Friday, July 19, 2013

Day 5 Carnegie Museums and Phipps Conservatory

What a wonderful day we had in Pittsburgh.  I have not visited a museum in many years.  And, the experiences today truly stirred something within me.

The first exhibit I visited was, of course, dinosaurs.  There were various fossil specimens, but of course the T-Rex specimens took my breath away.  Just thinking being stalked by such a powerful creature sent chills up my back.




The next exhibit visited was Ancient Egypt.



The Egyptian exhibit was vey moving, as it showed many artifacts thousands of years old.  But, my favorite exhibit was the Roads to Arabia.

Unfortunately, this exhibit did not allow photographs.  In essence the exhibit displays newly discovered artifacts from Saudi Arabia.  The history is Saudi Arabia was described through these artifacts and revealed a rich cultural identity for the people of this region.  I was particularly taken back the incense trade and its effects on the region.  Frankly, the fortunes of the people here relied on the trading of incense for prosperity before the recognition and discovery of oil; I was unaware of this prior.

Overall, this has been the most enjoyable day of our journey.  I know I usually incorporate physics applications in my posts.  However, for today I would simply like to offer some advice.  If a chance ever arrives to visit a museum, grab the bull by both horns.  The history that you discover is every bit as powerful as any law of physics.  And, you will be surprised just how much fun it is to explore the past.

4 comments:

  1. That museum never gets old for me. This was my second time visiting this museum and I still find something new.

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  2. While a physics content connection didn't jump out at you, consider how you can use exhibits to teach thinking skills, teamwork or problem solving. In addition, the museum is a great place to teach general science processes like inquiry and investigation.

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  3. I agree the museum was great especially the Arabia exhibit was great. You can really get a lot of knowledge from a museum

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    1. Don't you wish you could take your students to the Carnegie Museums on a field trip? I can see giving them a scavenger hunt or specific problem solving tasks to do there.
      A field trip to a museum would be far more educational than many of the places were we traditionally take class trips.

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