T16 Earth System Science in Museums: Tapping the Potential to Engage the General Public in the Complexity of the Earth

Sunday, 31 October 2010
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Room 405

THE SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY MUSEUM'S HALL OF GEOLOGICAL WONDERS - SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA'S NEWEST VENUE FOR TEACHING EARTH SYSTEM SCIENCE

Paper number: T16-14
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 11:15 AM – 11:30 AM

Authors

Abstract

The San Bernardino County Museum in Redlands, California is currently completing exhibits in a new 12,000-square-foot, three-story expansion: the Hall of Geological Wonders. Planned exhibitions explore the American southwest from a geologic perspective, carefully making connections with other disciplines such as biology, anthropology, physics, chemistry and math. Exhibits are united by a consistent emphasis on geologic processes, as well as on science as an ongoing intellectual pursuit. The richness of our natural resources prescribes regional distribution of floras, faunas, and human populations; our exhibits showcase how geology is ultimately responsible for the distribution of these natural resources. We recreate past environments, encouraging patrons to contemplate implications of changing landscapes in deep time and reflect on future habitats for humanity. Because southern California’s startling topography results from our most notorious geologic feature, the San Andreas fault system, we fully relate this to humans and their environment. Exhibits explore the importance of science in everyday life, emphasizing the concept of science as a process and encouraging visitors to make connections. Exhibits are designed in tandem with state K-12 curriculum standards, ensuring pertinent, focused, and rewarding educational experiences.

We devote significant space in the new Hall to explaining the evolution of southern California’s landscape. The emergence of plate tectonics theory is placed in the context of scientific discovery via the scientific method. Visitors will observe the nearby San Andreas fault zone from our “Earth's Cylinder” – below ground in a re-created paleoseismic trench across the fault, and above ground from a viewing tower. Visitors will also experience a simulated earthquake in a recreated mountain cabin in our immersive “San Andreas Fault Earthquake Experience”. In this manner, the San Andreas fault is interpreted in a way no other museum ever has attempted, while also encouraging earthquake awareness and preparedness. Learning about the titanic geologic forces at work beneath their feet - forces that explain the shape of the Earth, its landforms, and its sometimes violent nature – visitors will come to recognize the significance of these forces in shaping their own region.