Approximate Reading Time: 6 minutes

This is part 2 of my two-part tirade on Calgary’s new Telus Spark “Science” Center.

Here’s where I get to talk about the (virtually non-existent) science. In the SCIENCE center.

I almost brought my ipad with me to the brand new “science” center.

It’s a BRAND new facility, right? Museums have come along way in the last 10-20 years. At over $160 million, and after all the hype, I expected it to be a showcase of modern techno-enhanced museum design – you know, the kind with things I can point my phone or ipad at to get more information on whatever it is I’m looking at. Additional images, websites (stuff right on the Telus Spark website even), animations, little podcasts, etc. I figured there’d AT least be wi-fi in the building and little QR do-dads everywhere.

Well, good thing I didn’t bother to bring it. I did not notice anything – that’s right folks, NOT ONE place where I could connect or communicate with a mobile device. In fact, with very few exceptions ALL of the explanations (such as they were) were painted or postered onto some wall or board. The exceptions? A couple of screens that displayed a series of paragraphs. Can you scroll through the text if you read faster than a 6 year old, you might ask? Well NOOOO. You can’t. They are NOT touch screens. Can you go back and re-read something you missed? No siree. It’s just a display screen scrolling through pages of text at a pre-determined rate. (yawn)

As if it isn’t bad enough that the technology being used to present the exhibits all appears to have come from about 10 years ago, most of the exhibits told me ALMOST NOTHING about anything. Want to know more about those core samples? TOO BAD. You’ll have to go elsewhere because this exhibit is not going to be any help.

The blackboard style decor for the signs is cute. You know what would have been cuter? Something that LOOKS like a blackboard but is really a touchscreen that gives patrons access to more information.

Like many of the exhibits – the rocks exhibit COULD have been cool. it COULD have taught people something. (Notice the order in which I said that? Science is COOL! You will NOT get that impression from this museum.)

I realize that we are in Alberta and that everything in Alberta seems to have to have something to do with petroleum, but really. If this “science” center is supposed to be a tourist attraction, then I can maybe see focusing so heavily on all things energy-related, but if it’s NOT, couldn’t we PLEASE PLEASE look at the science of something that ISN’T of interest to the energy industry? I realize that a lot of funding came from the local oil companies (you can tell that because they have plaques all over the building), and there’s really nothing wrong with that, but really, do you have to be that blatant? This does not look like a “science” center so much as “here’s what the oil industry in Alberta wants us to look at”.

OK. It’s not all about oil. There’s a “Being Human” section at this “science” centre. I thought, “Great! I’ve heard about this part – there’s a human sexuality section.”

Sadly, it too isn’t about science. It’s far more sociology than science.

Want to know what blinking has to do with eggs?

I DON’T KNOW. And you won’t find out here.

This exhibit consists of a table and two chairs where you can sit down and have a staring contest.

(I’ll let everyone ponder the “science” of that for a few minutes….)

Esthetics are Important

Esthetics are important. They’re not enough to carry something, but they do matter. Many of the exhibits are quite crappy looking. The industrial look does not make things more sciencey. Mostly, it just makes them look unfinished. This exhibit is supposed to be about how water flows – I think (I can’t remember). Do you suppose they could have done something more esthetically pleasing? This looks like the sink in a high school shop at the end of the day.

When I talk to people about education, I tell them that there are 2 questions that everyone should have a right to ask any time they are being invited to learn something:

What is this Good for? and Why am I doing this?

These are fair questions to ask of a teacher. They are also fair questions to ask any time you are presented with something that is supposed to be educational.

At this “science” center, much of the time, the answer to both questions is: “I DON’T KNOW.” And that’s very sad. Science really is cool, but you’re not likely to get that impression here.

Here’s an exhibit that COULD have been cool. You get some coarse sand in a bin and some balls. The sign above says something about making craters. I recently saw a thing on TV about how to make a crater (here’s a demo that NASA put on youtube).

Telus Spark? Well, they give you material that won’t show you anything about how the force is distributed, but worse yet: the material in the bin is LESS THAN 1/2″ DEEP. You can’t show diddly. Idea: really cool. Design and implementation: FAIL.

