Science Museum of Minnesota
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The Science Museum of Minnesota is an institution focused on topics in technology, natural history, physical science and mathematics education. Founded in 1907, the 501(c)(3) non-profit is staffed by over 500 employees and over 1,600 volunteers and is located in the state's capital city of Saint Paul, Minnesota. The museum's mission statement, "To invite learners of all ages to experience their changing world through science",[1] reflects its intention to provide exhibits and education programs that bring science and technology to the general public.
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[edit] Permanent Exhibits
There are a number of exhibits that are always in the museum, including:
- The Dinosaurs and Fossils Gallery showcases several real and replicated dinosaur skeletons, as well as many complete and preserved animals. Some highlights include a Triceratops, Diplodocus, Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Camptosaurus.
- The Human Body Gallery shows visitors the various tissues, organs, and systems (such as blood or digestion) that make up the human body. Visitors can extract DNA and perform other science experiments in the Cell Lab.
- The Experiment Gallery allows visitors to explore concepts in physics, math, and physical and earth science with interactive displays.
- The Collections Gallery gives visitors a glimpse of what's stored in the museum's Collections Vault. It includes many preserved specimens and cultural artifacts, as well as the Collectors' Corner. Traders (primarily children) bring in natural artifacts they have found to trade them for points or another artifact. (More information is in the Collectors' Corner section of the museum's website.) The Collections Gallery also holds the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, which the museum acquired in 2002 when its original owner Bob McCoy died.
- The Mississippi River Gallery takes advantage of the Museum's proximity to the river to educate visitors about its natural resources. Visitors can learn about the environment and animals of the river.
- The Big Back Yard is an outdoor exhibit that contains information and interactive displays on earth science. A mini golf course lets visitors explore erosion, pollution, and water movement up close. The Science House is a zero emission building aimed at educating visitors about renewable energy and energy conservation.
- Science Buzz is an exhibit where you can dig deeper into science headlines. It is constantly changing and has a presence in each gallery of the museum.
[edit] The Omnitheater
The new building has a dual-screen IMAX/Omnimax theater, with both a wall screen for IMAX films and other flat presentations, and a rotatable dome for viewing Omnifilms, the first such convertible theater in the Northern Hemisphere. The domed screen can be rotated around the theater to reveal the IMAX screen. The counterweights for the system were so massive that they had to be put in place before the rest of the building. The theaters boasts "the largest permanently installed electronic cinema projector in the world," an advanced computer system to coordinate the theater's facilities, and a complex sound system to accommodate both viewing formats, according to the website.
The museum has been a leading producer of Omnifilms, with ten to its credit so far:
- Genesis (1978)
- Living Planet (1979)
- The Great Barrier Reef (1981)
- Darwin on the Galapagos (1983)
- Seasons (1987)
- Ring of Fire (1991)
- Tropical Rainforest (1992)
- Search for the Great Sharks (1995)
- The Greatest Places (1998)
- Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees (2002)
[edit] Other Facilities
[edit] The Collections Vault
The museum houses a collection of over 1.7 million artifacts and objects in its vault, ranging from dinosaur and other animal remains and fossils, preserved animals and plants, and cultural artifacts from extinct and extant civilizations. The collections division maintains a staff of scientists and researchers including paleontologists, archaeologists, ecologists, biologists, ethnologists, and archivists. Researchers visit the vault to take advantage of the unique collection, but it is not open to regular museum visitors.
[edit] Education
The museum also has an extensive education division. In addition to many on-site youth and family classes and day camps, museum programs are also hosted at various schools throughout the region. Day classes often involve science, technology, nature, and art themes. Overnight camp-ins let large groups sleep on the exhibit floor and have time to explore the galleries and view an Omnifilm as a group. The museum is also one of the leading professional development resources for teachers in the state.
[edit] Restaurants
Three locations in the museum offer food. A Caribou Coffee shop (the Java Lab) is located outside the Omnitheater's entrance in the museum lobby. The Elements Cafe offers a full menu, including grill and deli options, pizza, and specialty foods. Chomp, located outside the Dinosaurs and Fossils gallery, serves many cafeteria-style foods. The Elements Cafe and the Java Lab are both open to the public without purchasing museum admission.
[edit] 3D Cinema
In addition to the Omnitheater, the museum has a cinema for showing digitally-projected 3D films. Visitors wear clear polarized glasses to view short films with a vivid 3D effect. The museum has also produced films for this medium, beginning with Mars 3D, which features images from the Mars Rovers.
[edit] Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center
The museum is associated with the Lee and Rose Warner Nature Center which is located approximately 30 miles offsite in Washington County. The center provides natural history education opportunities for all ages on over 600 acres of lakes, bogs, woodlands and grasslands.
[edit] Youth Science Center
The Youth Science Center (YSC) is an informal learning environment for young people ages 11-18 at the Science Museum of Minnesota. The goal of the YSC is to engage teens in science and technology through real museum work. Although there are some volunteers in the YSC who are too young for jobs, most of the teens in the YSC are actual museum employees. The teens are guided and mentored in science, technology, work, and life skills by the adult staff.
[edit] Location
Until 1999, the museum was located on Wabasha Street in downtown Saint Paul, but in that year the museum moved to a new complex built into a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. The new building is larger and better equipped to handle the demands of large group visits and includes bigger facilities for the education division and exhibit galleries.
