Archive for the 'Education' Category

When puppets tell the story…

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

Alien Hoax Revealed at the National Air and Space Museum!

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on November 2, 2011 in Aviation, Education, History, Research, space and Web & New Media.
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Last Friday, the Museum hosted an online conference devoted to critical thinking in the Internet age. Using four conspiracy theories in aerospace history to demonstrate effective research techniques, staff from our Museum, the US Department of the Navy, and National History Day engaged with students and teachers from across the globe.

Here are the topics we examined:

  1. What happened to Amelia Earhart? Did she crash in the Pacific, or was her disappearance fabricated as part of a government plot?
  2. Did Franklin Delano Roosevelt know about the attack on Pearl Harbor before it happened?
  3. What are UFOs and are we being visited by extra terrestrials?
  4. Did Americans actually land on the Moon? Or was it all an elaborate hoax?

 

Buzz

Buzz Aldrin salutes the American flag on the Moon.

We chose this theme because it provides excellent examples of why it is important to examine every story with a critical eye. Conspiracy theories always challenge the accepted narrative, interpreting details that institutional analysis either deliberately omits or cannot explain. As such, the people who question these official stories have already begun the process of critical thinking, but they haven’t necessarily followed through to the end.

In order to conduct a more thorough inquiry into each of these subjects, our presenters stepped through a critical thinking checklist that can be described in further detail on the Virtual Salt website. Shortly put, when examining any topic, one should evaluate its Credibility, Accuracy, Reasonableness and Support (CARS). If we apply this tool to any of the conference topics, we discover that the likelihood of conspiracy is very low, but it should be noted that this isn’t always the case. These questions are helpful for any historian or researcher and can be applied to any resource being considered — from newspaper articles to archival photos to historic artifacts.

 

close encounters

The mother ship model used for the 1977 film "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" currently on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

The conference concluded with a panel discussion during which our historians described some of their most exciting discoveries. Our own Tom Crouch, senior curator in the Aeronautics Division, discussed how he determined that the wing tips of the world’s first powered airplane, the 1903 Wright Flyer were actually made from carriage spreaders. This contribution to the historical record shed light on who Orville and Wilbur Wright really were and how they worked. It was an exciting moment in his career.

Another panelist, Randy Papadopoulos, secretariat historian at the Department of the Navy, probably summed it up best when he described a particular “aha” moment he once had:

You realize, wow! This is a singular event. This is something that no one else has considered… The devil is in the details — you have to do some digging to find out, but when you do, you feel this tremendous sense of relief. [You realize] okay, I actually made a contribution that’s original. I’ve done something new here.

We’d like to thank all of our panelists for continuing to contribute original insights through their dedicated and thoughtful research. And thanks to everyone from around the world who participated in our online event.

For those who couldn’t attend, please check out the recordings online.

We enjoyed producing this conference, and we hope to do more. Please let us know what kind of topics you’d like to see us examine in future online events.

Ivey Doyal is a content manager in the Web and New Media Division of the National Air and Space Museum.

The STS-135 crew comes for a visit

Published by Tim Grove on October 19, 2011 in Education, Exhibitions, News & Events and space.
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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.
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“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 Perseids Are Coming!

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on August 4, 2011 in Astronomy, Education and News & Events.
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The Perseids are coming!  The most consistently best meteor shower of the year, the “Perseids,” (PER-see-ids) will reach their peak next week.   The earliest arrivals start around August 7 and the final stragglers show up about two weeks later, but the shower peaks strongly in the August 11-13 timeframe.  At the peak, as many as 60 or more Perseids might be seen in an hour, under favorable observing conditions; in 2011 the observed peak rate should be about half that, due to moonlight.

Meteor showers occur when the Earth encounters a stream of debris shed by a passing comet or asteroid.  The high speed of the material results in a lot of friction, making the debris particles glow brightly, like the filament of an old-fashioned light bulb.   Periodic comet 109P Swift-Tuttle is the source of the material causing the Perseid meteor shower.

Route 66

Route 66. The parallel lines of the road appear to converge on a single vanishing point in the center of the photograph.

