National Museum of the American Indian

National Museum of the American Indian 17^th April

Washington DC

The National Museum of the American Indian has galleries and exhibits that aim to educate visitors on American Indian culture.  The galleries engage visitors in American Indian history, the varying tribes, their customs, beliefs and values. As well as the galleries the museum offers mini educational workshops. American Indian museum education officers teach visitors through hands on workshops. The workshop I participated in was on the different types of canoes built by American Indians, how they were made and the science behind the success of the materials used.  

Birch Tree bark was used to build boats, where it  was available and the inside of the bark was on the outside of the boat, as it was waterproof. Reeds were used by American Indians in many South American regions. When the reeds became wet they expanded, making the boat waterproof. The same reeds had their flowers boiled up and used as painkillers. Boats were made of sealskin, as this is a waterproof substance. The boats length was established by measuring the distance from fingertip to fingertip, when arms are stretched out horizontally and multiplying this number by 2.

The information offered in this workshop was an American Indian science perspective. Teaching science from this perspective is engaging and relevant and is how I would like to deliver science from an Indigenous Australian perspective in Australia. However, I do not have the Indigenous Australian knowledge to be able to teach science from this basis.

Society for Science and the Public

Society for Science and the Public

SSP is the organiser and facilitator of the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and also facilitates an online directory of national USA science camp programs.

SSP has published all student abstracts from ISEF entries since 2003. These abstracts would be a good resource for science teachers. The abstracts would help in stimulating students to come up with their own ideas for open-ended inquiry. The abstracts are also useful to students wishing to check the authenticity of their investigation idea.

http://www.societyforscience.org/

The website also has a “Rule Wizard” which assists students in assessing the safety and suitability of their project for the ISEF competition and helps them to ensure that their study is legal in the USA, Australian students would need to check with local authorities, however the rule book wizard is still a valuable resource.

The SSP releases a magazine that contains scientific studies and research that is aimed at a student audience. The magazine, due to the accessibility of its content, it read and enjoyed by adult audiences also. This is another resources that would assist in stimulating students to be involved in inquiry.

The Intel Science Talent Search is a competition that is also organised and facilitated by the SSP. This is a prestigious competition where senior secondary school students are able to submit a scientific report that is of high quality. Often these are reports from investigations that students have completed on science summer camps, where they have been involved in authentic inquiry in tertiary facilities.  The competition provides its winning students with cash prizes, first prize recipients receive $100 000. The other specific cash prize values can be found at:

The Intel Science Talent Search is a highly prestigious competition and one that would be immensely motivating for students requiring extension and enrichment in the sciences. 

National Science Resource Center

National Science Resource Center 15^th April

Washington DC

Dr Thomas Emrick was able to share the National Science Resource Center’s latest research project. The NSRC has received 33 million dollars in funding to facilitate a study that focuses on literacy in science. Approximately 1500 teachers at 500 schools are involved in this 5 year intensive study. This is the largest study of its kind ever conducted. A series of books, illustrated with photographs and diagrams have been produced to stimulate young readers. The books are formatted to engage and stimulate the reader, the images occupy most the pages. The text in the books in the series is predominantly question-based, modelling the questioning process to students. When a child learns at a young age they learn through modelling and practicing the new skill, in the same way these small texts, model questioning, such that students will learn how to formulate questions. 

Learning how to formulate good questions, basis of the inquiry process. If students know the process they will always be able to seek answers. Students who have this skill of questioning and beginning the inquiry process  (and repeating it to answer new questions) will be able to more effectively learn and utilise the full scientific inquiry process at a higher level. They will also have the skill necessary to locate information as it is needed.

Questioning is viewed as key in good teaching practice. Teachers who are able to question well in the classroom are both stimulating inquiry and modelling effective questioning technique.  This is the focus of studies by Dr. Ali Sammel who is based at Griffith University in Queensland Australia.

Dr Thomas Emrick also expressed the necessity for science students to appreciate that inquiry doesn’t provide scientists with conclusive answers, often it enables them to formulate new questions. Students need to see inquiry as an ongoing process.

National Air and Space Museum

The National Air and Space Museum - Washington DC 14th April

The How Things Fly gallery at the National Air and Space Museum is focused on engaging and immersing visitors in understanding what enables flight. The gallery takes visitors through the characteristics and concepts behind gravity and air, thrust, drag, lift and high speed flight through interactive exhibits. The physics explained is at an early college level, but is aimed at middle school aged students to ensure it is accessible to all who visit. This type of gallery is unusual for a museum, but it is the most visited gallery in any Smithsonian museum and probably the most visited gallery in the world. There are a variety of educational programs that run out of the How Things Fly gallery. Schools are able to book into a number of interactive demonstration sessions, these sessions are also open to the public and run at different timetabled times throughout the day.

The gallery also has a program that gives college and high school students the opportunity to work part time on the museum floor as “Explainers”. The benefit of Explainers is that they ensure visitors are taking the right information from museums galleries and exhibits, by providing additional explanations. The Explainers learn how to explain scientific concepts on a variety of stages, including providing interactive demonstrations to crowds of up to 100 people. The museum also provides these students with leadership, resume and public speaking training. Once students finish High School or College they complete their program of work at the museum and other students are given the opportunity to be Explainers. Explainers also provide Discovery Stations throughout the museum, particularly in the How Things Fly gallery. Explainers use stimulating and thought provoking objects to explain concepts of flight and tie the concept in with the displays in the gallery.

