I chose to examine “Diving for Pearls” and “Dolphin and Tuna.” “Diving for Pearls” was trying to give people a general overview of reef ecosystems and how people rely on the ocean for resource and luxury goods like pearls. Twenty-eight people visited the exhibit during the fifteen minutes I was there. Most of the patrons walk by with blank looks on their faces and spent less then 30 seconds looking at the exhibit, those people also avoided looking at the reading material at all costs. The only people who stopped to read the exhibit for more than a minute where men age 40+. Patrons rarely discuss the exhibits but many mothers will try to get their children interested by saying “Look the boys are diving for pearls” or pointing out other details. I personally found the information in the exhibit very interesting, and was disappointed that so many people just walked by without learning anything. Pearl Diving is a large industry in the Indian Ocean and often employs children to work in hazardous conditions as deep-sea free divers, based on that alone the exhibit deserved more attention. The exhibit was well designed but during the 15 minutes I was standing there it occurred to me that most people don’t want to read especially during their leisure time. A possible way of getting their attention is by installing headphone jacks, most people have headphones and listening is a more passive process.

“Dolphins and Tuna” educates people on how dolphins and tuna interact in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Both species hunt together, which puts dolphins at risk of being killed by tuna fishermen. 23 people visited the exhibit, and patrons reacted in more or less the same way. People occasionally took pictures of the exhibit, the reading seldom received attention, a child touched a dolphin skeleton hand although I doubt she knew that it was to illustrate that dolphins evolved form land mammals and nobody was there to tell her. This exhibit can also be improved by installing headphone jacks and audio recordings.

I felt that both exhibits placed the right amount of focus on conservation and biodiversity. Each exhibit educated patrons about various aspects of its environment and then briefly described the ways humans threaten it. If more focus were placed on conservation it would take away from the learning experience. The hall of biodiversity is well designed and engaging, maybe even a little too engaging; in the hall of ocean life I heard one mother say to another “Bobby (a little boy) is scared by the noises and darkness, lets go upstairs.” Overall I had a great time at the museum and wish I’d arrived earlier, it was a nice to break out of my routine and observing people was an interesting experience.