Material released along a comet’s orbit is moving in more-or-less parallel paths when the Earth’s atmosphere is encountered.   Artists and drafts-persons are quite familiar with the “vanishing point” perspective created by looking among and along parallel lines.  In the photo below, the road side lines appear to converge on the horizon due to this effect; any objects approaching the observer along those lines would appear to be moving on a radial path with respect to that vanishing point.

A similar case of apparent radial motion arises when the Earth encounters the Swift-Tuttle debris stream every year in mid-August.  The meteors produced appear to radiate from a point in the sky in the constellation Perseus (named for the mythological Greek hero who slew the Gorgon Medusa amongst other exploits).  Meteor showers are named for the constellations in which their radiants reside, hence the upcoming shower is known as the Perseids.

Here is a diagram showing this radial pattern for the Perseids. It can also be seen in the photograph of a Perseid shower below (somewhat distorted by the camera).

 

Perseids

This image shows two composite views taken on the night of Aug. 11, 2010. The image on the left shows a collection of observations taken from 42 single station events over Huntsville, Ala. The image on the right shows a composite view from 39 single station events over Chickamauga, Ga. Courtesy of NASA/MSFC/D. Moser, NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office

The best way to see Perseid meteors is to look at or near the constellation Perseus in the sky, on or near the date Earth encounters the debris stream.  In general, meteor viewing is best in the wee hours of the morning.  Just as your front windshield collects more bugs than the back window, the leading side of the Earth collects more meteors than the trailing side, and from the orbit and rotational orientation of the Earth, that means that the best time for meteors is between local midnight and noon, and, since we want to observe at night, that means between midnight and a couple of hours before morning twilight begins.

Perseus rises above the NE horizon around 9 PM EDT (at Washington, D.C.’s latitude, ~37°).  By midnight, it will be well above the ENE horizon, and will be favorably placed for post-midnight viewing.  Find Perseus by using the Big Dipper.  One can find the North Star by extending a line from the “pointers,” the two stars at the end of the Dipper’s bowl, in the direction the bend in the Dipper’s handle points.  You can find bright star, Capella, by extending a line atop the bowl of the Dipper away from its handle.  Perseus is reached by “splitting the difference” between Polaris and Capella, about the same distance from the Dipper.  Look between Capella and the “W” shape of the constellation Cassiopeia.

Alas, in 2011, the peak viewing time, the night of August 12/13, will also be a time of the August Full Moon (aka “Moon of the Green Corn”).  Moonlight will blank out the fainter Perseids, thereby reducing significantly the number of meteors expected to be visible. For additional observing tips, visit the Sky and Telescope website.

Dr. Steven H. Williams is the chief of education initiatives in the Education Division of the National Air and Space Museum

Astronomy Night at the Museum

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on July 28, 2011 in Astronomy, Education and space.
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The night opened with few clouds and a bright waxing gibbous moon. Alex and I, interns at the National Air and Space Museum, stood outside with Sean O’Brien, astronomy educator at the Museum and Albert Einstein Planetarium technician, to survey the sky and anticipate the night. This was my first star party at the Museum.

As we set up, the first line of visitors formed outside the door of the Public Observatory waiting for 6 p.m. — opening time. We set up the Tele Vue telescope first. The view was spectacular. Along the terminator, the line between the dark and light sides of the Moon, craters popped between the stark white of the moon and the blue of the sky.

 

Moon

The Moon at 10:50am, April 25, 2011 taken by Katie Moore an Astronomy Educator at National Air and Space Museum using the Tele Vue-85 telescope and Lumenera 2-2 camera.

At 6 p.m., visitors stepped up to take their first close-up look at the Moon in the Tele Vue with Sean’s guidance. Children jumped up and down with excitement while parents assured them that if they study hard they’ll get to work on things like these too. Heads poked through the doorway of the observatory. Many folks were curious about what they would find inside so Alex began to show them around. Solar observing is our main practice during the daylight hours, Wednesday through Saturday. It isn’t often that you have access to equipment that makes it safe to look at the Sun, but we’ve got it!

