Continuing our survey of museums serving distance audiences, we will take a look at the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts. MOS offers a variety of resources to serve distance audiences.
Podcasts:
MOS offers weekly podcasts of interviews with guest researchers and the museum’s staff on a variety of topics about the latest in science and technology.
Videocasts:
The museum created videocast from 2006-2010. Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t seem to be producing them anymore, but the archive is available online.
Virtual Exhibits:
Podcasts:
MOS offers weekly podcasts of interviews with guest researchers and the museum’s staff on a variety of topics about the latest in science and technology.
Videocasts:
The museum created videocast from 2006-2010. Unfortunately, the museum doesn’t seem to be producing them anymore, but the archive is available online.
Virtual Exhibits:
Eight different virtual exhibits are available online covering topics from Leonardo DaVinci’s contributions to science to electron microscopes.
Traveling Programs:
If a local group or organization cannot make it to the museum on a field trip, a museum educator can come to an off-site venue and give a variety of entertaining public programs. Topics include the science of popular magic tricks in “Science Magic” and how people have interpreted the night sky over the centuries in “One Sky, Many Stories.” These programs are geared towards non-school programs, such as public libraries, camps, and senior groups.
The Museum of Science offers a large number of school programs. They have programs for small groups or individual classes to school-wide assembly-style programs. MOS charges for these programs, but has a scholarship program.
I think outreach programs are very common among zoos and science museums as a part of that institution's distance learning program. I wonder if there has been a study comparing the cost of an institution investing in technology for on-site distant leaning versus the cost for an institution to travel to off-site programs. Obviously with zoos, there is nothing more valuable than taking a live animal into a classroom, but that does have limitations as to what can be offered in the program.
ReplyDeleteThe MOS certainly seems to have taken its distance learning program seriously! It's nice to see that they have traveling programs that are for groups of adults and not just school children (although such programs are important too!).
ReplyDeleteClearly there are limitations to how far a traveling exhibit can reasonably go from the museum. But having strong virtual exhibits and online content can be great for the visitors who, for whatever reason, can't make the trip to the museum itself.
Two thumbs way up for giving a shout out to the awesome MoS!
ReplyDeleteI think my favorite traveling program is their SkyLab, a giant inflatable planetarium that they take to schools and other interested groups. It looks like an igloo - you crawl inside and the night sky is project up onto the dome around you. It's truly unforgettable!
And in response to Shauna's post - I know the MoS traveling programs have gone up to Maine and even down here to DC! They can't go everywhere, but they can still reach a pretty big audience. :)