8 Spring/Summer 2005

Science Under GlassPLANNING EXHIBITS FOR A NEW CONSERVATORY

by Lisa Blackburn

T he team of independent evalua-tors filed into the Huntington’sBrody Teaching Lab, where

members of the Botanical educationstaff waited, somewhat nervously, togreet them. Introductions were made,refreshments were offered, and a briefdiscussion of the group’s goals andobjectives ensued. Once these prelim-inaries were out of the way, the teammembers dispersed around the roomand took up their stations to beginthe work at hand.

Peering into the eyepiece of amicroscope, one evaluator adjusted thefocus slightly, took another look at thespecimen under the lens, then spokein an excited whisper to a womanstanding nearby.

“Mom! Look at this. It’s awesome!”Mother and son were soon bent

over the microscope together, exam-ining a leaf ’s stomata in the wondroustopography of 100x magnification.

These “scientific experts,” studentsfrom elementary and middle schoolsin the Pasadena area, are among severalfocus groups that have conductedfield tests of exhibits under develop-ment for the Rose Hills FoundationConservatory for Botanical Science,

scheduled to open at The Huntingtonin October. The Conservatory willfeature a series of exhibits and exper-iments designed to engage youngstersin hands-on science, using real scien-tific instruments and living plants toexplore the mysteries of the naturalworld.Three distinct environments—tropical rain forest, cloud forest, andbog—will serve as habitats for diversebotanical displays and interactiveexhibits that examine the ways plantsadapt to their environments. TheConservatory’s educational componentsare funded by a $1.75 million grantfrom the National Science Foundation.

Although kids ages 9 to 12 andtheir families are the Conservatory’starget audience, the development ofexhibits is far from child’s play. Athree-person team led by KittyConnolly, Conservatory project man-ager, has devoted thousands of hoursto painstaking research, exhibit design,and field-testing.

“Our goal is to give children achance to practice science on livingplants,” says Connolly.“There’s nothingquite like this in the United States.Other botanical gardens have prima-rily passive exhibits. In this new space,

kids will be building science skillsthrough the use of real tools.”

That means that one of the firstthings the exhibit team had to do washit the books.

Connolly and her colleagues KarinaWhite and Katura Reynolds spentmonths conducting extensive researchon everything from biology to educa-tional theory, poring over textbooks,science journals, and scholarly papersas they gathered fresh ideas for pre-senting science to youngsters. Theysought to challenge and inspire youngminds without oversimplifying thecontent. Meeting regularly withmembers of an advisory board com-posed of educators, scientists, andconsultants, the staff developed exhibitsthat would explore sophisticated con-cepts playfully. “Algae Identification,”for example, introduces children tothe microscopic world of—forgive theexpression—pond scum and uses akid-friendly matching game to helpthem hone their scientific observationskills as they compare and identifydifferent forms of algae under power-ful magnification.

From nursery to library to drawingboard to computer, the exhibit team

ities, reading skills, or learning styles.Some exhibits might require a facili-tator to lead or maintain them, whileothers could engage grown-ups in thelearning process along with the chil-dren. The team even addressed thequestions of traffic flow and the dura-bility of exhibit materials.

Connolly and her colleagues con-tinually evaluated and reevaluated eachexhibit. Many ideas were abandonedearly in the process because theyfailed to meet the necessary criteria.Others proved impractical for heavyvisitor use or for the moist climateof a conservatory. As the winnowing

HUNTINGTON FRONTIERS 9

conducted experiments with specimenplants, created intricate botanicalillustrations, and compiled extensivedata. Several file drawers were soonoverflowing with notes, sketches, anddrafts of label text for exhibits withnames like “Listening to Trees,”“Spices from the Rain Forest,”“Hitchhiking Seeds,” and “Gotcha!”

“We like to use the pollen anal-ogy to describe this process,” jokesReynolds.“Create as much of it as youcan and hope that some of it will stick.”