Here’s another one:

This one’s about wind and how it flows around. Ever seen a hay field on a breezy day? I have (I get to see one out my living room window). It’s beautiful! Mesmerizing. It looks like an ocean of green waves. I can think of a number of ways to build an exhibit that show us that same amazing effect. Use nylon wire with little ‘seeds’ attached to the top. Do it right and it will look really cool. You could even make the wire be different colours along the shaft so that you can see waves in different colours. Think of the cool things you could do with lighting…..

What did Telus Spark do? They pasted what looks like an old shag carpet on the wall. It moves NOTHING like a real field. It’s awful.

Science Is……

Oh wait! THIS looks cool:
The sign says:

Solar panels convert light into electricity (it doesn’t tell you how though) – the more light that strikes them, the more electricity they generate. We use the electricity generated to make musical notes – transforming light into electricity and electricity into sound energy (again, we’re NOT going to tell you how – because THAT’S SCIENCE).

Another failed opportunity. How about having notes reflect the intensity of the light? Is there some order to the notes and the solar receptacles? If so, WOULD YOU CARE TO TELL US?!

THAT’S WHAT SCIENCE IS ABOUT!!!!

It’s all well and good to “provoke conversation, experimentation and collaboration” but that’s only the FIRST part of what science is about. If you fail to enlighten, you have failed! If you manage to provoke conversation but fail to help us answer our questions, that’s a fail.

The sign says, “Bottle the Sky: Our visitors have been filling these jars with colours to match the sky they see, or to recreate a sky from their memory. The colours all come from natural pigments.”

Do we get to know WHICH pigments and dyes?

Well NO.

Do we get to see any pictures of skies for comparison?

NO, can’t do that either.

Are the coloured bottles arranged in a way that represents a sky?

NOPE

As far as I can see, they are totally random.

What do I learn from this? ……

I get that science is less about the products and more about the process. Believe me, I TOTALLY get it. I’ve been a scientist all my adult life. Among other things, I’ve been breeding rabbits for over 20 years. I study the colour genetics; I breed for production, health, temperament – all of which have a lot to do with genetics and biology (if you care to learn). I study animal behaviour (they call that ethology – and yup, that’s science too). I’m absolutely on board with the notion that process is important. BUT – process without enlightenment is just a bunch of stuff you do. It is NOT science.

Provoking questions and then failing to provide a path to an answer turns people OFF.

I have another bit of news for you: inquiry based learning is NOT about putting a bunch of crap in front of kids and standing back as they play around with it.

It involves GUIDANCE; it often involves very careful orchestration of “teachable moments” – setting up situations where your learners will face questions they want to answer.

THAT’s when the magic happens! But ONLY if you have some way of helping them find the answers.

Science is not “just a bunch of shit that happens” (= processes). Science is about trying to find out why.

Missed Opportunities

This “science” center is filled with missed opportunities. Exhibits that could be really cool, but that miss the mark. This one is kind of cool, but could be so much better – and it would not have cost very much.

There are 3 sliders you can use to alter the effect of the image. They are:

1. X-Ray
2. X-Ray and Infrared
3. X-Ray and visible light

Why can’t you separate out the X-rays, you might ask? Why indeed.

Here’s another one that could have been something more than a toy:

We have a number of materials arranged as xylophones and some things to hit them with. So far so good. I walked over to the one that was all wood – and – sure enough – each block made a different sounds. Cool! What woods are these? IT DOESN’T SAY. They are not arranged in any kind of order that I can tell. No way to get a feel for what the sign says, other than difference in sound – some of them so slight it’s hard to be sure.

Sigh.

 

This sign hangs above an exhibit that has some foam/bubble thing going on – I didn’t actually check it out – I was more distracted by the behaviour of the people who did…..

Can you guess what EVERYONE we saw did here?

That’s right kids – EVERY single person who came up to this exhibit pulled the orange cord. And nothing interesting happened. Another lost opportunity.

??????

I’ll leave you with this one. If you can tell me what this is and what it has to do with science, please post your answer below, because I really don’t know.

REALLY.