Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Sherry Hsu
Professor Teri Crisp
CWR1A, Section 23
2 April 2019
An Interactive Learning Experience
Reflect on your most recent museum visit. What was it like? How much do you
remember from the visit, and what made those memories memorable? The Gallery of Natural
Science gallery at the Oakland Museum of California underwent renovation in 2014, changing
from showcasing the natural landscapes in dioramas to showcasing California’s natural history
by focusing on seven places throughout the state: Oakland, Sutter Buttes, Mount Shasta,
Yosemite, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Tehachapis, and Coachella Valley. The
gallery highlights California’s diverse ecosystems and wildlife to get visitors involved in
protecting that diversity, and it is the interactive experience that makes visiting the gallery
memorable.
Not only are the staff friendly, they are also resourceful in guiding a tour around the
museum and are always ready to answer questions for the visitors. This high interaction with the
Figure 1: A microscope showing six different member approached me and told me that
insects
insects are a part of the gallery because
Hsu 2
showing the microscopic version of seeds found on different leaves. Most people, including me,
probably don’t know that the leaf of a plant contains so many seed pods. With the friendly staffs
to interact and the various interactive displays for all visitors, especially children, the museum is
The gallery begins with Oakland, where the museum is located, and is the home to most
of the local visitors. By starting the gallery off with the nature in Oakland, visitors are able to
reflect on the transformation of the area they are currently in. One of the main large exhibits in
portraying an image of the Oakland shore before the city itself was developed. This display
contrasts with a nearby image that shows Oakland’s shoreline bustling with industry. Only
scattered patches of salt marsh remain, thus explaining our current perception of how seals are
known to only be living in the ocean or on the rocks instead of on those salt marshes. Thus, by
placing the two displays nearby each other, visitors will be able to reflect on the impact of
urbanization on the diverse ecosystem of California. This relates to Senior Exhibition Developer
Don Pohlman’s claim that “human impact on the planet and the other species with which we
share it, is harder and harder to ignore.” By highlight the impact of human activities in changing
the lifestyle of the different species, visitors may become more involved in protecting that
wildlife.
In addition, other interactive exhibits allow the visitors to become more engage with
nature. For example, a pick-up truck exhibit will surprise visitors who pull out the drawers in the
front grill to see the actual road kill. Doing so, I came to
realize that humans are not only taking over land that was
the ground near the tires, but then I realized that one of the
Figure 4: A pick-up truck pull out the drawers built in the engine of the car. They
showing the consequence of road
kill may be startled by the carcasses of the victims of road kill,
Hsu 4
but they may also feel sorrow about how human development is threatening the biodiversity of
California.
The museum also highlights human impact on nature in order to help achieve the goal of
Chief Curator Douglas Long, which is to “urge [the visitors] to care more for nature and make a
bottle not only provides a disturbing view, they also block the light from brightening up the
room. Not a single upright animal is placed in this part of the room, showing that no wildlife can
footprint: reduce plastic usage. This exhibit is placed in the very back corner of the museum,
which may help leave the visitors with a haunting memory that will resonate in their mind while
urging them to make a difference in their community after leaving the gallery.
Finally, before exiting the museum, there is an outdoor garden that provides a remarkable
view of the city Oakland, including Lake Merritt. The garden provides the visitors an immediate
opportunity to investigate the city they are currently in. Even with a short amount of time spent
in the garden, you will be able to enjoy the diversity of the California wildlife. You may see a
hawk flying across the sky, enjoying nature as much as we are, or you may see a spider searching
for prey.
Overall, the museum is inclusive not only all age groups, it is also inclusive to people
from different countries. For example, near the entrance to the natural science gallery, there is an
introductory board that introduces this part of the museum in three different languages in order to
be inclusive. Therefore, the natural science gallery is well designed for different age groups and
for different national groups. I believe that the gallery’s renovation makes the tour more
engaging by having real places throughout the state that visitors can engage with. The
uniqueness of the museum in highlighting the diversity of California urges its visitors to help
protect this diversity and makes this small local museum worth visiting. I will definitely visit the
museum again, and also bring my friends and family to help them understand the great diversity
of California.
Hsu 6
Works Cited
Sciences. http://museumca.org/ns/transformation
Pohlman, Don. “Adding Humans to a Natural Sciences Gallery.” Transforming the Gallery of