National Building Museum - Outreach Programs

The National Building Museum, as seen from the 4th floor, continues to impress.

Education programs at the Museum run throughout the year. In fact there doesn't seem to be a day in the calendar when groups of students aren't booked in.
Teens and young adults, 12 to 18, are catered for through outreach programs, specifically for students from the Washington, D.C. metro area. These in-depth, multi-week education programs teach middle and high school students to use the built environment as a classroom for developing skills in critical and creative thinking, problem solving, analysis, evaluation, and teamwork.

The Museum currently offers three programs, CityVision  a semester-long program, Investigating Where We Live (IWWL) a four-week summer program and the Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP) which builds upon the two other outreach programs.

I've been able to observe a current CityVision program which began three weeks ago and runs through until May. A group of 30, Yr 7 students from the same school meet once a week at the Museum to take part. Students had to apply through their schools to attend and all seem enthusiastic participants.

The group is led by Museum education staff and Museum volunteers. 

Coral: Rekindling Venus

January 26th the Embassy of Australia invited me to a screening of a new work by Australian media artist Lynette Wallworth, titled Coral: Rekindling Venus. The film was also in official selection at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The work was designed to be screened in the round and there was no better place to see it than the Einstein Planetarium at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Lynette introduced the film and described it as an immersive experience which invites you to lose yourself in the extraordinary world of coral reef communities. You did feel as if you were sometimes lying on the sea floor and sometimes free floating in the water, with a haunting soundtrack featuring Gurrumul Yunupingu and Antony and the Johnsons.

"My intent is to leave the audience with a sense of wonder for the complexity of the coral community and a deep-felt longing to see it survive. What is apparent when you watch the film is the remarkable survival mechanisms already at play in the community of coral reefs, mechanisms that will be put to the test in the coming years. We might see ourselves as two different communities interconnected in our own survival." 

For more on the film including an Interactive Coral Map and to play the track "Rise" by Antony and the Johnsons go to:

http://coralrekindlingvenus.com/

National Building Museum - Green Community Teaching Kit

In the following video Timothy Wright, the National Curricula Coordinator at the National Building Museum explains the Green Community Kit and offers a guide for teachers interested in incorporating the kit into their teaching of the built environment.

With support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Building Museum is able to provide a limited number of Green Community Teaching Kits to US teachers at no cost.

for more go to:
http://www.nbm.org/schools-educators/educators/green-community-teaching-kit.html