Planning Grant: Texas Pre-history: How Do We Know?

July 1st, 1997 - June 30th, 1998 | PROJECT

The Ft. Worth Museum of Science and History will plan activities related to their proposed exhibit "Texas Pre-History: How Do We Know?" This will be a 10,000 sq. ft. permanent exhibit along with a traveling exhibit and education program menu and will feature a constructivist approach to inquiry-based learning focusing on archaeological and paleontological fieldwork being carried out in Texas today. Research sites prominently featured in the exhibit will be several early Cretaceous dinosaur sites excavated by paleontologists Louis Jacobs, and Dale Winkler, Southern Methodist University, and archaeological sites from early Clovis and Dalton Periods being excavated under the direction of archeologist Reid Ferring, University of North Texas. The exhibits and complementary activities will explore the questions a) what is being learned about the prehistory of Texas b) how do scientists interpret their findings and c) what don't we know? With this planning grant, they will conduct extensive front end studies to identify key questions that visitors will have when they come to the exhibit. Meetings with advisors to develop a conceptual plan for the exhibit and educational materials. During these sessions such questions as the following will be explored. A) "How can the Museum pre-design multiple mysteries and outcomes to satisfy the interest of diverse visitors...", b) can the museum combine paleontology and archaeology without perpetuating the naive notion that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time, c) what materials and policies will be developed to handle the creationism vs evolution that might arise, and d) how will the challenges of circulating the traveling exhibit be addressed? Museum staff will travel to other museums to examine model exhibits, and project staff will work with teachers to develop project-related formal education programs.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Project Products

A Front-End Evaluation of Texas Prehistory: How Do We Know?

Team Members

James Diffily, Principal Investigator, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 9712014
Funding Amount: 50000

Tags

Audience: General Public | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Geoscience and geography | History | policy | law | Nature of science | Social science and psychology
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits