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Resources
Tangible Resources
Interactive exhibits
Human Resources
Museum guides
Preparation
Schedule a visit to the museum and coordinate plans and expectations with the museum guides, prepare paperwork for off-site visit if necessary.
Goals, messages & concepts
Specific goals
- Learn about Newton's laws of motion through hand-on experiments, demonstrations, and activities.
- Learn about the information plaques, known as ‘captions’, for the exhibits – how and why they are written and displayed the way they are.
- Meet a graphic designer, hear what they do in the job, and learn how graphic design is related to STEM.
Specific messages
- Newton's laws of motion and the force of friction are present in all interactions with the environment.
- Captions of exhibits are intended to convey scientific information which is clearly and concisely worded, whilst linking the phenomenon or scientific principle in the exhibit to phenomena in everyday life.
- The design of a caption has an effect on its accessibility to visitors, for example, the size, colour, and amount of text as compared to the number of icons and images.
- Graphic design is a profession related to STEM.
Main terms
- Newton's three laws of motion
- The force of friction
- The principle of leverage
- A sloping plain
- Work
- Pulleys
- Compressive and tensile forces
- Tensegrity
- Dome
- Arc
- Earthquakes
- Communication
- Target audience
- Font
- Icon
Practices & skills
STEM practices
- Constructing explanations and designing solutions
- Developing and using models
- Engaging in argument from evidence
- Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
- Asking questions and defining problems
Soft skills
- Dealing with uncertainty
- Learning failure is a part of learning
- Teamwork and collaboration
Management skills
- Planning
- Use of resources
Course of activity
step 1
The museum visit will include: demonstration to illustrate Newton's laws: a workshop on friction, construction of a tensegrity structure, a tour of the exhibition Leonardo's Questions which focuses on mechanics, a tour of the exhibition Why Don't Buildings Fall Down? which deals with the various types of buildings and the forces that work on them, and a meeting with a design expert regarding caption/label design.
step 2
The museum tour will focus on exhibits that emphasise forces and movement. During the tour, students are encouraged to think about questions that they would like to ask a civil engineer, with whom they will meet in the next unit. In addition, particular attention will be drawn to the concepts of exhibition, display, and museum captions. Students will become acquainted with the structure of a museum caption (title, operating instructions, explanation of the scientific/technological phenomenon, and connection to everyday life), and discuss how to make the information accessible to users. Teachers and students will also see examples of how to use QR codes to add digital content to expand and enrich the visitor experience.
step 3
Working with a graphic designer:
- The tours will be accompanied by the museum’s graphic designer, who will tell students about her work, show the ‘behind the scenes’ design work of the exhibition, and explain how she chooses the design of the captions - such as the font size and shape, the height of the caption from the floor, the colours, and the physical shape of the label. Students will learn how the design contributes to the accessibility of the information, and how captions and graphics give the exhibition space its distinctive feel.
- The designer will invite the students to take part in designing captions as ‘homework’, and students should pay attention to the graphic textual elements they see in public spaces (e.g. health clinics, malls, football stadiums, etc.). Students will be encouraged to take pictures of inspiring examples and send them to the designer so that they can be involved in the caption design process.
step 4
Scientific demonstrations and workshops:
- Demonstration of Newton's Laws of Motion - Students will participate in a large and impressive scientific demonstration that illustrates how the laws of motion apply to everyday life.
- Hands-on workshop on friction - A workshop that focuses on the force of friction. Students will learn about the surprising places where friction is at work, as well as situations where there is no (or very weak) friction, and try to imagine a world without friction.
- Building a tensegrity structure - students will learn about tensegrity (tension + integrity) structures. These are light structures which are stable even without a foundation, due to internal tensile and compressive forces. In this workshop, students will build a simple structure from sticks and rubber bands based on the tensegrity principle, and analyse the forces acting on each of the sticks.