Five small science museums will form "TEAMS (Traveling Exhibits at Museums of Science) Collaborative". The partners include the Montshire Museum of Science, Norwich, VT; The Catawba Science Center, Hickory, NC; Sciencenter, Ithaca, NY; Discovery Center Museum, Rockford, IL; and the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum, Ann Arbor, MI. Each museum partner will develop a 1500 sq. ft. (140 m2) traveling exhibit that will include ten to fifteen interactive units and supporting graphics and will circulate to all members of the partnership. The exhibition topics are: AirPlay (Montshire Museum of Science, Dirt (Catawba Science Center), You Can Count On It (Sciencenter), Amusement Park Science (Discovery Center Museum), and Eureka Labs: Science from Head to Toe (Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum). Following the circulation among the consortium members, it is anticipated that the exhibits will circulate more broadly via the Association of Science-Technology Centers Traveling Exhibit's Program. In addition to developing these exhibits, the collaboration has an additional goals 1) focusing on the family audiences by working together to enhance the family science learning through the development of resources that can be used by families that are related to exhibition topics, 2) building institutional expertise in exhibit design, family programming, and evaluation; and 3) conducting research on family learning and sharing results with the field. Complementary materials and activities for teachers will also be developed for each exhibit.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
David GoudyCharles TrautmannSarah WolfMike SinclairJames FrenzaCynthia Yao
Museum of Science will develop a 4500 sq. ft. exhibit "Finding the Pattern". The primary objective is to develop activities and programs that encourage visitors to practice scientific thinking skills in settings that have interdisciplinary science content. The main component is an activity area that will encourage visitors to observe, compare, and sort objects and phenomena in meaningful ways; help visitors recognize that systems of organizing and classifying objects and phenomena reveal underlying meaning; provide visitors with opportunities to practice answering questions and solving problems based on museums collections; and encourage visitors to search for the "hidden" meaning in things around them. The exhibit will be composed of three overlapping areas: 1) the sorting area, 2) the mystery area, and 3) the open collections area. This project is one of the six science activity centers that have been described in the museum's long-range plan; two activity centers/exhibits have been completed. The impact of "Finding the Pattern" will be extended via the museum's web site. Activities that employ the kinds of scientific thinking skills targeted in the exhibit will be developed to engage informal learners at home. Complementary programming linking the exhibit with formal education will include the development of teacher workshops and programs for school groups. Teacher workshops will be developed in consultation with groups of Project PALMS teachers. The activities will be accessible to individuals with disabilities. They plan to open the exhibit in the fall of 2000.
The Tech Museum of Innovation will fabricate, install, and evaluate a 6,800 square foot exhibition. Through approximately 66 interactive exhibit experiences, visitors will discover how basic science is applied in practical, real-life circumstances for the design and engineering of advanced technologies. An array of educational programs has been designed to appeal to a diverse audience with a variety of interests and learning styles. Demonstrations, hands-on activities, and interviews (online and/or multimedia) with nationally recognized innovators will highlight innovation as a complex process involving careful preparation, use of the scientific method, the ability to problem solve and make connections, and luck.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dan WodarcykJon BetthauserEmily RoutmanSusan WagemanWayne LaBar
The Science Museum of Minnesota will develop "After the Dinosaurs", an exhibit that will feature a detailed reconstruction of the ecology of a Paleocene subtropical environment that existed in the North Plains of North America (58 million years ago). Information presented in the exhibit will come from a 25 year research project carried out by SMM curator Bruce R. Erickson and his colleagues at Wannagan Creek Quarry in northwestern North Dakota. This research has yielded one of the most complete assemblages of Paleocene megafossils in North America. Both the increased knowledge gained from this research and process of the research will be highlighted in this exhibit. Visitors will learn that the world's landscape has changed considerably over time, the analysis of fossils helps scientists reconstruct the past, knowledge of former ecosystems help us to understand current ecosystems, and everyone can be a scientific investigator when we attempt to understand our environment in a systematic way. Two versions of the exhibit will be prepared: a 4000 sq. ft. permanent version that will be installed in the new SMM river front building and will open in late 2000. There will also be a 2500 sq. ft. traveling version that will begin its national tour in 2002. Complementary programming will include an on-line interactive teacher guide and student project curriculum, a teachers' institute, and a variety of youth programming including specially developed interpreter training materials. The exhibit will be accessible to people with disabilities.
