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 Great Lakes Museum of Science, Environment, and Technology will develop a 10,000 sq. ft. exhibit focusing on The Great Lakes Environment. Addressing the core mission of the museum, the exhibit will promote understanding about "the interdependence of scientific, environmental, and technological activities in the Great Lakes Region." The exhibit will focus on the Great Lakes as an ecosystem. By means of interactive activities, visitors will learn how this ecosystem was formed, the web of life it supports, the stresses it receives, and the efforts to restore its health. The Great Lakes Museum is a new 165,000 sq. ft. facility located in downtown Cleveland on the Lake Erie Shore and is scheduled to open in 1996. The exhibit area will cover 50,000 sq. ft. and will be fully accessible. An entire floor will be dedicated to the Great Lakes Environment. Complementary educational programs will consist of the following: take home activity guides to encourage the discovery and exploration of ecosystems in backyards or neighborhoods, pre and post visit activities for school groups, and teacher enhancement activities. Museum staff are participating in the planning process for the Urban Systemic Initiative of Cleveland and activiites and content of exhibits will be developed to complement the curriculum. The museum will develop a menu of activities and databases for electronic networking with homes and schools. They will have video conferencing capabilities to connect the museum with classrooms.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Richard CoyneTimothy LargePauline Fong
MacGillivray Freeman Films is producing a 40-minute large format film about a scientific and climbing expedition on Mount Everest. The film will introduce viewers to the methods and significance of scientific field research and the rigor and excitement of the scientific endeavor through an expedition to the top of the world's tallest mountain. An international climbing team of women and men will advance the research of geophysicist Roger Bilham who has been influential in applying Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to the study of earthquakes in the Himalaya. The film also will explore the physiological challenges the climbers face at extreme altitude. Endoscopic and microscopic photography will reveal the human body's amazing adaptations to a cold, low-oxygen environment. A comprehensive package of ancillary materials for teachers, students, film exhibitors, and the general public will enhance the educational experience of the film. Greg MacGillivray, President of MacGillivray Freeman Films, will be the PI and Executive Producer/Co-Producer/Director/Photographer. Stepehen Judson and Alec Lorimore, both of MacGillivray Films, will be Co-writer/Director and Co-Producer respectively. Tim Cahill, a freelance writer with experience writing for National Geographic and GEO will be the other Co-writer. Advisors include: Cynthia Beall, Prof. of Physical Anthropology, Case Western Reserve University Broughton Coburn, Conservation and Development Expert on Nepal James Fisher, Prof. of Anthropology, Carleton College Kip Hodges, Prof. of Geology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Charles Houston, Prof. of Medicine (emeritus), University of Vermont Peter Molnar, Senior Research Assoc. Atmosphere and Planetary Sciences, MIT Audrey Salkeld, Author and Fellow, Royal Geographical Society Bradford Washburn, Honorary Director, Museum of Science, Boston
The Sound to Mountains exhibit showcases contemporary and emerging watershed issues which affect the Pacific Northwest region. This exhibit addresses the need to focus awareness on non-point pollution for the general public and among Washington State teachers and school children (K-12). This represents one of the major pollution problems affecting the greater Puget Sound region. A school curriculum and visitation program will be developed, along with a Watershed Wonders kit. The components of the Sound to Mountains exhibit include: a freshwater self-discovery laboratory; a lowland waters replication; a life-like conservation trail; an upland mountain stream habitat; and a carved and painted mural depicting the First People story of salmon.
The Rhode Island Zoological Society will develop, prototype, install, and evaluate "Habitrek", a 3000 sq. ft. exhibit to be placed in their new Education Center. The center is a circular building and as visitors go through it they will encounter habitat displays of a Urban Providence, Woodlands, Wetlands, and Desert. In addition there will be giant scale replicas of a wormhole, a bat cave, a prairie dog colony, and a stream. Their intent is to use live animals, animal replicas and interactives to shift the visitor's emphasis from simply finding and identifying species to learning about habitats where animals live and where animals and humans often have to interact. In addition to the exhibits, several complementary educational activity packages will be developed. These include a family activity pack of activities that can be completed both at the zoo and in the home. They will relate many natural history stories not obvious from the exhibit alone. To streamline the development process, materials developed by the Bronx Zoo's Habitat Ecology Learning Program (an NSF-supported teacher enhancement activity) will serve as the basis for these family packs. The HELP materials will also serve as the basis for activities developed for use by teachers to complement the already existing Kits in Teaching Elementary Science (KITES) program (another NSF-supported program). The zoo also has cooperative programs with the Rhode Island Girl Scout Council and materials will be modified for their use as well. Of special interest is the attention that is being given to going beyond minimum ADA standards to make the exhibit broadly accessible. Ambient sound will be an important part of all exhibit settings, design considerations will be made for those with limited vision, and sightlines will be consistent with wheelchair standards, are a few examples. The anticipated exhibit opening is early 1998.
