The two exhibits that I chose to observe were the Rainforest Diorama and the Solutions Wall. The Rainforest Diorama showed a depiction of the Dzanga Ndoki Rainforest that can be found in the Central African Republic. According to the American Museum of Natural History website, there are over 160 flora and fauna species found in this rainforest. At the exhibit, there were tall trees with monkeys sitting on the top. There were videos of elephants walking in the background of the rainforest. There was also a long ledge extending through the exhibit that had different texts as well as little books and screens attached to it for people to interact with the exhibit and learn new things. The text addressed how the rainforest is under various threats such as logging and poaching.

This exhibit does a good job of allowing people to interact with it, especially children. 115 people passed through this diorama during the 15 minutes that I observed it. The first group of 35 children stood by the exhibit with their teacher for a few minutes and answered questions on the worksheet they had. Many of them showed a lot of enthusiasm by pointing to the monkeys in the tree and crouching down to get a better look at the ground of the rainforest. Another teacher with her group of students asked them to find any animals. Most of the people viewing the exhibit spent a lot of their time looking at the rainforest diorama itself rather than the writing on the ledge.

The other exhibit that I observed was the Solutions Wall. The Solutions Wall teaches the public about ways to reduce the threats that are made on biodiversity. I focused on the section entitled Laws and Regulations. These laws and regulations are for the conservation of biodiversity. In total, 96 people passed by this exhibit, and most of them did not stop to read the wall of the Laws and Regulations. There were a couple of computers in each area that allowed people to watch videos, but I did not see anyone watch them. The seats were used for sitting and resting rather than watching the videos. The wall on the opposite side had many television screens with videos that some people did stop to watch. This was actually a different exhibit called Transformation of the Biosphere Wall.

When comparing both exhibits, the Rainforest Diorama definitely attracted more visitors and had them interact more with the display. The different components of the rainforest and the darkness in that area made it a more exciting experience. The dark lighting could have been the reason why there was less people reading the descriptions on the ledge. There was some writing on the clear wall but it was difficult to read. The benches that were in front of the exhibit were also beneficial and allowed people to sit and stare at the rainforest for as long as they wanted. Overall, I think the Hall of Biodiversity was successful in providing ways to educate the public about biodiversity, the threats that are put on biodiversity around the world, and what can be done to conserve biodiversity. The only problem was getting the visitors interested in learning about these things which can be solved by providing better ways for people to interact with the exhibit rather than just reading what is on the walls. The multitude of species that hung from the ceiling on strings was really amazing and made the walk through the hall much more fun.