The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science will develop two areas in a new 70 acre outdoor exhibit "BioQuest Woods: Linking Animals and Plans with Interactive Exhibits". This concept is to pair live animals and plants in their natural setting with science center-style interactive exhibits to communicate key ideas in biology and physics. Support will go to sixteen interactive stations in two four-acre theme areas "Catch the Wind" and "Down to Earth". "Catch the Wind" will assist visitors in the exploration air movement and learning about how plants and animals use air in specialized ways. For example, visitors will experiment with air thermals while observing the behavior of birds of prey and will learn how prairie dogs exploit the venturi effect to ventilate their burrows. In the "Down to Earth" thematic area, visitors, simulate the activities of field biologists, will track bears equipped with radio collars, examine living invertebrates, among other activities. Scientific instruments, including microscopes, in kiosks will aid on-the-scene study of live animals and plans. "BioQuest Woods" will help visitors, teachers and students gain the realistic experience of scientific inquiry in a natural setting. Education programming will highlight curriculum linkages and fulfills the goals of North Carolina's new science curriculum. It directly addresses the State's competency-based goals requiring understanding of natural systems and the interrelations of the basic sciences. Pre and post-visit materials will be developed along with teacher guides and enhancement activities. This project is being developed with the cooperation of the Austin Nature Center, the National Zoo, and the Indianapolis Zoo.
The Wildlife Conservation Society will develop "Congo Gorilla Forest." This will be a 6.5 acre outdoor exhibit that will provide visitors with a realistic trip through a living Congo Ecosystem, ending in an arms-length observation of a colony of 30 Lowland Gorillas living in a natural setting. The science presented in this exhibit is based on much of the seminal research that has been carried out on the Congo Forest environment by scientists at the Zoo. During their trip visitors will be able to explore and develop their own insights into this dynamic ecosystem and at the end will be drawn into difficult conservation issues. The exhibit will include the Rain Forest Trail, Living Treasures of the Congo Gallery, Conservation Showcase and Theater, Great Apes Gallery, and the Conservation Choices Pavilion. In addition there will be a menu of complementary formal education materials to include parent workshops, teacher training activities, and instructional materials. Linkages have been made with the New York Urban Systemic Initiative and the formal education programs will complement the goals of this systemic initiative. Given the Zoo's location in the Bronx, given the Zoo's reputation as a leader in wildlife conservation, and given the Zoo's renewed commitment to quality visitor experience and learning activities, this exhibit will break new ground in the exhibition of animals and informal learning activities of visitors. It will have an impact on zoos throughout the world. They anticipate 750,000 visitors annually for the Congo Gorilla Forest.
Boston Museum of Science seeks funds from the National Science Foundation for the development of a group of interactive exhibits and educational programs that will comprise the Museum's permanent TESTING THE THEORY activity center. The project is part of a new approach to exhibits that aims to make the experiences available to visitors closer to the actual process of scientific discovery. Visitors will carry out experiments in fields ranging from chemistry and cognitive psychology, to statistics, optics, and materials science. The focus will be on promoting specific experimental skills and scientific habits of mind, and on encouraging the transfer of these skills to everyday activities. The exhibit techniques developed during the prototyping and production of TESTING THE THEORY are expected to be of importance to science museums and others concerned with increasing science literacy.
