October 11, 2008
The Maryland Science Center provided an interesting look at an institution dedicated to providing science education in the form of interactive displays. The Maryland Science Center is a private institution that clearly focuses on children while still providing an entertaining experience for adults even though a majority of the information will most likely be common knowledge to those who have completed high school. The Maryland Science Center has various galleries that range from Newtonian Physics to Human Anatomy. These galleries have different displays that range from very accurate and exciting to play with to more dull panels.
The most impressive gallery at the Maryland Science Center in my opinion was Newton’s Alley. The display covered various topics that introduced conservation of energy the concept of kinematics and interactions of forces with one another. A sample display at Newton’s Alley is “Why do Clouds Move?” which created clouds that moved around a bowl as the clouds rose and fall. The display had a little explanation both about changes in pressure as well as a discussion of how hot air rises and cold air falls which creates the motion of the clouds. The movement of the clouds had a very eye catching aura that personally drew me to the exhibit. However, a simpler display called “Can you predict where the balls will land?” was display where balls launched from different heights would always land in the same point. The display was fine and worked excellently, but the explanation next to the display did not use the best choice of words. The explanation used was a “build up of force” which is not how forces work. A better explanation would have been to discuss how all the objects move with constant acceleration and that there are equations which allow an individual to predict. While the displays in Newton’s alley all proved to be accurate and exciting the explanations behind the displays did not always introduce all the concepts behind the problems in order for children to better understand.
Two other galleries were also located on the bottom floor of the Maryland Science Center. One of these galleries Dinosaur Mysteries I found to be an excellent gallery. A sample display was the “T-Rex Debate,” which presented the debate in a form of videos on display featuring a variety of Paleontologists including Professor Holtz a paleontologist here at the University of Maryland. This gallery clearly had plenty of research put into the gallery to present up to date information in a easily understandable format. The final gallery on the bottom floor did not provide nearly as pleasing an experience as compared to the first to. The TerraLink gallery is tucked away behind the Dinosaur Mysteries gallery for probably a good reason. A display “Mattis by One Degree” placed you on a computer to track your personal and cities carbon foot print. The program was based off a website that was not responding and was very disappointing to use. A museum that charges visitors admissions should have a better check system and should not be relying on an online computer system.
Another excellent gallery was the Your Body, the Inside Story gallery which provided various activities that were simple yet were excellent at getting the point across. A display here called “ Test Your Nutrition Iq” was a tick tack toe board set up with buzzards of true or false with a statement on each one that would allow the player to place an X or O on a specific tile if the player got the question right. This was a quick way to get across basic nutritional info while players participate in the familiar game of tick tack toe. Perhaps the most fun display I encountered was the “Without balance,” in the Bodylink gallery. This display had the participant try to balance on a little board without being able to grab or focus the participants eyesight on anything. The display emphasized the importance that your senses play in maintaining your balance and how difficult it can be without them. The galleries at the Maryland Science Center were overall excellent and covered a variety of topics in the world of science.
The Maryland Science Center use of interactive displays gives the center a distinct advantage of drawing the customer’s attention but, not without some costs. The disadvantages that these interactive displays have are their shortened explanations that are usually not more then a paragraph long. This allows only the most basic information to reach the reader and allows for no opportunities to read more about the subject while a traditional museum usually allows for more wealth of information. Another disadvantage that these displays have are that the participants might not understand the science behind the displays or make assumptions about what the display and not gain any knowledge from the display. The Maryland Science Center in a modern competitive center in order to stay profitable has to make some sacrifices. The Maryland Science did not cover all topics in science as well as go into depth in many areas. The Maryland Science Center in order to keep the a family friendly environment the Maryland Science Center child proves all their information and does not present the information such as STDs or Global Warming in the harsh reality that they are. The museum was also forced to have specific kid sections that develop a child’s creativity and curiosity that do not have an appeal for an older audience such as the egg droppings that provide a fun activity for a family to enjoy . However, even with these disadvantages the Maryland Science Center is an entertaining trip worth taking.