The New England Aquarium (NEAq) will develop a traveling exhibit and associated programs to focus on parallel scientific and environmental issues facing Lake Victoria (East Africa) and North American fisheries. The NEAq is working in partnership with the national Museums of Kenya (NMK). This project results from NSF supported research on Lake Victoria biodiversity crises and a workshop that involved 70 scientists, policymakers, and resource managers. A 5,000 sq. ft. exhibit "Lake Victoria: Mukasa's Tear" will be developed that will present both the Lake Victoria and North American fisheries issues in six modules including: Biodiversity Then and Now; Changing Life Styles; Lake Victoria Timelines; Fisheries Technology; Global Markets; and Towards the Future. Complementary educational programs will include on-site interpretation, special programs for K-12 classes, teacher workshops and curriculum materials, special events. The exhibit will open at NEAq in 1998 and will begin its national tour in 1999. A second version of the exhibit (which will be funded separately), will be shown in Kenya.
The Science Museum of Connecticut (SMC) proposes a three- year exhibit project called The State of the Environment. This cost-effective project will serve over 500,000 citizens a year by producing two permanent exhibits - 2400 sf for SMC and 400 sf for SMD's Roaring Brook Nature Center -- and eight traveling exhibits for use primarily in connecticut's Priority schools. These innovative exhibits use highly accurate sculptural relief maps which are animated by laser graphics and responsive to visitor inquiries through a research-calibre database containing vast information on Connecticut's environment. Thorough evaluation will help SMC design visitor experiences that make map-database interaction attractive, easy to use and understand, and educationally satisfying. State accredited teacher workshops will give educators a firm grasp of database capabilities prior to its use in the traveling exhibits for schools. Traveling exhibits will support goals in Connecticut's NSF-funded Statewide Initiative. Teacher's Guides will facilitate in-dept investigations for high school science lessons. These exhibits will provide hands- on experiences with professional tools for environmental research, show how environmental maps are made, teach basic principles of environmental science, and provide-in-depth information about the ecology of an entire state.
The Science Museum of Minnesota is developing, producing, and distributing a project on the geography of some of the most dynamic regions of the world. This is a joint venture between the Science Museum of Minnesota and the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History with additional support from the St. Louis Science Center. The core element of the project is a 40-minute Imax film the examines seven geographically diverse locations on earth: Madagascar Iguazu Falls The Amazon Greenland The Okavango Delta The Namib Desert The Tibetan Plateau Supporting material for the film will include: o Teacher Guide - 36 to 40 pages of hands-on science activities o Family Guide - to help parents share science and geography with children through simple, at-home activities; geography o Geography Museum Trunk - a steamer trunk filled with artifacts, specimens, activities, and resource materials available for rental to school, museums, and other groups o Greatest Places On-Line - A World Wide Web site with activities for youth and adults to explore the interrelationships of earth, air, water, and life in their local region and a "living atlas" as a forum for comparing and sharing observations with others around the world. o Summer Educator Institutes - where formal and informal educators will receive intensive training in utilizing all aspects of the project with multiple audiences. o Accessibility Guide - which outlines programs and options to provide no- or low-cost viewing for underrepresented audiences. The project will be guided by Geography for Life: The National Geography Standards and Expectations of Excellence: Curriculum Standards for Social Science. Dr. Mel Marcus, Professor of Geography at Arizona State University, will have primary responsibility for content. He will work closely with an advisory group of geographers, ecologists, and formal and informal educators. The PI and Executive Producer of the film will be Mike Day, Director and Executi ve Producer of the Science Museum of Minnesota Omnitheater and Executive Producer of seven previous Imax films.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Mike DayNatalie RuskCharlie WatersMelvin MarcusBarbara Flagg
