Author Archive for Tim Grove

Red Tail Stories

Published by Tim Grove on February 9, 2012 in Aviation.
3 Comments Tags: .

I would like to think that I’ve always known the inspirational story of the Tuskegee Airmen—the groundbreaking pilots of the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group.  (The first African American military aviators in the racially segregated armed forces during World War II, whose bravery both in the air and on the air field lead to Truman signing Executive Order 9981 desegregating the armed forces in 1948).

Sadly, when I started at the National Air and Space Museum almost eight years ago, I did not.  The first family program I produced, African American Pioneers in Aviation, had for many years featured the Tuskegee Airmen.  Since I had limited time to develop a new program, I continued the tradition—and fell in love.

 

tuskegee

The Tuskegee Airmen at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC in 2011 — Standing Room Only

I have invited them to every African American family day since then and have been inspired by their stories. I also have stories about them.  There are too many to tell all, but here are few.  One year, we had NASA astronaut Col. Alvin Drew as a featured speaker.  The Tuskegee Airmen decided that they wanted to hear him speak.  I ran ahead to ask visitors if they minded giving up their seats for the Airmen.  Not only did they give up their seats without question, but one gentleman took off his hat, held it to his heart and said “it gives me chills to see them here listening to the astronaut.”  Another year, a featured speaker was former astronaut Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space.  One of the Tuskegee Airman asked if I thought they could meet Dr. Jemison.  Of course I immediately escorted them to her, and I cannot tell you who was more excited about the meeting.

Tuskegee & Jemison

Former NASA astronaut, Dr. Mae Jemison, meeting members of the East Coast Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen.

This last story speaks to what is so good and true about these men.  They did their jobs with bravery and a special type of courage—the will to succeed when so many people assume you will fail just because of the color of your skin.  Yet, they are often modest about their accomplishments; although generous in sharing their time and memories with those who want to hear of them.

I invite you to learn more about the Tuskegee Airmen.  Come visit the Pioneers of Flight exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, or visit the online version.  Here you will learn about the early African American aviators who paved the way for the Tuskegee Airmen, and about the importance of their legacy.  Or, you can try out an online interactive and fly a mission with the Airmen. Want to meet some actual Tuskegee Airmen?  Come to the National Mall Building on Saturday, February 11, 2012 or to the Udvar-Hazy Center, on Saturday, February 24, 2012 for African American Pioneers in Aviation Family Day.

The National Air and Space Museum’s African American Family Days are part of the Heritage Family Day Series, sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corporation.

Mychalene Giampaoli is the family programs coordinator for the National Air and Space Museum’s Washington, DC building.

When puppets tell the story…

Published by Tim Grove on January 25, 2012 in Aviation, Behind The Scenes and Education.
0 Comments

At the National Air and Space Museum, we tell stories in a number of ways — through objects, artwork, lectures, videos, planetarium shows — even puppets. Storytelling through puppetry can be a powerful educational tool for our youngest audiences in particular. Puppets have the ability to bring stories and objects in the Museum to life. Young children are concrete learners; they learn through direct experiences. Using puppets in the Museum is a wonderful way to engage young audiences.

We are thrilled to host a return engagement of  “The Wright Brothers: A Musical Play,” a show using shadow puppets, hand puppets, wide mouth puppets, human arm puppets, and  live actors to bring to life the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright and the world’s first successful, manned, heavier-than-air, self-propelled flying machine.  The show’s creator and founder of Rainbow Puppet Productions, David Messick, has been a professional puppeteer for 35 years. He was inspired by his childhood love for Captain Kangaroo, the Muppets, and musicals.

 

Rainbow Puppet Productions

Using a variety of puppets in combination with live actors, Rainbow Puppet Productions brings to life the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright.

Originally created in 2003 for the 100th anniversary of the Orville and Wilbur Wright’s first flight, the show has undergone revision to add more interaction with the audience. David hopes that the show leaves the audience curious and inspired to learn more. “I always try to work into the script something that is in the Wright Brothers gallery that is not in the show,” says David, “the puppet show gets children thinking, laughing, having a good time — we give them just enough to get them excited to go upstairs and see the real Wright Flyer and the objects that are integral to the Wright brothers’ story.”

