What is informal science education?
Informal science education supports people of all ages and walks of life in exploring science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
The Golden Gate Bridge as an Informal Science Education Resource
Video courtesy of Dave Fleming, Senior Exhibit Designer, Exhibit Services, The Exploratorium
The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is the recipient of a $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF #0840185) to establish a permanent outdoor exhibition in the south visitor area at the San Francisco end of the Bridge. The exhibits will explain the engineering and construction of the Bridge. Included within the scope of the project is a conference on the theme of using civil engineering works as educational opportunities for the public, titled “Public Works for Public Learning,” to be held June 20-22, 2012.
Hosted by the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, the conference will present the process and outcomes of the Golden Gate Bridge project, and showcase other examples of both large and small visitor-serving programs, both international and domestic. The keynote speaker will be G. Wayne Clough, the 12th Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The conference will begin with an evening reception on June 20, and be followed by full days of presentations on June 21 and 22, including a field trip to the Bridge itself. For more information and to register for the conference, please visit publicworksforpubliclearning.info.
CUREE, the Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering, is project managing the effort and will be developing several of the exhibits, which will be on display in a large outdoor gallery designed for the exhibition. The centerpiece of the gallery is a 1:80 precise scale model of the Bridge, over 80 feet long, designed by Princeton University and fabricated from stainless steel. Keyed to the parts of that large model are satellite exhibits that surround it, explaining individual features and providing some of the history of the Golden Gate Bridge.
In addition, the Exploratorium in San Francisco and West Wind Laboratory, Inc. are creating interactive exhibits to demonstrate aspects of structural behavior. These are just two among a group of exhibit design institutions who will be creating unique exhibits focused on the Bridge. The American Public Works Association is partnering on the conference to involve its membership in learning about approaches to developing effective exhibits for their communities through the creation of a web-accessible training course. A team of advisors and evaluators, with experience in exhibit development and informal science education, are providing guidance and formative evaluation on the project, to achieve the primary goal of providing a new informal opportunity to the visiting public to learn about science, technology, engineering, and math as it relates to the Golden Gate Bridge.