USE OF GIGAPIXEL IMAGERY AND PLACE-BASED NARRATIVES TO SUPPORT INFORMAL GEOSCIENCE LEARNING IN A MUSEUM SETTING

Beyond Granite: The Geology of Adventure is a year-long exhibition installed at the Museum of the White Mountains in Plymouth, New Hampshire, open March 2014 to March 2015. The exhibition uses gigapixel imagery, photography, digital video, rock and mineral specimens, maps, and historical objects to draw connections between the geology of New Hampshire’s White Mountains and the history of three of the most popular forms of outdoor recreation in the region: hiking, climbing, and skiing/snowboarding. Working with collaborators at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out of School Environments (UP-CLOSE) and the Carnegie Mellon CREATE Lab, we adapted an experimental viewing platform for gigapixel imagery to build a touch-screen kiosk that allows visitors to explore three gigapixel panoramas from iconic locations in the White Mountains: Cannon Cliff, Franconia Ridge, and Mt. Washington. Embedded within these images are photographs, diagrams, and text related to place-based geologic and historical content. Preliminary evaluation data indicate that the exhibition supports four strands of informal science learning (Bell et al., 2009): (1) experiencing excitement, interest, and motivation to learn about phenomena in the natural and physical world; (2) developing science reasoning skills: engage in acts of exploration, observation, questioning, and making sense of the natural and physical world; (3) building understanding and content knowledge; (4) reflecting on science as a way of knowing.