Young children today live in a world where aircraft and spacecraft are everywhere. How was David able to take the story of the Wright brothers, who invented the airplane more than 100 years ago, and make it meaningful, and relatable, to young audiences? He recalls “having a dream as a kid, flying, like Peter Pan flying… what a cool feeling that would be. I remembered that feeling of curiosity and wonder. This is the heart of the story. So I created a scene in which Wilbur tells Orville, ‘can you imagine what it would really be like if we could fly like an eagle?’ We even have the puppet leave the stage and soar over the audience.” That curiosity is something that all young children can relate to, and it makes events in history become more real.

 

eagle

Wilbur asks Orville, "Can you imagine what it would really be like if we could fly like an eagle?"

There are many themes in the story of the Wright Brothers that are important life-lessons for young children and adults alike. While the puppet show teaches children the simplified physics of flight through a whimsical song, “Power, Lift, Control,” more than that, the show illustrates the importance of scientific discovery, curiosity, and trying, and retrying, again and again.

 

power, lift, control

The Wright Brothers puppet show teaches three properties of flight through props and whimsical song, "Power, Lift, Control."

Success in anything, from engineering to teaching, comes from testing and retesting whatever it is that you create. David knows this lesson very well, saying that when developing the Wright Brothers puppet show he had to try again and again until he got it right. “At some point” he says, “you have to trust yourself, just like the Wright brothers”.

Come see the show on Saturday, January 28 at two free performances at 11:30 and 1:00.

Lizzie Cammarata is an early childhood program specialist at the Mall Building.

The STS-135 crew comes for a visit

Published by Tim Grove on October 19, 2011 in Education, Exhibitions, News & Events and space.
0 Comments Tags: , , , .

The National Air and Space Museum was once again honored to host a space shuttle crew this past Friday. This visit was special because it was the STS-135 crew of the shuttle Atlantis, the historic final mission that returned on July 21. The crew was only four astronauts for this last flight, smaller than the normal seven.  Commander Christopher Ferguson explained that it was originally a contingency mission but in the end NASA decided that it was needed to deliver supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

STS-135 crew

STS-135 crew takes questions from an audience in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery of the National Air and Space Museum. Left to right, Rex Walheim (mission specialist), Sandy Magnus (mission specialist), Doug Hurley (pilot), and Chris Ferguson (mission commander).

A surprising number of people in the audience had attended the launch and the energy in the room was palpable.  The audience included students visiting from Peru and a class from Bristol, England via videoconference.  Against a backdrop of a space shuttle model under a stunning projection of the limb of the Earth, the crew told about their trip and acknowledged its emotional impact. All were veterans of other missions and knew this may be their last trip to space.  Commander Ferguson admitted he found it difficult to leave to return to Earth and that the last night in space they all took time to reflect on their experiences as astronauts. They shared a group photo taken in space with a small U.S. flag that had been aboard STS-1, the first shuttle mission 30 years ago. They explained that they left the flag on the ISS in hopes that a future crew will return it to Earth and then take it again into space. [See video of the full presentation.]

crew

Space Shuttle "Atlantis" STS-135 crew. From left to right, Doug Hurley (pilot), Sandy Magnus (mission specialist), Rex Walheim (mission specialist) and Chris Ferguson (mission commander).

Astronaut crews are great at answering the many questions that they receive from curious Museum visitors. This time the questions included:  What’s next for NASA? What’s a typical day like for an astronaut? Is the US going to the Moon again? Why go back to a capsule design? What is the food like in space? What does it feel like to return to Earth after being in space for several months? (Mission specialist Sandra Magnus answered that one because she lived on the ISS for four months). My favorite question was “does the shuttle get hot inside during re-entry?”  Pilot Douglas Hurley said astronauts don’t feel the inside cabin get warmer. They maneuver the shuttle to keep it cool before the descent to Earth and he said it feels like winter in the cabin. Most fascinating was his description of the pink and orange plasma that lit up the darkness around the shuttle on re-entry.  Because the landing happened at night, the light show was spectacular.

