# Presentation: 647429

## The Exploratorium at 35

- Past, Present and Future
- Rob Semper
- Executive Associate Director
- Workshop on Education and Outreach
- Aspen Center for Physics
- June 28, 2004 - July 9, 2004

- © Exploratorium

## Exploratorium

**Notes:**
35 years ago this August doors opened
Unique educational institution in San Francisco
Discuss the past, present and future
Laboratory for the development of learner centered experience

## 1969

## Dr. Frank Oppenheimer1912-1985

- Dr. Frank Oppenheimer1912-1985

**Notes:**
Exploratorium story of one person’s vision 
Physicist and science educator Cal Tech 1939 PhD
Cosmic ray experimentalist, worked with brother on the Manhattan
Lost his position at the U of Minnesota 1949
Cattle rancher in Pagosa Springs HS teacher, science fair
1961 U of Colorado science education undergraduate freshman physics laboratory, elementary science education
Intrigued with museum possibilities

## Slide 5

**Notes:**
Physicist and science educator Cal Tech 1939 PhD
Cosmic ray experimentalist, worked with brother on the Manhattan
Lost his position at the U of Minnesota 1949

## Slide 6

**Notes:**
Cattle rancher in Pagosa Springs HS teacher, science fair
1961 U of Colorado science education undergraduate freshman physics laboratory, elementary science education
Intrigued with museum possibilities Smithsonian conference 1965
Curator 1968

“There have been many attempts to bridge the gap between the experts and the laymen. The attempts have involved books, magazine articles, television programs and general science courses in schools. But such attempts, although valuable, are at a disadvantage because they lack props; they require apparatus which people can see and handle and which display phenomena which people can turn on and off and vary at will. Explaining science and technology without props can resemble an attempt to tell what it is like to swim without ever letting a person near the water. There is thus a growing need for an environment in which people can become familiar with the details of science and technology and begin to gain some understanding by controlling and watching the behavior of laboratory apparatus and machinery; such a place can arouse their latent curiosity and can provide at least partial answers.”

## A Rationale For A Science Museum

- “There have been many attempts to bridge the gap between the experts and the laymen. The attempts have involved books, magazine articles, television programs and general science courses in schools. But such attempts, although valuable, are at a disadvantage because they lack props; they require apparatus which people can see and handle and which display phenomena which people can turn on and off and vary at will. Explaining science and technology without props can resemble an attempt to tell what it is like to swim without ever letting a person near the water. There is thus a growing need for an environment in which people can become familiar with the details of science and technology and begin to gain some understanding by controlling and watching the behavior of laboratory apparatus and machinery; such a place can arouse their latent curiosity and can provide at least partial answers.”
- 			- FRANK OPPENHEIMER  Curator 11 (3) 1968

**Notes:**
Invited to a meeting at the Smithsonian to discuss museums - 
Visited the worlds science museums on leave
Decided to create a public museum space
“There have been many attempts to bridge the gap between the experts and the laymen. The attempts have involved books, magazine articles, television programs and general science courses in schools. But such attempts, although valuable, are at a disadvantage because they lack props; they require apparatus which people can see and handle and which display phenomena which people can turn on and off and vary at will. Explaining science and technology without props can resemble an attempt to tell what it is like to swim without ever letting a person near the water. There is thus a growing need for an environment in which people can become familiar with the details of science and technology and begin to gain some understanding by controlling and watching the behavior of laboratory apparatus and machinery; such a place can arouse their latent curiosity and can provide at least partial answers.”
Boston or San Francisco

## Science History Museums

- Developed in 1700’s
- Ashmolean Museum - Oxford
- National Museum for the History of Science - Leyden
- Instituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza - Florence
- Collection of historical scientific objects

- Ashmolean Museum
- Oxford 1683

**Notes:**
Science museums existed 
Quick history foundation for Exploratorium
Not about planetaria

## Technical Museums

- Created world-wide in 1800’s
- Musee des Arts and Metiers - Paris
- Franklin Institute - Philadelphia
- Science Museum - London
- Exhibits of machines, instruments and models
- Industrial fairs of 1850-1900 stimulated technical museums in Prague, Vienna, Washington, and Munich

- Musee des Arts and Metiers
- Paris 1794

## Science and Industry Museums

- Developed during first half of 20th century
- Deutsches Museum - Munich
- Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago
- Franklin Institute - Philadelphia
- Historical artifacts, working models and participatory exhibits
- Focus on science and technology

- Deutsches Museum
- Munich 1906

## Science Centers

- Developed mainly in second half of 20th century
- Palais de la Découverte - Paris
- Evoluon - Eindhoven
- Japan Science Foundation -Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka
- Outgrowth of Worlds Fair exhibitions
- Pacific Science Center - Seattle
- Experimental demonstrations of scientific principles

- Palais de la Découverte
- (Palace of Discovery) 1937

## Educational Centers

- Started 1968-69
- Educational exhibits with no object collections
- Some developments informed by formal science curriculum development
- Exploratorium - San Francisco
- Lawrence Hall of Science - Berkeley
- Other developments informed by experiential design
- Ontario Science Center - Toronto

- Exploratorium
-   Lawrence Hall of Science
-     Ontario Science Centre

**Notes:**
1956 Zacharias, Friedman, Morrison PSSC Physical Science Study Committee
1960 Frank ESS Elementary Science Study
1963 Karplus SCIS Science Curriculum Improvement Study
Lawrence Hall of Science UC Berkeley

