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By Dr. Kit Matthew, Chief Science Educator
Dr. Matthew has been the Children's Museum's Chief Science Educator since January 2014. During this time she has overseen science activity at the museum while forging and nurturing relationships with some of the world’s leading scientists, researchers, explorers, colleges, and universities. In September 2015, Dr. Matthew's nomination to be director of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) was confirmed by the United States Senate. IMLS is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. In this blog post, Dr. Matthew shares what she finds most rewarding about her work at The Children's Museum.
One of the wonderful things about my role as Chief Science Educator at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis is the ability to discover amazing science facts and technologies and share those discoveries with children and families! Much of my work has been centered around bringing science and engineering in to the careful exhibits planning process as the museum focuses on creating new experiences and re-imagination of ScienceWorks (opening fall 2016).
Did you know that the U.S. Geological Survey uses little floating robots that are about the size of a basketball to map the pathways of streams flowing underground in caves? These robots are able to navigate parts of caves where it would be very difficult for humans to go. You may wonder why we need to map a cave stream. It’s because groundwater is a precious resource and otherwise we might not know where the water starts and stops!
Another fascinating thing to watch is invasive zebra mussels housed in a small aquarium inside a refrigerator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab. They are kept cool in the refrigerator because the Great Lakes are deep and cold bodies of water. By raising these creatures in a variety of conditions in captivity, we can better understand where and how quickly they might spread.
The most exciting discovery for me has been that science is now very collaborative. Why? The scale of the questions are often huge and spread across counties, and even across continents. We are also investigating complex systems that are affected by interconnected variables in ways we can’t completely predict (like temperature, seasons, rainfall, and human activity). And finally, it is not always easy to gather the data we need to test our possible answers to these questions. For example, we would like to determine what is happening to all the fish at the bottom of the Great Lakes over a one year time span.
This means that our image of a lone scientist tinkering away in his or her lab has been replaced by teams of researchers devising new ways to frame their questions based on what we currently know. Scientists then need to engineer ways to gather data from places we can’t always easily go using amazing technologies (such as remote buoys at sea, radar to predict rainfall, or satellite images) and collaboration. That collaboration can include the public participating in volunteer networks, which then report things such as the sightings of fireflies or monarch butterflies. Sometimes, it requires volunteer spotters informing the National Weather Service whether or not heavy rainfall really is causing road or river flooding as predicted. Basic observation is still extremely important to the scientific process!
Statistical analysis, team-work and devising ways to test complex questions are important skills to keep in mind for those of you considering science or engineering careers. I would also encourage you to find an area of study that fills you with the thrill of discovery…whether it is identifying dinosaurs frozen in rocks, working in a water quality testing lab, or tracking the latest black hole in space.