As they ended their presentation they showed the final photograph taken of a shuttle in space.  Of thousands of spectacular photos taken of shuttles in space over 30 years, perhaps this one is most poignant. It represents the end of an era.

Shuttle

"Atlantis" is pictured here in the last photograph ever taken of a space shuttle in space. Copyright: Aerospace Corporation, 2011.

Fortunately,  there is another chapter to the shuttle story. The shuttle fleet will be preserved and on display in museums around the country. The National Air and Space Museum looks forward to receiving Discovery next year.  If the shuttles could talk they would have many stories to tell.  It is left for historians to tell those stories and next year the Museum will complete installation of Moving Beyond Earth, a new exhibition devoted to the story of human spaceflight in the shuttle era and beyond.

And, of course, the Museum looks forward to hosting the next astronaut crew, whenever that will be.

Do you have memories of meeting shuttle astronauts?  Share your story.

Tim Grove is Chief of Education for the Museum in Washington, DC.

“How the Shuttle Got Its Wings”

Published by Tim Grove on August 15, 2011 in Behind The Scenes, Education, History, News & Events and space.
1 Comment Tags: .

“How the Shuttle Got Its Wings” is a brand new interactive theater program the Museum is presenting this summer in the Moving Beyond Earth exhibition. We are fortunate that the Smithsonian family includes Discovery Theater, a theater group that focuses on young audiences. We approached them more than a year ago about creating a program highlighting the space shuttle program, especially for the Moving Beyond Earth stage.  The show finally debuted in mid-July and our timing couldn’t have been better. The successful mission of shuttle Atlantis several weeks ago closes the book on the space shuttle story. The topic has been all over the news and many of our visitors want to talk about it. The program is presented four times daily to enthusiastic audiences who want to reminisce about the shuttle era.

 

How the Shuttle Got its Wings

Actor Jennifer Joyner presents “How the Shuttle Got its Wings”

The 20-minute program starts with an excerpt from President Nixon’s 1972 speech announcing the development of “an entirely new type of space transportation system… it will revolutionize transportation into near space by routinizing it.” Routine, reusable, safe, and affordable… four words we repeat often in the program. Those were the goals for the shuttle. The story unfolds through the eyes of an aerospace engineer. We chose that character because the story is about the shuttle itself — its various components, its design, and its role.

The program is based heavily on the Moving Beyond Earth exhibition script (currently in development), which focuses on the space shuttle era. The second phase of the exhibition, opening in 2012, will feature fascinating models of what the shuttle could have looked like, a life-sized shuttle mid-deck that visitors can explore, and many objects flown in space and just recently de-accessioned by NASA.

 

How the Shuttle Got its Wings

Actor Calvin McCullough presents "How the Shuttle Got its Wings."

We worked with the Discovery Theater staff to ensure that the program is highly participatory. Younger ages enjoy helping to put pieces of a shuttle together and representing the different roles the shuttle has played over the years… delivery truck, space bus, service station, science laboratory, and international project. Older visitors enjoy remembering major accomplishments of each orbiter. The program ends with the question: Did the shuttle program meet the criteria set for it? Routine, reusable, safe, and affordable. The audience gets to vote. Our goal is to send audiences away thinking about this one-of-a-kind vehicle and its role in the history of American technology.

What do you think? Did the shuttle program meet the criteria?

The Museum continues to experiment with different ways to engage our visitors and educate people about our collections and research.  This experiment with theater has been well received.  If you haven’t seen the program, it runs daily through August 21 and then a few weekend dates after that. Check the website for times.

Tim Grove is Chief of Education for the National Air and Space Museum’s National Mall Building.

The Perils of Paper Airplanes

Published by Tim Grove on June 14, 2011 in Aviation, Behind The Scenes and Education.
2 Comments Tags: , .

