ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 15:05:02 -04006 Jun 2007, Martin Weiss  wrote:

> 	As you may be aware we are preparing an exhibition as part of
> a research project on how children learn and understand evolution. As
> part of this project we are looking for examples of exhibits that
> relate to natural selection as the central thesis of Charles Darwin
> which suggests that within every population of living organisms there
> are random variations which have different survival value. Those
> which aid survival (or enhance reproductive capacity) are 'selected'
> by being genetically transmitted to succeeding generations.  So the
> elements of natural selection are:
>
> 	random variation of individuals within populations
> 	inheritance of traits
> 	selection of traits
> 	time for this to occur
> 	adaptation to environment
>
> Would you let me know if you've developed exhibits that engage
> visitors on these topics or seen one that you think was particularly
> effective?
>
> On-line or off-line and I will summarize for the list.
>
>
> Martin
> --  
> Martin Weiss, Ph.D
> Vice President, Science
> New York Hall of Science
> 47-01 111 th Street
> Corona, New York 11368
> 718 699 0005 x 356

Martin,

For science center NEMO I have developed two effective exhibits on  
the inheritance of traits:
1. Make a Face: Two visitors take on the role of father and mother  
and create the face of their virtual child on a screen monitor by  
choosing which alleles to pass on to their child for a total of 8  
traits (eye color, hair color, shape of ears, lips, eyebrows etc.).  
As they make their choices, the face changes and transforms.
2. Family Tree:  Visitors can experiment with how eye color and  
earlobe shape, respectively, is passed down three generations (4  
grandparents, two parents and their child).

Let me know if you want  photos or details.

Diana

– –
Dr. Diana C. Issidorides
Senior Scientist & Exhibition Developer
Science Center NEMO
P.O. Box 421
1000 AK Amsterdam
The Netherlands
T: +31205313201
[log in to unmask] / [log in to unmask]
www.e-nemo.nl

***********************************************************************
For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

The ISEN-ASTC-L email list is powered by LISTSERVR software from L-Soft. To learn more, visit
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html.

To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
message  SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to
[log in to unmask]