First, we experimented with pOp up Explaining!

A small core group of Explainers tromped around the city for the month of January doing fruit & flower dissections at Farmers Markets, testing navigation techniques on the Bay Ferry, exploring marine creatures at Aquatic Park, learning about chocolate & fractal patterns at Ghirardelli Square, experimenting with the science of cocktails in the Mission, and doing our core demos about clouds and wayfinding wherever our outdoor cart landed!

Julie gets a group of kids at the Heart of the City Farmers Market excited about the parts of a flower! January 2013

Though sometimes it was challenging to get passersby to pause and consider flowers, clouds, or alternative ways to find north, on the whole we had a great time immersing ourselves in this great city—taking the museum out into the world and interacting with many folks with strong memories of their experiences at the Exploratorium, as well as folks who had never encountered the museum before. At the end of the day we generally felt a little cold & windswept, but buoyed by the positive conversations and poignant moments of shared learning that we’d had with each other and folks who stopped to see what we were doing!

On February 1, we welcomed 20 new amazing Field Trip Explainers, and began the adventure of training everyone across all of the many disciplines that Explainers dabble in. We focused our training time thematically and geographically within the museum, beginning with the Observatory, Outdoor and East Galleries and as the weeks went by moving westward toward the Embarcadero through the Connector, Central, South, and finally West Galleries.

Here is a map of the new museum so you can get your bearings.

There is more information on the galleries and what the museum defines them as here.

Towards the end of our 8 weeks of training we made conceptual maps of the museum according to whatever criteria we wanted to relate. The image below is a shot of our group brainstorm of different ways the museum could be mapped.

These were all possible starting points that we generated as a group before making our own maps of the museum.

Our time together training the new crew before the museum re-opened was incredibly special. It was a little like a magical school (Explogwarts?!), and a little like camp. We normally do two weeks of Explainer Training every fall before school field trips start, and then we have daily trainings for an hour each morning. This 8 week chunk of training time was an intensive period of learning and reflecting, and now I think I can speak for all of us and say we are SO excited to share what we’ve learned and engage with visitors in our continued exploration process. For us learning never stops, (that is why we have training every day!) but interacting with the public and school groups is what we are here for, and it is great to have the varied multitude of perspectives that visitors bring to our explorations and to see the joy on their faces as they discover things we are also excited about.  Here are some pictures from several trainings from the past months to shed some light on our training adventure.

Dan watches as a cloud forms inside a glass jar. (Warm water inside the jar, ice on top…) February 2013

Kelly Ann, William, Whit, & Gloria with Senior Scientist Charlie Carlson after our first plankton drag off Pier 15. February 2013

Explainers popping up on the Embarcadero to practice Cloud Demo—making a cloud in a bottle with passersby! February 2013

Investigating the intertidal zone on a field trip to Sausalito! (We are Field Trip Explainers after-all!)

Having mastered the circuitry to move exposed toy-parts, Adrian & Jake cover their creation with pink fur.

Paul Doherty illuminates light bulbs for us.

Explainer caravan of bikes behind the Nautilus art car, traveling from the museum’s On the Move event in the Bayview & the Mission to the Embarcadero!

Exploring the interaction of pinholes, a lens, and the sun, in the spirit of Bob Miller’s Light Walk!

Hartley & Qian approximate Pi through some careful cutting and measuring on Pi Day.

Rob and Vic arrange colored blocks according to their partners (not pictured) verbal instructions.

Paul Doherty helps us understand some of the illusory magic of the giant parabolic mirror!

A line of Explainers greet visitors on our first day open to the public at Pier 15!

William explores a cow eye with visitors. We’re in a new space, but we haven’t changed that much!

A group shot from our field trip to Sausalito!

