10/11/08
We went to the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore, MD to evaluate the different exhibits offered. We interacted with the displays and had a lot of fun, but we also assessed how well they portrayed the information presented. The exhibits where aimed at elementary school aged children so we used our background in high school and college science classes to view the displays from a different point of view.
In the Dinosaur Mysteries Gallery we went to the Fossil Dig. The scientific concept being taught here is what fossilized bones tell us about dinosaurs and what clues we can pick up such as what they ate by looking at their teeth. This is a hands on method of teaching, the bones are hidden under sand which the kids can then brush off with a small brush. There was someone explaining what the different bones show, but there needs to be more information on colorful posters for further reference. However, there was only one person manning the station so either they need to get more personnel or more posters to effectively get the information across to kids.
We went to the Dinosaur Eggs interactive display in the Dinosaur Mysteries Gallery. At this exhibit, children can climb on top of a nest of dinosaur eggs so they can learn about how dinosaurs laid eggs. There are posters showing different sizes of eggs, with easy to read text and colorful pictures. The information is easy to understand and suitable for elementary school children and it effectively gets the information across.
In the Bodylink Gallery, we worked in the wet lab and preformed DNA extraction. It was a lot of fun and we learned about the structure of DNA and what tufts of DNA look like in real life. This was a hands on experience where there were instructions on the computer and we preformed the experiment. It is accurately portraying information about the structure of DNA in-between giving us instructions about each step and what is happening to the cells at each stage. It is a very effective and interactive exhibit because kids get to perform the extraction so they will remember the information much better.
At the Demo Stage we saw a presentation about Newton’s Laws. There was a PowerPoint presentation, demonstrations and audience interaction. It was accurately displaying Newton’s laws on the power point and then someone would demonstrate that law. This is a very effective presentation of the information because there was a lot of interactions and demonstrations with help from the audience as someone was explaining the concepts.
At the Spacelink Gallery we played Space Tic Tac Toe. It presented information about Space and Space events in the from of questions that you had to answer. The game asked a multiple choice question and then gave feedback about the answer so that you could learn even if you got the question wrong. It was competitive and fun so it was effective in getting information across.
Interactive displays do have some disadvantages that a traditional “specimens in a case” type displays do not have. Interactive displays can be broken by kids and can lose some of the information that it is suppose to convey. There is also less information given in interactive displays, it is not as in-depth so you don’t learn as much. However, private museums have to stay fun and interesting for children in order to be competitive. Museums can uses educational, interactive games and displays with a lot of color and easy to read texts. They can also have unique traveling exhibits in order to change things up.