This paper discusses the benefits of conducting long-term evaluations. It explains the rationale behind and methodology used in a study of "Bird Discovery Point," a group of interactive exhibits located in the Aquatic Bird House at the Brookfield Zoo. The author briefly describes the issues that were raised in each of the eight evaluation efforts, the lessons from both the evaluation process and findings, and how this study impacted the decision-making processes of the institution, staff perceptions, and exhibit development in other areas.
In this paper, researchers from the National Zoological Park discuss ways of incorporating visitors into exhibit development and the value visitors bring to the process, specifically during front-end evaluation. The authors cite examples from the development of "The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly: Attitudes Toward Animals" exhibit, which opened at the National Zoological Park in September 1991.
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
In this article, Jacksonville State University's Stephen Bitgood discusses visitor variables --how these variables influence other visitors and the visitation experience. This report focuses on findings from a study of attitudes toward animals conducted at the Birmingham Zoo. This study focused on the impact of particular variables, including education, gender, leisure reading and knowledge about the subject matter.
The Museum Experience is the first book to take the "visitor's eye view" of the museum visit. It integrates the authors' original research with that from a wide variety of disciplines as well as museum and visitor studies ranging from science centers and zoos to art and natural history museums. Written in clear, non-technical style, The Museum Experience gives museum professionals a thorough introduction to what is known about why people go to museums, what they do there, and what they learn. This book is an essential reference for all museum professionals concerned with communicating with the
The National Zoological Park, a component of the Smithsonian Institution, proposes transforming three traditional zoo exhibit buildings into centers for informal science learning. Based on current knowledge about learning, the proposed project will feature interactive elements as well as the greater use of human interpreters to help visitors examine animals, handle objects and play games. The project is to be a collaborative effort by the National Zoological Park, the Dallas Zoo and Zoo Atlanta, with the National Zoo developing the materials and making and shipping copies to Dallas and Atlanta as centers for tryout and evaluation, with the results of the studies going to other zoos in way of encouraging them of the importance of interactive science education.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Judith WhiteJames MurphyDale MarcelliniJeffrey Swanagan
The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM) will develop an interdisciplinary national traveling exhibition about raptors (birds of prey). Created in collaboration with The Raptor Center at the University of Minnesota (TRC) and the Museum Magnet School of the St. Paul School District, this exhibit and its related programs will explore themes of biodiversity, ecology, and human relationships with the natural world. It will help visitors understand raptors as diverse, charismatic, biologically-complex animals whose continued survival is linked to fundamental questions of public policy, economics, and environmental ethics. combining the perspectives of the sciences with those of the humanities, the exhibit will present science in a real-world context of human values and actions. Opening at SMM in the summer of 1944, the 5,000-square-foot exhibit will travel for five years or more to other large museums, nature centers, and zoos throughout the U.S. Using specimens, models, artifacts, dioramas, audiovisual programs, and interactive components and supported by theater, demonstrations, and a variety of other on-site programs, it will provide a compelling mix of informal learning experiences for families, school groups, and other general audiences. Beyond the museum walls, the themes of the project will reach schools and other important outreach audiences through videotapes, teacher training programs, educational materials, and other programs. SMM will also produce a scaled-down version of the exhibit that will tour to smaller museums, nature centers, and zoos.
The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science requests $491,260 to develop exhibits which explore mechanics of living organism. Basic physics, optics and fluids dynamics will be presented in the context of biological systems. Life in a Physical World interactive exhibits and educational materials which will reach over 3 million people. Life in a Physical World meets the needs of teachers, students and other science learners. The exhibits and educational materials integrate science concepts across disciplines. They provide hands-on, motivating science experiences in a non-threatening environment. Life in a Physical World makes physical science concepts accessible by presenting them in the context of living things. Project Outcomes The Project will produce a 2,000 square foot permanent and travelling Life in a Physical World exhibits. The North Carolina Museum of Life and Science will install the permanent exhibition. To ensure broad dissemination, the Association of Science-Technology Centers will circulate the travelling exhibition nationally and the Museum will distribute as-built drawings to science centers, natural history museums and zoos. Museum Educators will produce materials to enhance the instructional value of the exhibition.
Zoos have the opportunity to reach a large audience and to improve public understanding of biological principles. Zoos can go beyond creating an appreciation for nature by actively encouraging their visitors to apply these principles and take action on behalf of the environment. Tropic World: A Primate's View will improve the interpretation of an existing exhibit at Brookfield Zoo by encouraging visitors to experience a tropical rainforest from a non-human primate's perspective. Visitors will be challenged, by interactive forms of interpretation, to explore the similarities and differences between themselves and other primates. This experience will provide a framework for visitors to consider their own relationship with their environment. The project objectives are: 1. To improve public understanding that , like all organisms, primates use and depend on their environment. However, humans ar the only primate species that can choose how they impact their environment over extended time and space. 2. to motivate people to act on behalf of the natural world through conservation. 3. To contribute to the body of knowledge of how informal education affects people's knowledge of natural science topics, as well as the behavior of people in relation to conservation issues.
In spring of 1992, Scripps Institution of Oceanography will open a new Aquarium-Museum. The enlarges facility will include a 3700 sq. ft. gallery, the Scripps Hall of Oceanography. Funding is requested for a new exhibit in this gallery, Exploring the Blue Planet, which will offer visitors an overview of the ocean sciences -- to our knowledge, the only major exhibit on oceanography in the United States. The exhibit first introduces visitors to our water planet, followed by a walk through the history of oceanographic research. Visitors are then invited to explore the ocean world as if they were oceanographers themselves, making discoveries as they follow the theme of "water" through the hall, adding components one-by-one to build a global system: first water alone (water chemistry and movements), then adding air (climate and weather), next adding land (seafloor spreading and plate tectonics), and finally adding life (adaptations of organisms to the marine environment). Through interactive exhibits on scientific concepts, coupled with exhibits on related Scripps research projects, visitors gain an appreciation for the process of science and its application to their everyday lives. The conclusion of Exploring the Blue Planet brings together the four realms of water, air, land and life to emphasize the nature of Earth as an interrelated global system. Visitors learn that oceanography, an interdisciplinary science that is global in scale and often international in practice, lends itself to a balanced and comprehensive investigation of global change and our future on earth.