All of the exhibits had to meetspecific criteria. First and foremost,they had to present concepts or

phenomena that children couldactively observe. Living plants—themore diverse, the better—were to beused whenever possible. Exhibitsshould highlight interdependencies,showing the connectivity betweenplants, animals, people, and the envi-ronment. And they should encourageactive involvement through the use ofscientific tools, such as meters formeasuring humidity in the air or theamount of nitrogen in different soils.The designers incorporated sensorylearning through touch, smell, andsound, while also assuring accessibilityto visitors with different physical abil-

Children interact with exhibits before providing feedback to educators. Carlos Chan, age 10, tests how plants use their leaf tips to shed water in a wet environ-ment. Erendida Cruz and Magdalena Alvarez wait their turn. Photo by Lisa Blackburn.

popular, and occasionally the reversewas true. But we’re building theseexhibits for children, so their responsesare what matter most. Putting theseexhibits in front of them was a realeye-opener.”

The team conducted a series ofevaluation sessions over the course ofseveral months, some taking place in astructured classroom setting at localschools, others offered informally fordrop-in Huntington visitors. Theboys and girls who participated inthe trials represented a broad demo-graphic mix of age groups, ethnicbackgrounds, economic levels, andacademic achievement.

Johanna Jones led some of theearly sessions. She is a consultant withRandi Korn and Associates, Inc., amuseum evaluation and audienceresearch firm from Alexandria, Va.“The keystone of evaluation is havingclear goals and objectives,” she says.“You want to see if your messages aregetting across. How are kids using theexhibits? What are they taking away?Does the information make sense?Are they tripping up on certain terms?”She discovered, for example, thatyoungsters frequently stumbled overthe word “fertilize.” Its reproductive

10 Spring/Summer 2005

process continued, the more promisingideas advanced to the next stage:prototyping—that is, the creation of aworking model—and testing.

One of the keys to designingappealing botanical exhibits for chil-dren is to make the most of yourassets: the plants themselves. “We’reusing the most charismatic plants wecan find to demonstrate each exhibit,”explains Connolly.“Things like pitcherplants really engage visitors’ imagina-tions.” She slides an exhibit across thetable to illustrate her point. Pinned toa board is the dissected form of along, funnel-shaped leaf filled withdead bugs, arguably exuding moreyuckiness than charisma. It’s “Countthe Corpses,” a delightfully graphicexamination of the digestive habits ofthe carnivorous Sarracenia plant and

one of the most popular exhibits thathas been tested to date.

Such charismatic attractions call forequally engaging graphics. Reynolds,a botanical illustrator by training,brought her artistic skills to the project.Many of the exhibits include colorfulplant diagrams or depictions of pro-cesses that are difficult to show in realtime. “Many people learn best whenthey are able to visualize things,” shesays.“It’s one thing to say,‘This leaf hasspecial glands that create nectar,’ butkids will have a better idea of whatthat means if they can see a picture ofit. Scientific jargon can be off-putting,but a good illustration can get peopleexcited about the topic.”

Perhaps the most critical aspect ofthe design process was field-testing—observing real kids interacting withthe botanical exhibits. The feed-back from kids helped identify thehits and misses and pointed outwhere fine-tuning was needed tomove closer to meeting the learninggoals for each exhibit. The resultswere often surprising.

“One of the amazing things ishow completely unpredictable thekids’ responses were,” says White.“Sometimes things we thought theymight not like turned out to be very

“We like to use the pollen analogy to describe the

research and planning process: Create as much of

it as you can and hope that some of it will stick.”

– Katura Reynolds, botanical illustrator

Erendida Cruz, 9, uses a paintbrush to move pollenfrom one flower to another. Photo by Lisa Blackburn.

connotation was entirely missed asyoung imaginations conjured upmanure rather than pollen. Jonessuggested changes to the label text toput the term in its proper context.

