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Hi, Edinburgh has been able to combine a new Museum (Museum of Scotland) with a new built Science Centre (Dynamic Earth). It has been a team project because we work as a complement units. It's a pity it is far away for you to be able to see it, but you can visit the web pages on: http://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/ http://www.nms.ac.uk/ I hope these can help you. Yours, Vicen "Robert M. Ross" wrote: > Michelle, > > I would be delighted to find out what you learn. > > The organization at which I work (the Paleontological Research > Institution, in New York State, US) is now building a new exhibits > facility to be called The Museum of the Earth. We hired on-staff > exhibit designers from a large science center and hired an outside > exhibit design firm that normally works with science centers; these > people work together with the more object-oriented geologists and > paleontologists (like myself) of our organization. The idea is to > combine the best of each world -- to have areas of stunning specimens > (dinosaur models, mastodon skeleton, etc), outstanding natural history > art, and a "Pleistocene garden," woven together with hands-on > open-ended "discovery labs", "object theaters" that combine > audio-visual tracks with museum objects, and interactive computer > stations. We have had to do all of it on a very limited budget (we had > to cut some areas we really wanted!). In the end, the key will be good > educators and education docents working together with visitors to do > interesting things with fossils and rocks, in part to help visitors > play the role of scientists. > > We have found making an interesting and accessible exhibit on geologic > time, and describing concisely how geologic time is measured, to be > very challenging; I am afraid we have not conquered it as we had > hoped. We struggled to do justice to Earth processes, and finally > decided that, instead of using what have come to call "books on the > wall" (excessive text), processes are best approached in dynamic media > -- video, computer graphics, and person-to-person programming. We > don't have much mechanical or electronic wizardry -- it's very > expensive, and perhaps of debatable educational value. For various > reasons (not least of which is our paleontological roots), our > exhibits are organized chronologically through geologic time, with > processes brought in at relevant points in the "narrative." Rather > than treating all times equally, we emphasize several geological > intervals that are well represented by local rock sequences, and use > video and a smaller number of objects to tell the stories that link > through time the highlighted intervals. We are several years into the > planning and construction phase, and it's due to open in late spring > 2003. > > I don't think I've answered your questions, but that's my quick > version of one organization facing some similar issues. > > There was an article in the Journal of Geoscience Education in 2001 > (or 2000?) of some geoscientists from New Zealand who built a wide > variety of "science centery" geoscience exhibits that well illustrated > processes. If you can't get ahold of the article and you're > interested, I'll try to find it. The literature on how to do > geoscience exhibits well in relatively small and scattered, and you > may need to take inspiration from other collections-oriented fields; I > would be interested to learn about what interesting sources you turn > up. > > Best wishes for success, > Rob Ross > > At 3/22/2002 02:26 PM +0000, you wrote: > >> I am currently researching an assignment for the interpretation >> module of a >> heritage management Masters degree at the Ironbridge Institute. I >> aminterested to know if anyone has any ideas/good examples of/knows >> of a >> good book on, how traditional museums with geological collections >> can >> compete with the new purpose built science centres springing up >> around the >> country. How can a low budget local authority museum keep up with >> these >> interactive centres? I would also be interested to hear what you >> feel are >> the concepts about geology that are hardest to get across to the >> general >> public. So far the main stumbling block seems to be the enormity of >> the >> geological time scale, few people can appreciate/understand >> 'millions of >> years'as a concept. Anyway any comments or ideas would be very >> welcome. >> Thank you. > > > Robert M. Ross > Director of Education > Paleontological Research Institution > 1259 Trumansburg Road > Ithaca, NY 14850 > U.S.A. > tel: 01 607 273 6623 x18 > FAX: 01 607 273 6620 > email: [log in to unmask] > PRI website: <www.priweb.org> >