THE EXHIBITIONS

Introduction

In this section of the report, we will discuss the overall quality of the exhibitions produced by the collaborative. As we mentioned earlier, each of the five museums produced a roughly 1,500 square foot exhibition.

List of Components

In addition to the components included in each exhibition at the time of our summative site visits that we have listed below, there are also complementary materials, such as photographs and posters, which are included in the exhibitions.

  Ann Arbor: Clothing - Science from Head to Toe

From Ewe to You: About where natural fibers come from.

Try it On: Helmets, lab coats and protective vests kids can try on.

Magnifiber: A video microscope that allows visitors to study fabrics and fibers.

Identifiber: A matching game where visitors try to guess what kind of material a fabric sample is made from.

Be-weave It or Not: Visitors make different types of weaves.

All Charged Up: Visitors experience how different types of materials generate static electricity.

Static Free: Visitors experience how to eliminate static electricity.

Gotta Hand it To You: Visitors learn about manual dexterity with different types of protective gloves.

Hook the Loop: A Wentzscope that allows visitors to get an up-close look at velcro.

Giant Zipper: Visitors see how a zipper works.

Sticky Situation: A giant Velcro wall.

Pre-school area: An enclosed area where pre-schoolers can play with different fasteners.

Insulation: About different types of insulation.

Keep out the Cold: Visitors experience how different types of materials protect hands from the cold.

Windbreakers: Visitors experiment with different types of fabrics that let different amounts of air through.

Fencer: Visitors learn about high-tech clothing.

Reflection Room: Several components allowing visitors to experiment with and see microscopically how different types of reflective materials work.

  Catawba: Dirt - the Story of Soil

Entry kiosks: Exhibits showing different soil samples and enlarged pictures of critters found in soil.

Mole Tunnel: A crawl-through tunnel.

Erosion: Visitors experience how different types of soil arrangements (grass-covered, terraced) allow for different amounts of erosion.

Filtration Station: Visitors see how septic systems work and different drainage configurations clean the water.

Strata Boxes: A matching game about the different layers of soil.

Separation Station: Several activities involving "sieving" dirt into different sized particles, and how the configuration of those particles affects volume.

Hydrangea: An exhibit about different soil types and their effect on plants.

Worms: A worm farm with magnifying glasses for closer examination of worms.

Dirt USA: An exhibit illustrating the different types of soils found throughout the country.

Compost Zoo: Visitors look at compost and use a video microscope to see what lives in the compost.

Touch Station: A matching game about different types of particles.

Microscope Stations: Brock scopes that allow for a closer look at soil types.

Percolation Station: Visitors experiment with drainage through different sized particles of soil.

Sedimentation Station: An exhibit about how soil filters through water into different layers.

Compu-dirt: Two computer programs - one showing different types of soil in different regions, and the other about worms.

Dirty Art: A station that allows visitors to use gloves and make things from clay.

Stream Table: Visitors experiment with different water and soil patterns in an open-ended fashion.

  Discovery Center: Amusement Park Science

Bumper Blaster: Two cars attached to horizontal tracks that "race" each other; they are hit with a pendulum, and the one with the longer pendulum goes farther and faster, demonstrating Newton's 2nd Law of Acceleration.

Magnetic Circus: An exhibit that demonstrates that, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Visitors can spin a knob that moves magnets, which attract and repel each other.

Annenberg/CPB Amusement Park Physics: A computer exhibit where visitors can "make" their own amusement park rides, and which the computer rates for safety and fun factors.

K'nex Display: Colorful plastic models of a roller coaster, a ferris wheel, and other amusement park rides.

K'nex Parts Work Area: A table with K'nex pieces of all kinds, where visitors can build rides that are there as models, or make their own creations.

Create a Coaster: Matchbox car track attached to wooden bases. Visitors can make their own coasters by putting various pieces of track together.

The Rotor: An exhibit that simulates a rotor in an amusement park; demonstrates centripetal force.

Bump-o-Rama: Set up like an air hockey table, this is intended to model bumper cars, and shows how, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Roller Coaster Video: Visitors stand in front of this monitor, which shows a video of a roller coaster from the perspective of a passenger.

Wild Wheels Roadblock: Two cars with passengers in them, attached to tracks that are placed at an angle; when visitors slide them to the top and let go, gravity pulls the cars back down, throwing the drivers forward when the cars hit the "roadblock."

Momentum Machine: A spinning table with a pole in the middle to hang on to; visitors can see how sticking out their leg affects their motion (slowing them down).

  Montshire: AirPlay

Aeolian Landscape: A replica of a Ned Kahn piece with a fan for visitors to turn to make different patterns in sand.

Tube Tunnels: Tubes that visitors can connect in different configurations and direct balls through with air.

Fluid Flow: An air hose that visitors can direct at flutter disks to create patterns they can then watch.

Fabric: An entry panel with fluttering fabric.

Air Maze: A challenge where visitors move balls through different maze configurations by controlling air flow.

Air Race: Visitors race two balls in two different tracks of equal length but different shape to see how turbulence affects air flow.

Air Cannon: Visitors shoot a donut of air across the room at flutter disks, or at other visitors.

Air In/Air Out: An exhibit that allows visitors to see how a vacuum cleaner works.

Ball Floaters: A set of pneumatic tubes that visitors can experiment with balancing balls, shooting balls, etc.

Hand Crank: An exhibit about generating air power by hand.

Sailboats: Visitors adjust the sail on a sailboat to get it to sail on different paths.

  Sciencenter: Fun, 2, 3, 4 - All About a Number of Things

Time Challenge: Visitors race the clock and each other in estimating 15 seconds.

Age/Height Histogram: Visitors place sticker dots on a tall histogram for their height and age, comparing themselves with other visitors.

How Many Hands is a Horse: Visitors use their hands to measure a horse.

Weigh Out: A challenge where visitors line up blocks based on the blocks' weight.

Superbowl: Visitors roll balls to light up a bell curve as well as other types of curves.

Measurement Factory: Visitors enter data about themselves and generate graphs that allow themselves to compare their height, age and weight with other visitors.

Double the Doggie: Visitors use Leggo-like blocks to try to "double" a model of a dog.

Cool Curves: A computer kiosk where visitors learn about different types of curves.

Aztec Counting: Visitors learn about how the Aztecs counted by making rubbing patterns.

Double Your Allowance: Visitors feel the difference between getting a fixed allowance over 12 weeks versus an allowance that grows exponentially.

How Many is a Million: Visitors turn a crank to see gear wheels rotate and learn about place value as they try to get the final wheel to one million turns.

Dinosaur: Visitors use their feet to measure the length of a dinosaur.

Thick or Thin: Visitors experience the "thin-ness" of different materials.

  [Next: Evaluation of these exhibits]