will participate in the project by the end of the tour in 2008. In addition to these visitors, 1,000 families will participate in MHPE Family Learning Events, 9,000 teachers will be introduced to the My Health My World curriculum-360 of whom will participate in a day long MHMW workshop, 36 scientists will partner with host museums to enhance the learning and community impact of the project, and 180,000 children will visit the xhibit during a school field experience.