NASW: Tuesday

[danaeris]

Tuesday those who were already in town attended one of two field trips. I went on the museum field trip.

We began by visiting the new Marian Koshland Science Museum, where we started with a lecture detailing how they designed the museum and the goals they had in doing so. Interestingly, this museum is gathering some data for scientific analysis, rather than just displaying what is already known for the perusal of guests. The data pertains, in fact, to interactions with the guests.

After the lecture, we were separated into groups according to topic. Each group had an hour to design an exhibit on their topic, and then after a brief break, we presented our plans. It was an informative experience. I've wondered at times what it would be like to work at a science museum. This gave me a sense of how much fun it could be.

Once these presentations were concluded, we proceeded to the International Spy Museum, which we toured in the usual fashion. Although we had two hours, I didn't find that I had enough time to cover all of the exhibits I was hoping to see before I left -- even though I skipped those which did not interest me. It was an educational visit, and I learned a lot about espionage throughout history. As one might expect, parts of the museum were cheesy, but nonetheless, fun.

I don't know what happened on the other field trip, but I'd say that although the afternoon was fun and informative, I wouldn't break my neck to make it to the field trips next year -- if I can, great, but if I can't, I won't.

Comments

[fyfer.livejournal.com]

Hey, cool! I didn't realize there was a museum named after her. Marion Koshland was a professor in my department for years and years, and her husband Dan Koshland was (and is) as well. They had buckets and buckets of money from (I think) Levi Strauss. They (and now just Dan) were major supporters of all sorts of art and culture things around the bay. I'm impressed that they were both such prominent scientists, especially since there were so few women in science when she started; at least one of their sons is a biology professor somewhere as well. And as bonus pieces of trivia, the building I work in is Koshland Hall, he "taught" our first-year seminar class, and he was Nick's father's PhD advisor.