The Moving Beyond Earth gallery is on the verge of a massive expansion with the shuttle “Discovery” on its way from NASA. The gallery includes an interactive quiz and has the Presentation Center, camera facilities that enable astronauts, scientists and leaders in the field of space science to provide lectures and demonstrations to people from across the world. Go to: http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal113/mbe/index.cfm

Online resources are available from the National Air and Space Museum website and the Museum itself is able to provide teachers with details and transcripts of the displays. Contact the museum for more information.

http://www.nasm.si.edu/education/teaching_resources.cfm

Online activities:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/education/onlinelearning.cfm

Videoconferencing:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/education/classroom_videoconf.cfm

National Museum of Natural History

National Museum of Natural History

A museum that has everything! Many of the museums displays are interactive and encourage viewers to learn through feeling. Evolution and adaptation were key themes in the animal displays, significant elements in the USA science standards are a significant part of the NSW curriculum in Australia.  Teachers would be able to use this museum to assist in meeting all of the biology outcomes.

There was a display that showed early multicellular life forms. It was set up as a diorama, this would be an excellent way to engage students in how the early Earth looked, have them research multicellular organisms and create their own detailed dioramas.

The display that showed comparison of a prokaryotic a eukaryotic cell was engaging in the way it was set out.  The cells and their labels were 3 dimensional and very large, such that they were eye catching and easy to read. This comparison is a specific outcome of many state’s science curricular in the USA.

The rock display walks visitors through the different types of rocks and how they form. The displays were again very interactive.

The insect exhibit includes a butterfly dome, where visitors walk through hundreds of butterflies. The museum also has an insect zoo, with live insects and an insect petting zoo, children are able to touch and hold various insects including caterpillars, cockroaches and beetles. All of these displays have resulted in a hugely engaging exhibit.

The National Museum of Natural History has websites for educators. The following link is to lesson plans in a variety of biological areas

http://www.mnh.si.edu/education/lessonplans.html

National Museum of American History

National Museum of American History

SparksLab at the National Museum of American History is an interactive science and invention area for children up to the age of 12. There is a small area developed specifically for children up to the age of 5. Museum education officers engage students in a series of science and engineering activities. The activity observed required children to design their own robot, they had to first decide what their robot was going to do. 

In another part of the SparksLab there was a robot with basic circuitry boards on top, this was to assist children in understanding the electronic nature of robots and to allow them have a turn at operating a basic robot. A father and daughter combination built and rebuilt the circuitry boards and experimented with the robots for approximately half an hour while I was at the lab.

Education officers will also do demonstrations that run for 10-15 minutes at a time. The demonstrations are aimed to cater to young visitors and their parents.

The SparksLab does not do specific school group activities anymore. The lab is open to members of the public and if school groups are passing through on a field trip to the museum they are able to join in. In this way children are able to engage in the activities with their families, they don’t have to be with a school group to be involved.

The  Invention at Play section of the museum engaged children, young adults and adults in the process of design and invention. The displays are very interactive and the individuals observed in the exhibit were very engaged.  People are more engaged in learning materials in museums when they are able to manipulate and become immersed in the displays, this happens well when individuals are asked to answer a question or solve a problem.

The National Museum of American History also has lesson plans and activities. The following link is to an online game for linking body parts to a Jerome, a full size anatomical model from the Smithsonian.  http://americanhistory.si.edu/anatomy/bodyparts/nma03_bodyparts.html

Website on polio

http://www.americanhistory.si.edu/polio/virusvaccine/index.htm

The following is a make a constellation activity suggested for K-year 4, but could be altered to be appropriate for NSW year 7 and year 8.  Obviously it would be more appropriate for Australian students would be encouraged to create a constellation of an Australian women.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/ourstory/pdf/telescope/telescope_maker.pdf

The following is an Edison website:

http://invention.smithsonian.org/centerpieces/edison/

National Museum of Crime and Punishment

April 12th

National Museum of Crime and Punishment

Workshops run for groups of school students on forensic science. Students are motivated and engaged in the science involved in solving crime and are encouraged to consider a job as a forensic scientist. 

Teachers receive free entry to the museum at any time, with appropriate identification. The museum recommends teachers use the following website to assist in teaching forensic science in the classroom. The how to part of the website would be particularly useful to teachers.

http://theforensicteacher.com/how_to.html

The “Crime Lab” exhibit at the National Museum of Cre and Punishment contains interactive displays that demonstrate each of the analysis techniques and processes carried out by a forensic scientist. A mock crime and crime scene is set out at the start of the exhibit and each of the analysis techniques described and demonstrated contribute to the crime described being solved. This is a clever, creative and engaging way to demonstrate the use of forensic analysis techniques in solving crime.

Visitors to the museum are able to participate in a crime solving activity throughout their visit, seeking clues as instructed from text, photos and interactive displays. The activity engages visitors in the process of solving crime.