On the trip to the American Museum of Natural History, I realized that not everyone takes advantage of the plethora of knowledge that awaits for them.

As a visual learner myself, I immediately gravitated towards the video that was playing and sat on one of the three (unoccupied) benches provided. The video being displayed was part of the Bio Bulletin, which “covers stories about ongoing research related to biology and conservation” and had a duration of 12 mins. I found the video very interesting and informative, and it covered 2 topics. I watched a clip of researchers in Madagascar taking samples of the native creatures (mainly reptiles) in order to find out why speciation has been occurring so much in the area. The other clip was a map of the world which then zoomed on the U.S. and demonstrated how fire season is now starting earlier, lasting longer, and causing more destruction. Despite this video being engrossing and very easy to understand, not a single person passed by to watch the video.

I then moved to the Resource Center, which included interactive and non-interactive videos. This section was in the rear of the Hall of Biodiversity, so I decided to stay a little longer in this section to observe who walked by. In a span of about 25-30 mins, only a small family came into the area. There were 3 children about ages 6-8, and their father. The video being played was on overharvesting of oceans. The children gazed in awe of the images of the hundreds of dead fish, and the dolphins and birds that get caught in the enormous nets. The father explained to them that “they aren’t using the right methods to fish and are overfishing”.  The children watched the video and were able to observe this themselves. “They’re killing the dolphins! They’re fishing, but the dolphins are getting killed!” one of the boys said. The children seemed excited to watch more of the video, but unfortunately the dad said they were “taking too long” and they moved to another display. The total time they had spent there was approximately 4 mins. Given its location further back in the Hall of Biodiversity, the Resource Center was not as popular as I thought it would be.

I then decided to visit the “Rainforest room”. It was a beautifully decorated room and there were quite a few people coming into this area. First saw a teacher and 6 students of hers. They were fascinated by how the room was decorated and spent a few minutes, maybe 5 or 6. There were flip books that classified different species, but I think the kids enjoyed the motion of flipping through it as opposed t o actually reading what was on the pages. Two of the children stopped for a moment to look at one of the videos that was being displayed on a small screen. The teacher began guiding them out of the room and said “they aren’t really reading it”. After the small class leaves, 8 couples varying in age came into the rainforest room, but only one couple actually took their time to observe and read the information that was being relayed in the Ecotourism video.

Overall, videos seemed the best way to make the information more accessible to patrons, because very few people stopped to actually read any text that was provided. Also, the lighting in the Resource Center and Rainforest room was quite dim and even I had a hard time reading some of the text, so that may have contributed to my findings. The message of conservation was definitely there – even the child watching the fishing video noticed it. All in all, if one takes the time to look at everything provided in the Hall of Biodiverity, they would see that it is quite effective in educating patrons about biodiversity and conservation.