Visitors to the Museum’s How Things Fly gallery can try out more than 50 hands-on activities and participate in science demonstrations.  The gallery has more than 35 part-time high school and college age Explainers who help visitors interpret the exhibits and the science of flight.  When I trained to be an Explainer, I learned the basics: daily activities, expectations, etc. What I didn’t learn, however, was all the job hazards. Interacting with visitors and doing demonstrations sound pretty safe, right?

 

Paper Airplane Contest

A boy participates in a paper airplane contest in the Museum's "How Things Fly" gallery.

Not quite. Behind the multicolored propellers and paper airplane contests lurk hidden dangers.

A month after I started learning the Paper Airplane Contest, I presented the program for the first time. Visitors make their own airplanes and compete by flying their planes through a hoop from different distances. I thought I had contemplated everything that could go wrong. With hundreds of visitors participating in the contests each day, I assumed the odds of being hit by paper airplanes were high. I began the contest a little nervous, but everything went smoothly and that fateful impact never came. I congratulated the winner and packed up… relieved.  A couple of hours later as I headed to lunch, I squirted hand sanitizer into my palms and felt my hands stinging.  When I looked down there was an irritating paper cut. That was the beginning.

Over the next few weeks, I went home every day with my hands covered in paper cuts not realizing their source. Finally, it hit me. I was demonstrating how to make the folds of a paper airplane really crisp. With a flourish, I’d quickly run my nails along the line and would sometimes feel a sting on my wrist. Looking down, I would realize I was bleeding. Week after week, absorbed in excitement, I had slowly been covering my hands in paper cuts.

 

Paper Airplane Contest

Lauren Rice, an Explainer in the "How Things Fly" gallery, demonstrates how to make a paper airplane.

If you’ve never seen one of the demonstrations at the National Air and Space Museum you haven’t witnessed how easy it is to get caught up in the fun.  Even though we may do the same contest several times a day, each experience is different. I once had a family who attended every contest I held for three days in a row and by the end of the week, the son knew the program as well as I did. Another first-time paper airplane maker was so excited by his experience that his parents jokingly called me their son’s “First Flight Instructor.”

We want our visitors to have fun and enjoy their time at the Museum and hopefully learn a little science. Our ultimate goal is to encourage the learning experience beyond the visit.  Sometimes this goal can be difficult and full of hidden dangers, but I don’t mind.  I really enjoy my job!  I have, however, trained myself to hold the paper just a little farther from my wrists and pay closer attention when I fold my lines. I rarely get paper cuts anymore.  If only I had the same luck with the paper airplane collisions. Remember, aim for the hoop, not the Explainer!

Lauren Rice is an Explainer at the National Air and Space Museum and a student at American University.

Mr. Lincoln’s Air Force: Top 10 Reasons to visit the Museum on June 11th

Published by Tim Grove on May 23, 2011 in Aviation, Education, History, News & Events and Stories.
2 Comments

How do the National Air and Space Museum and the Civil War intersect?  Come find out as we tell the story of the Union Balloon Corps  founded in June 1861 by President Abraham Lincoln. 150 years ago next month Thaddeus Lowe demonstrated ballooning to President Lincoln on a spot just north from where the Museum now stands on the National Mall.

The Civil War themed family day for all ages, called Mr. Lincoln’s Air Force, will take place Saturday June 11th, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

There are possibly 101 reasons to come to the family day, but here are the top ten:

10. Learn about the Union Balloon Corps because it would be a great conversation starter at your next summer picnic.

Thaddeus Lowe

Lowe's balloon the Intrepid being inflated at Fair Oaks, Virginia, May 1862

9. Experience what D.C. was like in 1861 through amazing photographs and walking tours with National Park Service Rangers.

8. Learn how Civil War ballooning impacted the future of espionage techniques.

 

Thaddeus Lowe

Thaddeus Lowe goes aloft aboard the balloon Intrepid to observe Confederate activity during the Battle of Fair Oaks, May 31-June 1, 1862.