## The Palace of Fine Arts

**Notes:**
Back to Frank
Where to put his museum Boston or SF
Community of scientists
SF friends supported building search

## Slide 14

**Notes:**
Frank looks at Boston, NYC and San Francisco
Science friends
Empty building

## 1970’s

**Notes:**
Frank and a band of young scientists, tinkerers, artists and educators began to build the Explo
Visits by scientists
Phil Morrison, Edward Conden, Pief Panofsky, Louis Alverez, Robert Wilson
Vikki Wesikopf

## SLAC Garden of Anodes

## Exhibit Development Shop

## Interactive Exhibits

- Direct experience with natural phenomena
- Focus on perception and the phenomena of nature
- Aesthetic dimension
- Social interaction

## Colored Shadow Wall

**Notes:**
Dramatic color mixing play

## Distorted Room

**Notes:**
Perception key Dove prism Optics

## Momentum Machine

**Notes:**
Physical experience

## Sun Painting

**Notes:**
Art and science

## Tornado

## Exhibition Development

- In-house exhibit development process
- Development process visible to the public
- Educationally based
- Staff of scientists, educators, designers and builders
- Topics
- Perception, light, sound, waves, resonance, mechanics, electricity, heat, language, neurobiology, genetics, animal behavior, exponentials, complexity, mathematics

- Exploratorium Machine Shop

**Notes:**
Exhibit ideas from staff, visiting scientists and artists
Teaching demos scaled up, research results made robust
Real phenomena - few models
Physics ends 1905 perception and life science much later

## High School Explainers

## Skateboarding Event

## Exploratorium Cookbook

## Public Exhibition

- 6,000 sq mt of open exhibition space
- 500,000 annual visitors
- 2/3 older than 21 years
- 50% family groups
- Current Focus
- Seeing
- Hearing
- Traits of Life
- Mind and Learning
- Matter World

- Catenary Arch

**Notes:**
Phenomena, context, life science age of physics/biology

## Extending the Exploratorium Beyond its Walls

- Publishing
- Internet
- Exported Exhibits

- ExploraBook

**Notes:**
Experience beyond the walls of the museum
Extend the audience
Explorabook 1,000,000

## www.exploratorium.edu

**Notes:**
Connect a distant audience to the museum environment
17,000,000 annual online visitors
Create on-line educational experiences
Support K-12 education

## Science of Music

## Webcast Studio

**Notes:**
Pioneer 10 Flyby of Jupiter December 3, 1973
Webcast-Website project Live @ the Exploratorium
Remote on-line  fieldtrips to worldwide scientific locations and events
Webcast studio serves as production hub and exhibit
Produce events for individuals and museums

## Slide 33

## Origins

**Notes:**
Elementary particles - CERN (Geneva) 
Astrophysics - Hubble Space Telescope (Baltimore) 
Life in Extreme Environments - McMurdo Station and South Pole Station (Antarctica)
Biodiversity - Las Cuevas Research Station, (Belize) and The Natural History Museum, (London)
Genetics - Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (New York)
Astrobiology - Arecibo Observatory and NASA Astrobiology Laboratory (Mountain View)

## Wireless Electronic Guidebook

**Notes:**
Media research
NSDL

## Supporting K-12 Education

- School in the Exploratorium 1974
- Museum environment supporting science teacher development
- Staff, exhibits and space creating a professional home for teachers

- Teacher Workshop

## Institute for Inquiry

## Teacher Institute

## Iron Science Teacher

## A PARTNERSHIP OF THE EXPLORATORIUM
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ
KING'S COLLEGE LONDON

**UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ**
**KING'S COLLEGE LONDON**

**CILS is funded by the National Science Foundation, with generous support from NEC Foundation of America and the Noyce Foundation**

- Center for Informal Learning and Schools

**Notes:**
NSF CLT
Potential alliances between formal and informal science learning
Enhance the professional practice of informal science educators 
Develop new leaders in science education 
Create a new body of knowledge 

## CILS Landscape

**Notes:**
ILC program 140
PhD program 33
Post Doc 7
What are the unique features of content, pedagogy and design that informal science institutions have to offer the educational enterprise?
What institutional developmental processes and points of view are important for the creation of useful  educational materials and strategies?
How can the educational system as a whole make better use of informal science institutional capabilities?

## Exploratorium Network for Exhibit-based Teaching (ExNET)

- Partnership with 8 North American museums
- Using  exhibits to support education
- 35 interactive exhibits - 400 sq. mt.
- Sets rotate annually
- Knowledge exchange between partners

- www.exploratorium.edu/partner

**Notes:**
80 museums sold
network

## Exploratorium Today

- 300 staff
- $25M annual budget
- Three centers of activity
- Center for Public Exhibition
- Center for Museum Partnership
- Center for Learning and Teaching
- R & D center in science education for the public and schools

- Dr. Goéry Delacôte Executive Director 1991 -

**Notes:**
Physicist and Science Educator
Assumed directorship in 1991
Background in science information, school reform and science museums
Interest in research, network and K-12 educational reform
Three centers afterschoool

## Mission Statement

- “The Exploratorium’s mission is to create a culture of learning through the creation of innovative environments, programs and tools that help people nurture their curiosity about the world around them.”

**Notes:**
Institution of research, development and exploration not just presentation

## Slide 45