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.
Online activities:
Videoconferencing:
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