7. Build your own balloon replica from strawberry baskets, pipe cleaners, and paper plates.

6. Indulge your inner-Civil War buff, pull out the Union soldier costume that you’ve never been able to wear, until now.

5. Design and construct your own binoculars and see a pair actually used by Thaddeus Lowe.

4. Meet “Abraham Lincoln” and ask him all those questions you’ve been meaning to ask since you read Team of Rivals.

3. Meet author Gail Jarrow who will be signing her book, Lincoln’s Flying Spies: Thaddeus Lowe and the Civil War Balloon Corps.

2. Talk with “Thaddeus Lowe” and members of his Balloon Corps and find out how balloons managed to stay aloft during battles.

 

Thaddeus Lowe

Aeronaut Thaddeus S.C. Lowe

1. See a massive balloon inflated on the National Mall. It probably won’t happen again for another 150 years so make sure you see it on June 11th!

More about this historic event.

Emily Kotecki is the family day programs intern at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and a graduate student at The George Washington University studying museum education.

Hosting America’s Best Teachers

Published by Tim Grove on May 10, 2011 in Behind The Scenes and Education.
0 Comments
2011 Teachers of the Year

Educator Tim Grove engages the state Teachers of the Year in the "Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery"

Last week the Smithsonian Institution hosted the state Teachers of the Year, who were in town for their annual visit to the White House.  The teachers split into smaller groups to visit eight different Smithsonian units, and we were honored to have seven teachers come to the National Air and Space Museum.  They represented Texas, Minnesota, Louisiana, New Jersey, Connecticut, Utah, and Wisconsin.

Through an interactive tour, the Education staff showed them some of the challenges and opportunities inherent in designing positive learning experiences for  approximately eight million Museum visitors and millions more online visitors.  We started with a quick but mandatory stop in The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age exhibition where educator Beth Wilson demonstrated our Discovery Stations and invited the teachers to join her in some hands-on learning. Then they met curator Dorothy Cochrane in our brand new Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery and gained some insight into aviators Charles and Anne Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart.  They also talked with Beth Wilson and me about the ways that Museum educators bring our knowledge of learning theory and audience research to the exhibition development process.  We looked at various interactive components and discussed how we try to ensure that each visitor will find a way to engage with our exhibitions.  Then it was on to the Moving Beyond Earth exhibition, a new exhibition that looks at the topic of human spaceflight. They met Roger Launius, senior curator in the  Space History Division, and Paul Griffith, the gallery manager. The teachers tested their space knowledge by taking the Spaceflight Academy quiz  and they designed a module for a virtual space station.

2011 Teachers of the Year

Curator Dorothy Cochrane discusses Amelia Earhart with teachers in the "Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery"

The tour also included a brief spin through the popular hands-on gallery How Things Fly, and a look at some of the Museum’s amazing art collection. Maureen Kerr, chair of the Education Division, joined us and we ended the visit with a stimulating conversation about the kinds of materials we can offer teachers around the nation and how we can use technology to reach their states and beyond. They gave us an honest assessment of their challenges and successes with technology.  As we look toward using our new state-of-the-art presentation center and control room in the Moving Beyond Earth gallery, we found this conversation extremely valuable. It’s not every day that we get to pick the brains of Teachers of the Year.

2011 Teachers of the Year

Educator Beth Wilson demonstrates Bernoulli's Principle in "The Wright Brothers & The Invention of the Aerial Age " exhibition

I’ve participated in this program for five years now and it’s a highlight of the year. I enjoy seeing the enthusiasm of the teachers as they have rare opportunities to interact with Smithsonian staff and go behind the scenes. But even more, I leave inspired by some of the best teachers in our country. Their dedication to America’s students is obvious and their constant desire to look for new ways to engage their classes is encouraging.  We at the National Air and Space Museum salute all of the 2011 state Teachers of the Year.

Tim Grove is chief of Education for the National Mall Building.

Asking the Experts

Published by Tim Grove on February 17, 2011 in Behind The Scenes, Education, Highlights from the Collection, On View at the Museum and Stories.
0 Comments

How did you get an airplane inside the building?  Is there life on other planets?  What EXACTLY is GPS and how does it work?  Why in the world is that in this museum?

