The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is developing an innovative exhibit and teaching laboratory called INTERACTIONS. The unique feature of INTERACTIONS is the combination of an exploratory, interactive natural science exhibit with an adjacent live-insect-rearing laboratory. The exhibits will give the visitors some of the exploratory tools and experiences of the scientist and involve them in the process of scientific discovery. The laboratory will provide visitors with direct experience with scientists and involve them in the scientific process. Ecological in scope, INTERACTIONS will communicate environmental issues. The museum's plant and insect halls, designed over thirty years ago, will be renovated totally. In their place, a single, large exhibit and teaching laboratory will be created focusing on the interactions of insects and plants. The exhibits, videos, computer stations, and adjacent insect rearing laboratory will invite visitors to participate, question and examine. This combination of exhibits, hands-on activities, video, and laboratory will increase the retention of information, stimulate interests in natural science, and give vitality to the museum experience. The total cost of renovation, modernizing, exhibit construction and installation is $1,340,000 with $1,000,000 raised by a vigorous capital campaign. This request is for the balance of $340,000 to complete the exhibit construction.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Dennis PowerCatherine WoolseyNorman IkedaJohn Torkington
The American Psychological Association, in cooperation with the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC), will develop a series of exhibits on psychology using a discovery room/science laboratory approach. The exhibition will, for the first time, offer museum visitors a first hand opportunity to explore the tools, methods, and concepts of psychology in such areas as thinking and feeling, dreaming and sleeping, perceiving and communicating. The exhibition will travel to eight museums over 30 months through the ASTC traveling exhibition service and will reach over a million visitors. A wide selection of additional materials and resources such as films, seminars, lectures and workshops will be offered to the participating museums to extend the impact of the exhibition. Plans of the exhibits will be made available to other museums. NSF support represents less than 50% of the total cost of the project.
The Science Museum of Minnesota will develop a series of "experiment benches" that are to be an unique feature of "labworks," a major new hall of physical science and technology. The small bench-top laboratory exhibits will allow visitors to create their own experiments and to become informally but directly involved in the experimental process. The target audience is junior highschool students, especially those who come as individuals and who are repeat visitors. Selected students will be trained as interns and will be paid to act as mentors for visitors. The project will include a published report, "a recipe book" for dissemination, and a subsequent conference of exhibit developers from other science museums.
The Thames Science Center collaborative with the resources of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Wesleyan University and the National Air and Space Museum will design and develop the project, "Shoot For the Moon." This science education project will capitalize on the attraction, familiarity and proximity of the moon using it as a basis to enrich and supplement the eight and ninth grade physical science curriculum. Ten classroom units, complimentary experiments and demonstrations will be developed. "Moonwatch" software and audio visual materials, including an instructional videotape and a multi.image presentation will accompany the units. Sixteen teachers and museum educators will participate in the training, evaluation and testing as the project is integratedinto the curriculum of twelve schools and four museums. The project is designed to be replicated in schools and science centers in different geographical locations nationally. The site for development and testing will be the Thames Science Center, a regional science museum in eastern Connecticut. The science center offers formal science enrichment programs and tours for students and teacher professional development programs throughout the region.