Science Museum Trip Report: American Museum of Natural History

 

  • Your impressions of the look and feel of the whole place.

    • What works, what doesn’t?

      It is one of the most famous museums in the world. The looby with a beautiful high ceiling set a tone for this great and significant place. I have been here 4years ago, even though nothing really changes, I still enjoy walking around in this place. The museum gives me a classic and historical feeling that it deserves people to visit multiple times.




  • Do you feel welcomed, is the place intimidating or comfortable, what’s the atmosphere?

    I definitely feel welcomed there, even though some halls are dark, but all the exhibitions are still set up in a very vivid way. Also, I think it is a very child-welcomed museum, so there are a lot of children there, so I feel the whole place is very friendly and dynamic. 



  • Every place has an emotional, social and intellectual gestalt. Do your best to describe it.

    As a famous museum, this place has already become a culture and landmark; people come here not for specific exhibitions but for the experience of visiting here. As a science museum it serves its educational function; vivid models and collection make the textbook's content is at hand.

  • A word (or two) for its personality?

    classic, historical

  • A memorable object, exhibit, hall or interaction (person-to-person)

    In the human history part, a sound part introduces different musical instruments from different cultures. On the screen, you can choose what instrument you want for example, I choose Asia, so there is Erhu, Xiao, and Lute. You can mark your own melody and play it with the instrument set. Also, you can use the same melody on different instruments, so you can clearly hear the style from different cultures.




  • Hospitality: how hard is it to find the bathrooms, how nice are the guards, can you find your way around.

    As such a big museum, I think there are not enough bathrooms and kind of hard to find. There are not many workers around every hall during this time, so it makes the bathroom even harder to find.


  • Who’s there? Ages, demographics, and other details you notice about visitors.

    • Are they coming as ones, twos, or in groups?

      Visitors are very diverse; I can hear them speak in different languages; all ages are welcome. Most of them are coming as twos.

  • How do people socialize at the museum? 

    • Does anyone socialize outside their group? 

      Most exhibitions are only by view, and the space is huge there, so I think people can always stick together.

    • Does anyone ask questions? 

    • Did you ask a question or socialize? 

      I went there alone, so I just enjoyed my own visit and barely had the chance to meet other visitors.

  • Think about what behaviors the museum space supports in regards to socializing, learning, and engagement.

    The museum has a lot of theaters for different shows, and these theaters are designed in very unique ways like ring screens ( but most of them are cost extra). These are exceptional experiences, and the content is educational too. I have been to the Hayden Big Bang Theater; the ball theater is perfectly designed for the content.




  • Notice the exhibits. 

    • Are they designed for one person, two people, or a group? 

      Most of them are perfect for one person; I went alone and enjoyed my visit. But I think for more people group also can be very fitted, people can share their thoughts in the group.

    • Is there a deep dive into content, or is the information “scaffolded” appropriately?

      I can tell the research are very professional, the information is very detailed, not only disclose visitors the info but have some proof. With the actual thing in front of your eyes, I think they really did an excellent job on that.

    • If there are any interactive technology exhibits, are they working? How do people interact with them? Get granular, think input/output.

      There are lots of interaction parts on the earth exhibition and human exhibition. I mentioned some before. These interactions are not complicated and significant, but they give the viewer a better experience.





  • Spend a few minutes on the museum’s website.

    • Does the website ‘feel” like it’s specific to the museum?

      yes

    • Would you ever go back to the website? Why?

      It is a great website, and I can easily find some information. Still, I think it is more designed for searching visit information but does not have some Literature and Content, so maybe I will not go back unless I am visiting there again.



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