We hear these questions every day.  There’s so much that goes on in museums that people just don’t understand.  And there are a lot of interesting artifacts tucked into smaller galleries that visitors simply don’t notice.  Then there are the GREAT stories behind every artifact – stories that just don’t fit on a label.  For instance, have you ever wondered how we acquired Gene Kranz’s famous “Failure is NOT an option” white vest?  Did you know that Wilbur Wright, while playing with a cardboard box, figured out an essential component for controlling an aircraft?  How about what really happened at Roswell, NM?  Or about the time Howard Hughes….

Gene Kranz

Photo: Gene Kranz in his white vest. Photo courtesy NASA. The photo links to the full "Ask an Expert" lecture, given by curator Margaret Weitekamp, which tells the story behind Gene Kranz's vests and how the Museum acquired this white vest that he wore during the Apollo 13 mission.

Before I started working at the National Air and Space Museum I hadn’t heard these stories either. There are so many of them, and since I work in the Museum I get to hear them from our curators, conservators, scientists, and archivists all the time.  What’s that?  You’d like to hear them as well?  Guess what?  You can.  Every Wednesday at noon we dust off one of the curators, conservators, scientists, or archivists and send one onto the museum floor during lunch to tell these stories.  Each Ask an Expert talk runs about 15 minutes and then they take time to answer your questions.  If you can’t make it, we record many of the talks and post them on our website.  However, if you’ve got time during lunch and you’d like to join us, check out our calendar for a list of upcoming talks.  I learn something new at every lecture, and I’ve been listening to our experts for years!

Beth Wilson is the Discovery Station Program Coordinator for the Mall Building.


Try Out our New Online Activities

Published by Tim Grove on February 3, 2011 in Aviation, Behind The Scenes, Education, Exhibitions, On View at the Museum, Stories and Web & New Media.
3 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

If you’re looking for some online fun, try out several Web activities from our newest exhibition, The Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery.

The exhibition introduces some of the colorful aviation personalities from the 1920s and 1930s.

Tingmissartoq Interactive

"Tingmissartoq" Interactive

  • Help Charles and Anne Lindbergh pack for a trip across several continents in their airplane the Tingmissartoq.  The plane can only carry 6,105 pounds, so you must choose supplies carefully.  You need to anticipate possible emergency scenarios like landing on the icecap of Greenland or landing in the middle of the ocean.  You will be going from cold, icy climates to tropical climates and will be visiting remote Eskimo villages and fancy diplomatic receptions.  You can compare your decisions with what the Lindberghs really packed.
douglas world cruiser interactive

Douglas "World Cruiser" Interactive

  • Plan a flight around the world for the U.S. Army – it’s 1924 and no one has flown around the world before.  First, you must figure out the logistics – which countries will welcome you and where will you be able to refuel?  Your planes can only fly so many miles before needing to refuel. Next you must adapt the airplane for the trip. Your Douglas DT-2 torpedo bomber needs to meet the demands of your journey.  Finally, while you may have tried to plan for the unexpected, you encounter the unexpected anyway.  Face six crises that the real World Cruiser crews encountered – will you make the same decisions they made?
design an air racer interactive

Design an Air Racer Interactive

  • Design an air racer.  You are entering the air races and want to win!  Design a racer that will be the fastest sea plane and will help you win the prestigious Schneider trophy.  Or, design a land plane and win the Pulitzer trophy. Will you make risky decisions and try some of the latest technology or will you play it safe?
Tuskegee Airmen Interactive

Tuskegee Airmen Interactive

  • Fly a bomber escort mission as flight leader of the 332nd Fighter Group in Italy.  World War II is raging and the Tuskegee Airmen are gaining a reputation as top-notch aviators.  As an all African-American group, they must constantly prove their skills.  The American military is segregated and the group’s reputation lies on the decisions of each of its members.  Wrong decisions could cost lives and equipment, and damage the reputation.  Will you make the right decisions and prove that you have the skills required to fly with the best?