 

Sun

The Sun taken January 19, 2011 by Erin Braswell, using the 100mm Lunt Hydrogen-alpha telescope in the Public Observatory.

Alex went over the Museum’s Solar observation methods and displayed pictures the observatory has taken of the Sun. The clouds played with us all throughout the night by jumping around and in front of our targets. Often I would ask the crowd to blow in the same direction with me so perhaps we could get those pesky clouds to move just a bit. Still, it did not dampen the spirit of everyone that waited.

Noah, another Museum intern, arrived and we set up the Celestron C-11 telescope on the Moon. The line split into three. One to hear Alex speak about Solar observing, one to look at the Moon through the Tele Vue, and one to look through the 11-inch Celestron that Noah manned. I ran from telescope to telescope making sure each had a target and each was in focus.  Occasionally we would exchange eyepieces to see if we could get a better view.

As the Sun set we began to keep an eye out for Saturn. Then the clouds split and Saturn shined out! I ran into the observatory ready to switch the 16” Boller & Chivens (B&C) telescope from close-ups of the now dark Moon craters to the bright point of the ringed planet. After a bit of searching the planet swam into view and the beauty of the rings and moons was thrilling. Quickly, Alex and I passed the update down the line and cheering floated in through the observatory door. Alex and Rick, a Museum volunteer, took over inside the observatory to help visitors see what they had been waiting for since we opened.

 

Observatory

Lines curled around the side of the building as many excited visitors waited to see Saturn, the Moon, and even Albireo. Photo by Ameé J. Salois.

Next I went to check on Noah and the Celestron telescope. After some minutes and some growling at the clouds we had Saturn in our view as well. This line cheered as well and people filed past excitedly bouncing in front of the eyepiece the minute they glimpsed the beauty of the rings. One fellow told me that tonight he came to have his first view of the iconic planet and he didn’t mind waiting the whole night to fulfill his dream. Later, he told me that he wasn’t disappointed. The night ended with a search for Albireo, a binary star iconic because of its bright blue and gold coloring.

 

Albireo

Albireo. Photo by Rachel Wilkerson and Ameé J. Salois taken on the 36” telescope at the McDonald Observatory.

Sean began looking through the Tele Vue and called me over to help. After some quick searching I had it in my sight! Sean tightened the telescope mount and we centered and focused the image. Next, we changed the eyepiece, but when I pushed it in the mount jerked and the stars were lost. The search began again! This time was successful and the last visitors were pleased to see the bright sparkling of such a unique binary star.

Finally, we said goodnight and the visitors wandered away still looking up and wondering about what else was hidden in that dark sky. We had more than 300 visitors and they looked through the telescopes more than 870 times. It was a thrilling night with many telescope adventures and many new experiences.

Joe DePasquale of Chandra and Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) visited with us and put together a fabulous video summation of our adventures.

Ameé Salois is an astronomy education intern for the National Air and Space Museum this summer.

From Earth to the Solar System

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on June 17, 2011 in Astronomy, Education, Exhibitions and space.
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For the month of June, 30 beautiful images of the solar system are on display on the terrace by the Independence Avenue entrance.  They are part of the From Earth to the Solar System exhibition developed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory/Chandra with the NASA Astrobiology Institute.

 

Titan

The Mysterious Titan: A Moon of Saturn. This moon may hold the answers to other forms of life. Take "A Myriad of Moons Tour" and learn about how it differs from our own planet’s development.

Make connections between our home planet and the rest of our solar system and take an exciting journey from the soil of our planet to the far reaches of cold space. If you aren’t able to make it to the National Mall this month to see the exhibition, a preview is available online, and it will be traveling around the world over the next year.

The amazing images in this exhibition show our efforts to explore other worlds to uncover their secrets. Let’s take a quick tour. Starting with our understanding of the Earth and moving outwards, we apply this knowledge to each world we encounter opening a new window to the limits of our solar system. We begin our investigation with Australian stromatolites, ancient rock structures created by microbes. Next, studies at Mono Lake, CA have revealed a different possibility that life can sprout from unexpected sources such as arsenic. These examples provide two points of reference when studying solar system objects. Titan, compared to an early Earth, may be the home to methane/ethane-based organisms similar to the organisms at Mono Lake. These are only a few connections. More exploration and study reveals ever-increasing intrigue existing between our own experiences on Earth and the many diverse planets, moons, and other bodies within our solar system.