In the Fall of 1994 The New York Botanical Garden will begin its second 100 years of commitment to science education with the opening of the Children's Adventure Garden and the Children's Adventure Trails. As two components of the Children's Adventure Project , these informal science education facilities will use participatory discovery to engage urban children and their families in learning botanical science, inquiry skills, positive attitudes towards science, and the methods of scientists. In the 1.5 acre Adventure Garden children will interact with living plants and fabricated exhibits to discover fundamental principles of plant biology; and in the one mile of Adventure Trails they will closely observe interdependencies of complex ecosystems using the framework of these fundamental principles. To expand visitor understanding of plant biology and the ways that scientists study it, Investigation Stations, integral components of each facility, will be placed so that visitors will handle, sense, and observe living plants in situ and interact with fabricated exhibits and scientific tools. The Project will be developed by NYBG staff educators and scientists with on-going participation of a broad spectrum of advisors and consultants, including exhibition designers, evaluators, community school teachers, and environmental education specialists.
The Health Museum (THM) is requesting $868,108 over 30 months to create a 3,600 sq. ft. permanent exhibit containing seven Body Stops components, which will maintain THM's science literacy focus by linking concepts of human biology to everyday experience through visitor exploration of the human body's seen and unseen operating systems. Ancillary instructional materials and programs will be produced. The educational goals of the project are to: 1. Promote understanding of the basic biological sciences in the context of the human life cycle and health; 2. Present vital basic science information through an active and accessible exhibit environment which complements formal science education; 3. Develop an appreciation of basic human biological sciences as they are presented similarly across all people and an appreciation of human variability as these biological processes are played out in the individual. The target audiences are families, urban youth, and student and teacher groups.
The Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum is requesting $370,728 to create a traveling exhibit entitled "How Things Work, which will familiarize students and the general public with the science and engineering behind 15-20 "gadgets" which play vital roles in their everyday lives. A number of the exhibit elements will be based on the work of Dr. Richard Crane. Ancillary materials will be developed for classroom teachers as part of school outreach. An Exhibition Resource Guide will be developed for use by other museum venues, as well as teachers, students and others.
The California Museum of Science and Industry requests $1,103,410 over three years to work in a partnership with the National Council of La Raza to develop two content-rich "discovery rooms" in the Museum that are supportive of further learning in the larger museum context and that guide parents from culturally diverse backgrounds in supporting their children's science learning at the museum and in the home. A major component of the project is the "Our Place Academy," a comprehensive education program that will train Latino parents of preschool and school-age children to serve as learning facilitators in the discovery rooms. The curriculum of the Academy will focus on skills that will both serve Latino parents as partners in their children's science education and as leaders and disseminators within their own communities. A training guide entitled, "Making it our Place" will be developed as a practical guide for building a trained staff from the parents in a community to facilitate learning in a discovery setting. Target audience is parents with preschool and school-aged children.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Ann MuscatSylvia ConnollySharon SchonhautCarol ValentaRoxie EsterleMaria Bonillas
The Museum of Science and Industry will develop "Genetics: Decoding Life," a 4325 sq. ft. permanent exhibit about the basic principles of genetics, the Human Genome Project, new tools and technology to study life, and the biomedical and biotech applications resulting from genetic information. As a result of interacting with this exhibit, visitors will understand the basic principles of genetics, they will become familiar with the role of genes in the development of life, they will learn something about how and why scientists used genetic tools, and visitors will become aware of applications of these principles and the potential social, ethical, medical and economic outcomes. In addition to the exhibit there will be a number of complementary outreach programs. An electronic web site will be created, software used in the exhibit will be modified into a format suitable for use in schools, computers loaded with genetic programs will be loaned to Chicago public school groups, churches and other community agencies, and the content of the exhibit will be used to enhance special Lamaze and prenatal classes held at the museum. Special consideration will be given to developing the relationship between the project personnel and the staff of the Chicago Systemic Initiative. They will work together to produce a school program about genetics that will be suitable for grades 5 to 8. School materials will include a teacher's guide for the exhibit, a program of classroom activities, and materials to be used before and after a trip to the museum to see the exhibit.