A lot of effort and careful research went into each one of these activities.  We first generated a list of possible ideas. We narrowed the list by asking which ideas make the best use of the technology to teach specific content.  We hired a Web developer to help us.   The interactives need to be thoughtfully integrated into the surrounding exhibition content.  After we decided on the scenarios, we did some additional research.  We had to track down photos of the World Cruiser flight and film footage of the Lindberghs.  Our photographer took photos of objects in the collections – we wanted to display some of the interesting items that the Lindberghs packed on their trip.  These objects had not been on display before.  In some cases we also consulted with outside experts, including some of the Tuskegee Airmen themselves! What were the main decisions made by flight leaders on escort missions?  What happened when things didn’t go well?

Once our designer had a prototype activity, we took it onto the floor and asked our visitors to test it.  Some of the interactives, the Lindbergh one for example, went through major design changes.  We wanted to ensure that people find them engaging and easy to complete.  Do they take the right amount of time or are they too complicated?  Will they attract the right age groups?  We also tested the activities with some of our toughest critics, our National Air and Space Museum colleagues.  They all had an opportunity to weigh in on the activities.  When we completed usability testing and made sure visitors were getting the messages we wanted to convey, we went into final production.

So give them a try and let us know what you think.  Which did you like the best?  Did you learn anything new? And, if you have a chance to visit the Museum, please be sure to view the Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight Gallery.

Tim Grove is Chief of Education at the National Air and Space Museum’s Mall building.

Welcoming our littlest visitors to the Air and Space Museum

Published by Tim Grove on December 20, 2010 in Education.
0 Comments

I was recently inspired by a fellow Smithsonian educator’s blog post at the National Museum of American History. Megan’s tips for bringing young children to the museum were so helpful that I wanted to join in the conversation with tips for bringing young children to the National Air and Space Museum.

To reiterate a couple of important things that Megan noted:

Plan Ahead: We know that when children are engaged in age-appropriate activities they are happy, so plan ahead! Check our website for family activities and programs and pick one or even two galleries to focus on.

We’re free, so don’t feel like you need to stay all day – An hour or two, or a single Story Time program or planetarium show, is about the most little ones can handle.

story time

Story time is a popular activitiy for younger children at the National Air and Space Museum.

For the National Air and Space Museum in particular:

You can enter the building from the National Mall or from Independence Avenue- but the closest Metro is L’Enfant Plaza: Although we are a Smithsonian Museum, the Smithsonian metro stop is a bit of a walk – it’s best to take the “Maryland Avenue” exit at L’Enfant plaza. Entrances on both sides of the building are stroller-friendly – but the Independence Avenue is closest to L’Enfant Plaza.

McDonald’s – We have the coolest McDonald’s serving kid-friendly fare, and you can bring your own snacks into the food court when you need to refuel.

Here is a glimpse of what you and your young children can do at the Museum:

Story Time – Story Time is an opportunity for young children to take a closer look at air and space from a child’s perspective. Stories are followed by an activity that adults can do with children. Teachers and their school groups are also welcome to Story Times; just make a reservation.

moonbear

One great story that introduces shadows is “Moonbear’s Shadow” by Frank Asch.

“One World, One Sky” Planetarium Show – If you find yourself at the Museum with young children on a Friday morning, be sure to see our special planetarium show – “One World, One Sky: Big Bird’s Adventure.” Showtime is 10:30 am and admission is free! School groups are also encouraged to join us for the show!

“I Spy” at the National Air and Space Museum – For ages 3-5 years old, our “I Spy” activity, available online,  is a great way for young children to focus in on the things that help airplanes fly!

The America by Air exhibition on the first floor and the Barron Hilton Pioneers of Flight exhibition on the second floor feature various components designed for younger visitors.

These are just some of the many activities young children can be a part of at the Museum. Let us know if this post was helpful to you – do you have other questions about bringing children to the National Air and Space Museum?

Lizzie Cammarata is the Early Childhood Program Assistant