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Date: | Mon, 13 Feb 2006 14:26:49 -0600 |
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ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Informal Science Education Network
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>Anyone have experience with infrared camera exhibits? What kind of
>visitor experiences have been successful?
We've had one for 7 years. Right now, it is in our Cyberspace gallery.
We've had it that particular location for about 2 years. The most success
that we have had with it is when it is facilitated. Our interns use
materials like a black garbage bag, clear plexi, and ice to show various
properties of IR. The ice is cool (no pun intended) to use because you
can draw on your face with it & the patterns show up on the IR screen.
The plexi is great because the IR from your body can't easily pass through
it, making it transparent to visible light but opaque to IR light. The
camera is neat because it automatically recalibrates itself depending on
the range of temperatures it is "seeing" - normal body temps and room
temps will show a purple to yellow-white range of colors. If you bring
something in to the area of the camera that is really cold, for example,
the cold object will then show up as dark purple & everything else will
recalibrate to yellowish-reddish-white. Take the cold object away, and
the camera goes back to what we would say is "normal".
When we aren't facilitating it, people still find it fascinating. About a
week ago, I met a lady who was here for one of our Astrovernights. She
said that she had been visiting the Adler 2 weeks prior to the overnight &
came to the IR camera. She spent about 20 minutes just looking at herself
in the IR image and noticed that her fingers were "cold", something that
she felt was out-of-the-ordinary. After she got home from her visit, she
did some research to find out more about poor circulation and is now
working with her doctor to improve her body's circulation. All of that
from an IR camera image with minimal explanatory text that had nothing to
do with biological processes...I thought that was amazing. Museums
certainly do affect their visitors, even in ways we can't imagine ahead of
time!
Michelle
Michelle Nichols, Master Educator for Informal Programs
Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
1300 S. Lake Shore Dr.
Chicago, IL 60605
312-322-0520
312-322-9181 (fax)
[log in to unmask]
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org
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