DINOSAURS AND DISASTERS DAY AT UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA'S STATE MUSEUM: A JOINT EFFORT TO EXPLAIN NATURAL DISASTERS TO THE PUBLIC

A key benefit of involving undergraduate and graduate students in informal science education is the chance to experience first-hand the interaction between an enthusiastic public audience and science professionals. Prompted by graduate students of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's (UNL's) Geosciences Department, a team of State Museum and Geosciences Dept faculty and staff, graduate and undergraduate students conducted a collaborative, day-long informal science event at the Museum in February 2005 to dynamically demonstrate how geologic processes such as tsunamis, mudslides, and volcanoes work. We had 25 stations featuring “Dinosaurs” or “Disasters” with hands-on activities at each. We tried to connect the two themes as much as possible, such as having our model tsunami knock over models of dinosaurs. We also had stations featuring themes from local geology and paleontology to highlight the research of participating scientists and students. Each station was operated by one or two students, staff or faculty, with two “roving” operators who could spell station operators. Example stations include “Commotion in the Ocean” with a wave tank to simulate tsunamis, “Avalanche!”, which used materials of different grain size and allowed visitors to guess when the slide would go, “Meteorites and Meteor-wrongs” (which also allowed the public to bring specimens in to be examined by a meteorite expert), “Preparing a Sea Monster”, demonstrating how a recently-excavated plesiosaur is prepared from its matrix, and “Chalk Talk”, which used microscopes to examine the coccolith matrix being removed from the plesiosaur. Graduate students helped to coordinate efforts as well as operate most of the stations; students from the Geology Club operated several stations, including “The Better to Eat You With”, a demonstration of dinosaur teeth and dinosaur diets, and “Why Can't I Have a Pet Dinosaur?” on geologic time. Our event prompted a record turnout of the public for a single Museum event: 1400 people came to “D&D Day” and learned the science behind recent natural disasters as well as behind recent dinosaur discoveries. A simple evaluation form yielded nearly all positive comments, including, “you should hold these every week”. Event participants particularly appreciated the “chance to talk to real scientists”.