On Monday afternoon, I strolled from the subway station at the 81st Street stop filled with intrigue as my eyes glanced at the enormous, intricately designed building that lay ahead of me. Since the last time I had visited the American Museum of Natural History was when I was four, I was excited to finally be able to walk through the halls of this famed museum. As I passed through security, I was awed to realize that my “Night at the Museum” impression of the museum was just a silly understatement of the true grandeur of the AMNH.
After twirling around in 360°s for five minutes and allowing my shock to subside, I slowly made my way down to the Hall of Biodiversity, which displayed the richness of life on planet earth and the dangers that are a menace to it. The displayed that I chose to closely watch were the Dzanga Sangha Rain Forest exhibit and the Solutions Wall.
The Dzanga Sangh Rain Forest exhibit delineates the various species that reside in this Central African rainforest, including gorillas and elephants, along with other species of birds, mammals, and so on. This diorama gives the viewer a glimpse of how the forest itself looks and sounds like. It also raises awareness of the issues that threaten the forest, such as deforestation and trade.
Before entering the Dzanga Sangha Rain Forest exhibit, I noticed a class of fourth graders sitting on benches as their teacher explainedthe importance of an introductory video about conservation. I became aware of the divergences in attention span within one age group; as some kids paid attention and took notes, others simply looked around, unaware of the significance of the message. This class of 23 fourth graders also visited the rainforest exhibit first, and their teacher gave them the assignment of recording down four things that they’ve learned from each exhibition. Only 13 kids were somewhat attentive. While most of the girls were interested in learning about organisms of the Dzanga Sangha Rain Forest, many boys simply refused to get off the benches till their teacher prodded them. The teacher was rather tolerant and seemed genuinely concerned about the education of her kids as she pointed out to interesting videos and flip books that contained enlightening information about the species within this forest. Still, many boys were only interested in competing to find a certain organisms such as the tree pangolin and the great blue turaco, while many girls took their time looking through informational videos and captions.
(Tree Pangolin)
I noticed that partners tended to seek knowledge of these creatures in an efficient manner, whereas larger groups that contained three or more members acted childishly and chaotically. Older kids who worked alone were relatively efficient as well because they were more capable of narrowing the abundance of information that was given to a few important, overarching bullet points. Along with these school children, a family of three, including a six-year-old daughter, wandered through this exhibit. However after a minute the family sat down on the bench and began creating small talk, ignoring the videos and flipbooks provided. The parents, unlike the teacher, did not pressure their daughter as much to actively learn something from this exhibit. It was interesting to see this trend that visiting the AMNH and learning is fostered more in a classroom situation that in a family vacation situation. Lastly, I observed a tour with three adults who sat on the benches across the diorama as the tour guide gave brief overview of how the museum attempted to create a room that simulates the Central African rainforest. In this overview, the tour guide mentioned many fun facts such as how the museum created around 411,000 leaves for this display. However, the adults themselves did not bother to stand up and look around themselves at the display descriptions and interactive videos, unfortunately.
Even though there was a wide range of responses to this rainforest display, I felt as if the simulation appealed to many sensory perceptions through its 3D structures and the sounds of rainforest creatures. It allowed its visitors to actively look for creatures that were hidden in this display, and it provided enough information through its videos/flipbooks without being overbearing.
The Solutions Wall focused on the human effects on the environment and how the visitors themselves can contribute in the conservation of nature. To educate the visitors on how they can make a difference in their daily lives, this wall displays many case studies that give examples of various ways to propagate conservation. This section of the hall also provided many desks where the visitors could sit and watch interactive videos that brought up various topics such as climate change, the importance of dungeon beetles, and so on.
At the Protection and Restoration section the Solutions Wall, 5-6 children crowded around a screen that discussed about how dungeon beetles mediate methane. While the girls were more silent and attentive to how dung from livestock attract beetles, many boys complained how the girls were taking too long in writing down information. In the Reposting on Biodiversity section, the “crazy ant invasion” captured four boys attention, but some fooling around and bullying ensued unfortunately. While boys tended to randomly push buttons and move on, girls show more of an outward desire to learn.
I really loved the Solutions Wall because it had a lot more interactive components and that intrigued the children who stopped by. The video’s pause button allowed the kids to watch the videos at their own pace. The set up, in which the wall was split into many sections with their own desks, was ingenious because it prevented children from overcrowding stations the way that they did in the rainforest display. Nevertheless, like the rainforest display, competition was the motivation to learn for some of the children who stopped by.
Overall, the Hall of Biodiversity was a very education experience that had just the right amount of information in correlation to its visual and interactive components. Through its elaborate displays, it increased the awe factor, thereby increasing it the attention drawn to the issues they were conveying. I, myself, had a wonderful experience at AMNH, and I hope to stop by with some friends soon!