Another exhibit that benefitedfrom field-testing was an explorationof the parts of a flower. In the earlyprototype,children looked into a micro-scope to observe a close-up view of aneatly labeled pistil or stamen.Informative, but not very engaging,the education team found. After thefirst round of evaluations, the micro-scope was replaced by a goose-neckedvideoscope that allowed kids to selecttheir own views, manipulate thefocus, and project the microscopicimages onto a TV screen. A furthermodification made it even moreinteractive by the simple addition of asmall paintbrush, which kids used tomove pollen from one flower toanother while observing the pollina-tion process enlarged on the screen.

Taking their assignment as evalua-tors seriously, the youngsters talkedcandidly with Jones and the Huntingtonteam. Their opinions were as diverseas the children themselves.

“I liked the moss,” said BenSymes, 12, who had studied the plantsin the “Tiny!” exhibit up close with amagnifying glass.“I never knew therewere so many different kinds, and allthose different shapes and colors.” Hewas less enthusiastic about the “LeafDiversity” display: “Kinda boring,” heoffered sheepishly.Ten-year-old Carlos

HUNTINGTON FRONTIERS 11

Chan, on the other hand, rated theleaves very favorably.“I liked learningthe names of all the different shapes,”he explained, picking up a laminatedexample of a palmate (or hand-shaped) leaf and comparing it to thefeatherlike pinnate.

Working with sophisticated toolswas a novel experience for manyof the participants, who, like DanBar-Sever, 11, found that it height-ened their interest in both the plantsand the scientific process. A sleekchrome and glass refractometer in thenectar exhibit was one of Dan’sfavorites.“The way it measured sugarlevels was very interesting. It’s reallycool, because in addition to learningabout plants you have a chance to usethe equipment.” Yet even the simplestexhibits attracted their share of

enthusiastic reviews. The decidedlylow-tech “Drip Tips” employs a plasticsquirt bottle to illustrate how rain forestplants shed water by channeling itdown the center of their leaves andoff the elongated points on their tips.Younger children, in particular, foundthis activity fascinating.They enjoyedgiving the leaves repeated squirts andclosely scrutinizing the results.

The thrill of new discoveriescaused more than one participant toconsider familiar plants in a moreinquisitive light.After using a high-techvideoscope to explore “Pollen on theMove” with a flamboyant stargazerlily under magnification, MagdalenaAlvarez, 10, shyly suggested the inclu-sion of “more flowers that we know,like roses.” It was a telling comment,expressing a young girl’s desire to

Stiff hairs that pointdownward keep insectsfrom escaping the pitcher.

Smooth inner surfaceis hard to climb.

Sweet nectarattracts insects. Long flexible hairs cause

insects to slip and fall.

A diagram by botanical illustrator KaturaReynolds shows how the carnivorous sun pitcherplant (Heliamphora) digests insects.

12 Spring/Summer 2005

apply her newfound knowledge tothe natural world outside her ownfront door.

Following field-testing, the educa-tion team reviewed the comments,adapting some exhibits while scrap-ping others. The finalized exhibits,

more than 50 in all, have now beenhanded off to fabricators for con-struction and installation. Plants thathave been nurtured in the greenhouses

and nursery will soon take up residencein their new home in the Conservatory.

Several dozen youngsters will bewatching with proprietary interestas the doors are thrown open to thepublic for the first time in October.They have a personal stake in thenew endeavor.

“I want to go there when itopens,” says Ben Symes,“so I can findout if the exhibits I like are there.”

And that’s only natural. Whenyou’ve helped to plant the seeds, youwant to be on hand to see them whenthey flower. m

Lisa Blackburn is the CommunicationsCoordinator at The Huntington.

“We’re using the most charismatic

plants we can find.”

– Kitty Connolly, project manager

Above: Reynolds’ illustrations of a carnivoroussundew (Drosera regia) demonstrate how a planttraps an insect on its sticky surface before rollingits leaves around its prey.

Right: Katalina Gamarra, 11, looks for victims ona sundew (Drosera capensis). Photo by Don Milici.