Exploratorium - The museum of science, art and human perception
http://www.exploratorium.edu/imaging_station/index.php
I’ve always wanted to visit the Exploratorium. Its interactive exhibits are famous worldwide. Since 1993 the museum has allowed virtual visitors, like me, to explore these exhibits online.
Collection Principles
The website serves as more than a mirror of current exhibit at the museum. The Exploratorium has developed the website into a valuable educational resource. The MIS website contains not only images produced at the station in the museum, but also provides movies, descriptions, handouts and activities related to these images.
Object Characteristic & Metadata
Each image or video allows for some level of interactivity. The user can enlarge, view the scale bar or click on Materials & Methods to find details on how the sample was prepared. Here’s an example – this is the information given for a blood cell image:
A drop of blood was diluted in saline solution, then sandwiched between a slide and coverslip (using a thin strip of silicon rubber as a spacer). The image was taken on an inverted compound microscope using a 40x DIC objective and a digital camera.
There are many interesting features beyond the Gallery. The section Classroom Explorations provides educators with a thorough list of images, handouts and worksheets (in pdf form) for various biology topics. Users can download flipbooks and wallpapers of various microscopic scenes and images.
The website can be used by both real and virtual visitors of the MIS. It gives and opportunity to both newly explore and to expand on an actual visit since it offers so may activities beyond just images and videos. Though virtual users lose out on the chance to actually manipulate the microscopes at the station, the website offers enough content to be a viable and fun alternative.
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