Page curated by Grace Lyons and Xiwen Liu
The Museum of Natural History has for a long time been a staple Smithsonian visit for many. Full of exhibits filled with fossils, animals, and beautiful gemstones this museum will take up an entire afternoon. I remember visiting countless times when I was younger, always excited to see the whale, the giant squid, and dinosaurs. The appeal of this museum is still evident because the concept of the main exhibits have not rotated much. Audiences have an expectation of what they will see.
One display I found interesting was in the Ocean Hall. Beyond the floating whales and jellyfish, there was a small fish tank called "Making Art to Save the Ocean" (picture 2-3 left). The display was created fully out of trash that would typically end up in the ocean. It was visually very enticing, specifically the vibrancy of the orange turtle. As well, it brings in another message of taking care of our environment. (Grace Lyons)
All species of homo sapiens
"What does it mean to be human?" This is the question the exhibition of Human Origin wants to answer. The exhibition leads us to over the past 6 million years and traces how we evolved the unique traits that distinguish our species. Through the history of evolution, the audience could see that the history of the human being is just a small part of the earth, even just a small part of animals' evolution. There was a whole tree species of Homo sapiens that occurred before the modern human we know today.
However, the most important message that the exhibition wants to pass is that we human beings on the earth today are the same as each other. There could be differences that we regard as huge in our society, but they are only traits that are facial. We come from the same origin with the same ancestor, evolved from the complicated world, become the only species of homo sapiens that are still alive today. We are connected to each other. (Xiwen Liu)
KIDS
LOVE
THIS
MUSEUM!!
Kids love this museum. There are panels to slide, buttons to push, drawers to open, and many of the exhibits AND the sinks in the bathroom are positioned for little kids. At right are a couple of the bigger kids in the museum just as fascinated with the exhibits as the young folks. Kudos to Mike Blum from William & Mary's Studio for Teaching and Learning Innovation who spent the day with us and got us launched on collectively authoring a website
Fossil Hall