]]> http://explainers.wordpress.com/2013/05/06/what-have-we-been-up-to-since-leaving-the-pfa/feed/ 0 klstirr Flower Demo pOp Up Map given to visitors Brainstorm of Ways to Map the Museum Waiting for Clouds to Form Plankton Drag Cloud Demo Intertidal Study Having mastered the circuitry to move exposed toy-parts, Adrian & Jake cover their creation with pink fur. What's inside a light bulb? On the Move Light Walk Cutting Pi Communicating Giant Mirror! Opening Day! Cow Eye A group shot from our field trip to Sausalito! http://explainers.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/jelly-fish-near-our-new-home/ http://explainers.wordpress.com/2013/03/09/jelly-fish-near-our-new-home/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 01:00:40 +0000 salamandersal https://explainers.wordpress.com/?p=2070 ]]> Jelly Fish Video

Also, Matzo vs matzah?

small creatures from the

not so deep amaze us all

by hugeness on screen

algal galaxies

whisper mobile tyranny

plant or producer?

its another world!

some are graceful, some are not

now, zooming, zoom out.

sit and swim closely

collected like stars in the sea

a universe lives

suspended device

round, void, pulsating, growing.

Immersed in Water.

suspended jewels

gravitate towards the light

sea constellations

A drift in the sea

A floating life just like me

Our lives intertwined

diatoms filled

massive accumulation

now rocks that crunch under foot

move aimlessly through

no end in sight only life

never stop moving

sun ocean surround

plankton drifting producing

breath oxygen thanks

sun ocean surround

plankton drifting producing

breathe oxygen thanks

Frightening beauty

in a drop of universe

flying dancing life

tumbling in the seas

softly dreaming forever

of autonomy

Shape shifting at sea

I am pulled all directions

me, and the unseen.

crystal container.

a transformation unknown.

most of you will die.

All aimless drifters

succumb to the ebb and flow

the breath of the Earth

A ghostly creature

swimming in a frantic way

in the ocean bay

Out in the ocean

like stars in the moon lit sky

Soul head toward the light

the violent sea

crashing, colliding, careen

in search of quiet

And here they battle

They must all seek to survive

Inside just one drop

catch me catch me now

hungry sky water pursuit

big mouthed net monster

Oh, errant drifters

traversing an endless sea

flickering like stars

Silver needle ship

in “Bean Thread Noodle Soup-rise!”

Not tasty at all.

farther than the moon

at the mini micro world

the king plankton rules

God ordered chaos

and built calm trees of earth,

then washed off in the bay

spin, swim, wiggle, stop

so many appendages!

a world in a drip

Here is what we are hoping for:

