COLLECTIONS DELIVERED: THE MOBILE KU NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

A persistent problem that plagues natural history collections is that, at any one time, only 1-2% of a museum's specimens can be put on display for the public to view. This can lead to misconceptions and undervaluing the significance of collections. In an effort to improve public engagement with and knowledge of our important natural history collections, the KU Biodiversity Institute & Natural History Museum recently unveiled a mobile museum which is able to bring collections out into the community. The mobile museum was crafted from a converted Airstream trailer and required collaborations among a variety of campus entities, from museum exhibits staff to curators and collections managers to the KU Center for Service Learning to KU Architecture & Design professors and students. This successful partnership enabled the mobile museum to become an important avenue by which KU biodiversity research can engage audiences that might not otherwise be reached. Because most science learning happens outside the classroom -- via informal science experiences, including visits to museums -- bringing the museum to individuals where they are can foster critical science learning experiences. Such encounters not only familiarize individuals with science concepts, but can facilitate a life-long engagement with science, aid critical thinking skills, and inform lifestyle decisions (such as supporting collections-based research!). Because Kansas is famous for its fossils, the mobile museum's exhibits and associated educational outreach activities put special emphasis on KU's paleontological collections -- from fusulinids in the Pennsylvanian outcrops of eastern Kansas to mosasaur bones in the Cretaceous chalk beds of western Kansas. Over time, improving citizen engagement with our museum's collections via the mobile museum should help to convince the region's public that scientific collections are worth studying and preserving for generations to come.