The New England Aquarium (NEAq) will develop "Sounds of the Sea", a 2000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit that will provide visitors an opportunity to learn about the importance of sound in the ocean and acoustic oceanography as a tool for research, for such issues as global change. Both natural and anthropogenic sounds will be examined. The goals of the exhibit are to demonstrate the richness of sounds in the ocean, to educate visitors about the physics of sound in the air and under water, and to present current scientific research on the physics and biology of underwater sounds. One of the special features will be real ocean sounds in real time. Visitors will be able to hear sounds picked up by hydrophones in the inner and outer Boston Harbor and view spectral data. The exhibit will reach a broad audience including those with visual and aural impairments. NEAq will collaborate with MIT's Department of Ocean Engineering, the MIT Sea Grant College Program, Wood Hole Oceanographic Institution, and the WGBH Educational Foundation's National Center for Media Accessibility in the development of the exhibit. Supplementary materials for visitors to the exhibit will include an exhibit guide and a web site. Complementary programming for use by formal educators will include pre and post visit materials and special programming for school groups.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
William SpitzerJerry SchubelHenrik SchmidtCarolyn Levi
This exhibit will integrate graphics, artifacts, highly interactive electro-mechanical demonstration devices together with state of the art interactive educational computer technology to demonstrate how probability shapes nature. It will draw its examples from a variety of scientific fields including physics, chemistry, earth sciences, and biology. It is planned as a permanent addition to the Museum's exhibition program, but will be designed to facilitate easy reproduction for individual copies or for circulation as a travelling exhibit. Millions of visitors--families, teachers, children form diverse communities--will gain a first hand aesthetic appreciation of the pattern finding process of scientific investigation as well as a better understanding of the usefulness of mathematics in explaining how the natural world works.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
H. Eugene StanleyDouglas SmithEdwin Taylor
The Children's Museum is requesting $910,088 from the National Science Foundation to create an exhibition to go in an Urban Environmental Center to be built on a barge anchored in Fort Point Channel, a 500-foot-wide Boston Harbor waterway in front of the Museum. Our goal is to create exhibits which broaden public access to the process of science while extending each person's awareness of an engagement in this particular waterfront environment. Barge exhibits are focused on water, which has universal appeal to children and is the central feature of our location; atmosphere -- birds, sun, solar radiation, shadow, light refraction and diffraction, heat, wind, and clouds; built environment -- architecture, engineering, buildings, technology -- and their relationship to living things. We will provide a wide menu of entry-level approaches to the environment that are not given in school. The exhibits will take a visitor from where s/he is at the beginning of the visit to a new level of curiosity and concern. Through observation and direct experimentation, children will see what varies with the tides, what flows into the Channel from street run-off, where different creatures nest, what is emitted into the atmosphere from cars and buildings, and many other things. Some exhibits invite a playful experience, involving the senses and whole body; others offer a more focused exploration to uncover principles of a phenomenon. All encourage practice in such scientific processes as observing, collecting, recording, and comparing data.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Signe HansonDorothy MerrillDiane Willow
The Space Science Institute of Boulder, Colorado in partnership with the Franklin Institute Science Museum and the Electric Producers Research Institute will develop a 3000 sq. ft. traveling exhibit entitled Electric Space: Exploring Our Plasma Universe. Visitors to the exhibit will be introduced to the physics of the sun and the polar aurora. They will learn about the effect solar variability has on technology and humans working in space. The exhibit is divided into seven sections: Space is Not Empty; SkyWatchers; Plasma: the Fourth State of Matter; The Dynamic Sun; Planet Earth: a Great Magnet; Reaching Toward the Starts: the Heliosphere; and The Cosmic Connection. Its design is guided by the desire to create a total immersion environment that will allow visitors to explore the many realm of the plasma university from Earth's upper atmosphere to distant galaxies. It is the developers intention to demystify science by concentrating on process rather than facts, to create a stimulating informal learning environment, to reach a diverse audience, to motivate young people to pursue science as an interest and a career, and to have the exhibit serve as an interface between the scientific community and the general public. In addition to the exhibit, supplemental curriculum modules using an inquiry-based approach will be developed in cooperation with the Science Discovery Project at the University of Colorado. These materials will provide teachers, students, and parents the opportunity to explore the concepts presented in the exhibit. An extensive evaluation plan will be carried. The exhibit will open at the Maryland Science Center the summer of 1995. It will then travel to nine major US cities reaching an estimated two million adults and children who represent a great diversity of ages and education an ethnic backgrounds.