The Tech Museum of Innovation (The Tech) in San Jose, California proposes to partner with NOAA to integrate Science On a Sphere (SOS) into The Tech's Exploration gallery and to facilitate the development of informal and formal learning programs. Exhibits and programs at The Tech focus on the integration of emerging technologies into hands-on visitor experiences. In 2004, The Tech partnered with NOAA, the Maryland Science Center (MSC), and a consortium of national science centers to explore the potential and effectiveness of SOS as a method of engaging and informing the general public about NOAA-related sciences. Initial testing of SOS at the Maryland Science Center revealed that SOS is a visually compelling and engaging medium for conveying complex scientific information to museum visitors. Ninety-eight percent of visitors tested regarded a facilitated SOS program as a good or excellent experience with strong visitor retention suggesting the potential of SOS as a compelling visitor tool. However, when the experience was not facilitated this retention dropped dramatically. Support from NOAA will enable The Tech to test SOS and NOAA data in a number of formats to determine the most effective ways to utilize this incredible technology. The results of this evaluation will be shared with other museums using SOS to improve its reach in teaching informal audiences and promoting interest in both STEM content and NOAA research. The SOS exhibit will bring together scientists, technologists, informal education specialists, and young users to unlock the educational potential of NOAA's datasets and further NOAA's educational plan. Hands-on experiences using SOS will engage visitors in meaningful explorations of NOAA data. The Tech Museum will make SOS accessible to people of all ages, backgrounds, and educational levels. All panel text, audio, and captions will be presented in both English and Spanish to allow greater accessibility for local audiences. SOS will provide the programming platform upon which to explore the educational opportunities of this gallery as it illustrates how data collected with remote sensing technologies is helping us understand and make predictions about our dynamic environment and the future of our planet. SOS will illustrate how these data collecting technologies assist us in developing our knowledge about our planet and its solar system.
This article presents some of the challenges faced in developing an interactive exhibit on nanoscience and nanotechnology in Brazil. Presenting a scientific-technological area which is still in formation and which is little known by the population leads to a (re)consideration of the role of museums and science centers in the conformation and consolidation of scientific practice itself. Museographically, the exhibit deals with the challenge of making matter visible in an expression which is distant from the human perception. Some reflections are presented here on the option of musealization
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Sandra MurrielloDjana ContierMarcelo Knobel
In this article, Megan Axelsen, an Associate Lecturer and a PhD student at the University of Queensland in Australia, explores visitors' perceptions of festivals in art galleries. Axelsen also identifies several characteristics that distinguish festivals from other special events.
This paper reports findings from a study at the Exploratorium of a single physics exhibit that compared three labels and assessed visitors' attitudes and behavior. Based on interviews with 60 visitors, evaluators found a preference for labels containing both questions and suggestions, but that this type of phrasing may not always affect visitor behavior.
This paper reports findings from a study that evaluated the impact child-centered discovery trolleys have on 4-8 year old children's museum experiences. The Queensland Museum developed a set of resource trolleys to introduce young visitors to museums and their collections. Findings from this study add to the body of knowledge on this topic and may have important implications for designing museum experiences that stimulate children's interest in museums and increase learning outcomes. A copy of the questionnaire used in the study is included in the appendix of this paper.
This study expands our understanding of family learning by looking closely at mother-child interaction with mothers and their preschool aged children (3-5). Conversation between adults and children in museums has historically been the most common indicator of learning. Most of those studies have been conducted with parents and children 6 and older. However, this study demonstrates that mothers of younger children use forms of interaction besides language to support their children's museum experience. Many of these interactions are subtle and non-verbal.
This paper examines one Australian museum’s commitment to create social awareness of political issues within its community. The paper begins by discussing the challenge of cultural representation of Indigenous peoples in the context of civic engagement. Some of the historical and political issues facing Indigenous Australians and their representation in Museums are discussed. A study of the Indigenous Australians exhibition at the Australian Museum in Sydney investigates visitors’ perceptions of the exhibition. Recommendations are made as they relate to community partnerships, interpretive
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Katherine S. H. BoumanAustralian Museum
Globally, Western societies are in the midst of changes as great as any in their history, changes that are affecting everyone. These changes, which directly influence museums of all types, are tied to the shifting of Western economies from ones that are industrially based to those that are information and knowledge-based ( Dizard 1982 ). The transition from a goods-based to a knowledge-based economy was noted first in America by Princeton economist Fritz Machlup (1962 ), and substantiated over a decade later by the US Department of Commerce (1977 ). Knowledge and information (which Machlup
This paper advances the thesis that museum visitors' identities, motivations and learning are inextricably intertwined. All individuals enact multiple identities, many of which are situational and constructed in response to a social and physical context. Identity influences motivations, which in turn directly influence behavior and learning. Visitors to museums tend to enact one or various combinations of five museum-specific identities, described here as: explorer; facilitator; professional/hobbyist; experience seeker; and spiritual pilgrim. Preliminary findings suggest that these identity
This study investigated visitors' and staff's perceptions about the communication of science in a traditional natural history museum. The research examined the science-related outcomes for adult visitors and explored visitors' and staff's ideas of science and how it is portrayed at the museum.
The Science Museum of Minnesota prototyped interpretive approaches to using an innovative scientific visualization system developed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) called Science On a Sphere (SOS). SOS is composed of a wide variety of visualizations projected onto a six-foot sphere creating animated, whole-planet views of the Earth, other planets in our solar system, and their moons. Visualizations of the Earth cover topics such as weather, climate, topography, earth system dynamics, and geophysical processes. A challenge of SOS is making the content accessible
In 2006, the Science Museum of Minnesota carried out a formative evaluation of the traveling exhibition, Disease Detectives. Disease Detectives features an immersive environment where visitors investigate a case by meeting a patient (an interactive mannequin), interpreting lab tests, and exploring specific environments to learn more about disease transmission and prevention. Each case highlights a different mode of disease transmission and the relevant illnesses. The purpose of this evaluation was to look at the usability and learning outcomes of one of the three proposed scenarios for the