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Questacon has a false colour IR camera biult into a robotic snake in our
"Eaten alive" exhibition. The visiotr can scan the snake's head around a
small rocky environment in which we have placed some warm and cold
blooded creatures ( mock-ups not live specimens).. And we made sure that
people could also scan the head around to pick up themselves. The output
is displayed on a large screen located above the environment.
A nice non-themed version is in the California Science Centre Los
Angelis, where they have a camera situated between two cages, with real
animals, rodents in one and lizards in the other, and you can sweep the
camera between them, looking at yourself as it moves between.
Stuart Kohlhagen
Manager New Concepts
Questacon
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michelle Nichols
Sent: Tuesday, 14 February 2006 7:27 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Infrared Camera Exhibits
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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To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the
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