Each weekday of June, we will offer two 15-minute tours at 9:40am and 9:45am. Take a tour about the theme Cosmic Weather and find out about other solar system bodies with seasons. Created and presented by intern Lauren Bittle, this tour discusses the connection between atmosphere and weather on Earth as well as throughout the solar system. Highlights of this tour include solar activity, volcanic Io, and the great storms of the solar system. What would our moon look like if it were covered in volcanoes? Take the A Myriad of Moons tour, created and presented by intern Ameé Salois, and learn the answer, along with many other facts about the diversity of moons in the solar system. Highlights of the tour include investigations into our own Moon; Io and Europa, moons of Jupiter; and Titan and Iapetus, moons of Saturn.

 

Lauren Bittle

Lauren Bittle visits her favorite moon, Io, on the "Cosmic Weather" tour.

Please come join us for one or both of these exciting journeys through the solar system.

 

Ameé Salois

Find out about ice skating on Europa in "A Myriad of Moons" tour by Ameé Salois.

 

From Earth to the Solar System is a continuation of the 2009 exhibition From the Earth to the Universe, created for the International Year of Astronomy, which visited the Museum that summer. The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is helping coordinate exhibit locations.

Lauren Bittle and Ameé Salois are astronomy education interns this summer.

 

 

The Perils of Paper Airplanes

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

The Intern Perspective

Published by The National Air and Space Museum on June 9, 2011 in Aviation, Behind The Scenes, Education and On View at the Museum.
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When I went in for my interview at the National Air and Space Museum, I learned that I would be helping plan a family day. Not just any family day – this was a one-time event celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Union Balloon Corps.

The Union, what?

Staff wanted to inflate a massive balloon on the National Mall, invite Civil War reenactors to set up camp, offer hands-on activities inside the Museum, and partner with other museums and historic sites to make this program happen.

I felt energized by their vision and wanted to be part of this project. I had never heard of the Union Balloon Corps and wanted to learn about this seemingly incongruous cross-section of content areas.

I left the interview and decided that there were three reasons (in no particular order) I wanted this internship:

1. To learn

I wanted to learn about the Union Balloon Corps: The last time I studied Civil War history was in high school. Since then I’ve visited Gettysburg battlefield, other Civil War-related museums and sites, and read random news articles about the topic.

This aspect of the Civil War was new and intriguing. I dove into books, websites, blogs and forums. Who was this guy Thaddeus Lowe who founded the Balloon Corps? How did the balloons NOT get shot down?

I kept reading and researching until I formed a baseline knowledge of the subject – I’m no Tom Crouch (senior curator in the Museum’s Aeronautics Division) to be sure, but I felt I had enough information under my belt to start planning.

2. To be challenged

This event was going to be a challenge. Not only was the content new to me, I had never participated in an event that serves up to, potentially, 30,000 people. How do I create a fun, educational and meaningful experience for so many people?

I embraced this challenge as I watched the family day department plan other amazing events that impacted thousands of people at a time.

I even had a chance to pilot a binocular making activity that pays homage to Thaddeus Lowe’s binoculars we have in our collection.

 

Emily Koteki

Kids make binoculars at a craft table at the National Mall building.

3. To be better able to plan dynamic, innovative family days

I observed quickly that family days at the Museum went beyond telescopes and solar systems. They included African storytellers, Nepalese dancers, the Chromatics, kite makers and many other unique connections between the arts and space.

After observing and being part of these events, I learned about taking risks and really being creative in programming and partnerships.

I’ve tried to apply these lessons as I planned this upcoming family day. We hope to see you there!

View the full schedule of events.

Emily Kotecki is a family day programs intern at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, and a graduate student at George Washington University studying Museum Education. She is helping to plan this event and can’t wait to see it come to fruition.

 

 

 

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.
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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.