• My hope is for visitors to have fun, think about things in a new way, and to be inspired by something they have learned.
• To have Fun and gain confidence in exploring and learning independently. To discover something that moves them.
• I want visitors to appreciate the world around them as they make discoveries, link ideas, and make connections at the Exploratorium.
• I hope that visitors leave the Exploratorium more curious about the world and the gain the ability to ask questions that satisfy their curiosity.
• I hope visitors climb a ladder of fascination to a carelessly dizzying height, only to lose balance when falling asleep and endlessly fall into an abyss of pure life.
• I hope that visitors get fun memories, new interests, exciting discoveries, and lots of questions out of their time at the Exploratorium.
• I hope visitors get amazing fun and some knowledge.
• I expect visitors to have their minds blown, their world de-familiarized, and their assumptions challenged.
• I hope that visitors can take away the notion that science learning can be as simple as slowing down and noticing the world around them, and that maybe art can be that simple and accessible too!
• I hope visitors have a unique experience based on the location of our museum and learn to appreciate San Francisco in a different way. I hope the museum does a lot to focus on the natural beauty around it.
• My hope is that visitors will re-discover the value and wonder of the process of learning and apply that to critically understanding the world.
• I hope that visitors will be able to see the influence that science has on everyday life by seeing relationships—an idea of how the world is connected starts to and the responsibility to take care of the world begins to develop…
• All visitors should have fun while learning as well as taking something new they learned.
• I hope our visitors become empowered to ask “Why?” and develop the skills to figure it out.
• I want Exploratorium visitors to feel engaged and excited by their experience here!
• The one thing I would like for the visitors to get out of this building is to see how cool it is!
• My hope for visitors is for them not to feel overwhelmed by all of the other visitors around them and to take the time to stop, explore, and make personal discoveries.
• I hope visitors leave the Exploratorium with something new they learned that they didn’t know before.
• I hope visitors experience everyday things and occurrences in new ways and feel inspired to learn more about the world (& universe!)
• I hope that Exploratorium visitors are: delighted by the process of discovery, constantly engaged by our exhibits, & finding new ways of looking at the world around them.
• Visitors will have brilliant flashes of self and peer-mediated discovery.
• I hope that every visitor discovers something new and fun about science, whether they are kids, adults, non-scientists, or professional scientists.
• I hope that visitors gain curiosity about a new subject— enough to research or learn about it after they leave.
• I hope visitors learn new things that they will always remember and be amazed by.
• I hope several visitors learn at least one magic trick!
• I hope visitors feel a sense of joy and inspiration.
• I hope that visitors have fun seeing things clearly that were not necessarily clear to them before.
• I hope that visitors come out of the museum thinking that everyone (not just PhD scientists or “smart” kids) can do science!
• It is my hope that visitors have one revelation or epiphany relating to science, perception, or art & are able to relate it to their lives and the lives of others.
• To learn & be inspired!
• An inspiring, thought-provoking experience that causes them to return to their lives empowered to question, experiment, & create. Wooooooww!

While the doors are closed, the Morning Explainers will be pOpping up around San Francisco. Come explore with us outside of the museum walls every Thursday and Friday in January!

To find out where you might find us check back here or follow us on….

Twitter: @theexplainers

Instagram: theexplainers

foursquare: (we will be checking in and leaving “tips” at the places we visit using the Exploratorium’s foursquare account: foursquare.com/exploratorium)

Today at our Outdoor Cloud Demo, an awesome visitor named Zach showed us how to make a cloud by creating a high pressure zone in your mouth and then releasing the pressure! This video is not Zach, but another cloud-mouth maker. Totally awesome!

The Palace dust:

frosting wires, pipes, & ducts

floating dust, kicked up by generations past

out of reach, marks the passage of time

particles of past

immortalized in rafters

sun illuminates

The floor: 

smooth, pitted, rolling

mirrored black expanse bearing

scars etched in cool wax

The drain by anti-gravity mirror:

dip

drain

slip

fall

watch your step, if you tall

you might get stuck if you small

dip

drain

slip

fall

The explo stools: 

grit deep in grains

bottoms warm wood

pull up a seat & take time to explore

Hanging electrical cords:

hanging high, walking low

I’m kinda sad cause they can’t go!

I’ll never reach them, even on my tip toe

hanging high, walking low

Doors in the Skylight:

palace framed by triangles

heavy gates

forty years ago opening doors of ideas

what color is that?

Forest green?

The breaker boxes:

Which one do I flip?

Ah, little tape note—guide me,

light my power path…

Getting to the Palace:

 Presidigo bus

seventy minute commute

that, I will not miss

Crissy Field:

soaked pup panting

covered in sand, salt and mud

fun time at Crissy!

foggy mornings on

marina green bike ride—we

work in a beautiful place

Anne & Sylvia’s office:

books, nooks, ideas

like a snail shell protected

worries, hopes, notes, plans

Door to PFA offices/Explainer lounge: 

squeak, squeak, squeak ka-chunk

somebody is on their way

who is it? guesses?

Light in the PFA:

 emergency exit only

exhibt works best on

a sunny day

this door is a lensless camera

emergency exit only

surprises of light

rainbows, image of columns

tiny pinhole sun

Morning in the PFA:

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

It is so freakin cold here!

Jacket on, gloves on

morning quiet in

dark, cool, echo-y cavern

will it feel the same?