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Sherry Hsu
Professor Teri Crisp
CWR1A, Section 23
2 April 2019
An Interactive Learning Experience

Reflect on your most recent museum visit. What was it like? How much do you

remember from the visit, and what made those memories memorable? The Gallery of Natural

Science gallery at the Oakland Museum of California underwent renovation in 2014, changing

from showcasing the natural landscapes in dioramas to showcasing California’s natural history

by focusing on seven places throughout the state: Oakland, Sutter Buttes, Mount Shasta,

Yosemite, Cordell Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Tehachapis, and Coachella Valley. The

gallery highlights California’s diverse ecosystems and wildlife to get visitors involved in

protecting that diversity, and it is the interactive experience that makes visiting the gallery

memorable.

Not only are the staff friendly, they are also resourceful in guiding a tour around the

museum and are always ready to answer questions for the visitors. This high interaction with the

staff members allows the visitors to get

their questions answered immediately

while browsing through the exhibits

instead of having to search for answers

online. For instance, while staring

confusingly at an exhibit with multiple

dead insects under a microscope, a staff

Figure 1: A microscope showing six different member approached me and told me that
insects
insects are a part of the gallery because
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they tend to get overlooked in nature, so hopefully that

exhibit will bring awareness of insects as a part of nature

to the visitors. Furthermore, kids enjoy learning through

interactions and touching objects, and the museum

provides various interactive tools for those curious kids.

Microscopes and audios are placed throughout the seven

different exhibitory places in California to receive

maximum attention of those kids who like to learn and

Figure 2: Another microscope,
showing eight different leaves play at the same time. For instance, there is a display

showing the microscopic version of seeds found on different leaves. Most people, including me,

probably don’t know that the leaf of a plant contains so many seed pods. With the friendly staffs

to interact and the various interactive displays for all visitors, especially children, the museum is

able to target all the age groups.

The gallery begins with Oakland, where the museum is located, and is the home to most

of the local visitors. By starting the gallery off with the nature in Oakland, visitors are able to

reflect on the transformation of the area they are currently in. One of the main large exhibits in

the area is the diorama of a harbor seal

resting in a patch of pickleweed. This

may be an unusual sight since seals are

known to rest on rocks or swim in the

ocean, and not spending their time on

shore. However, in reading the exhibit

Figure 3: A diorama showing a harbor seal resting label, I learned that this display is
on pickleweed before the city was built
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portraying an image of the Oakland shore before the city itself was developed. This display

contrasts with a nearby image that shows Oakland’s shoreline bustling with industry. Only

scattered patches of salt marsh remain, thus explaining our current perception of how seals are

known to only be living in the ocean or on the rocks instead of on those salt marshes. Thus, by

placing the two displays nearby each other, visitors will be able to reflect on the impact of

urbanization on the diverse ecosystem of California. This relates to Senior Exhibition Developer

Don Pohlman’s claim that “human impact on the planet and the other species with which we

share it, is harder and harder to ignore.” By highlight the impact of human activities in changing

the lifestyle of the different species, visitors may become more involved in protecting that

wildlife.

In addition, other interactive exhibits allow the visitors to become more engage with

nature. For example, a pick-up truck exhibit will surprise visitors who pull out the drawers in the

front grill to see the actual road kill. Doing so, I came to

realize that humans are not only taking over land that was

once a biodiverse habitat, but are also endangering the

remaining wild animals in the process. At first, I wonder

why the animals are placed inside the engine instead of on

the ground near the tires, but then I realized that one of the

Senior Exhibition Developer Pohlman’s goals is to provide

interactive experiences that “gently unsettle” the visitors

(4). This is accomplished by allowing the visitors to gently

Figure 4: A pick-up truck pull out the drawers built in the engine of the car. They
showing the consequence of road
kill may be startled by the carcasses of the victims of road kill,
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but they may also feel sorrow about how human development is threatening the biodiversity of

California.

The museum also highlights human impact on nature in order to help achieve the goal of

Chief Curator Douglas Long, which is to “urge [the visitors] to care more for nature and make a

difference in their own community” (3). My favorite

exhibit is the one focusing on The Cordell Bank

National Marine Sanctuary, where many plastic water

bottles are hanging on the ceiling. This appears to be

more of an art piece rather than a decoration to

demonstrate the impact of human activity on nature.

This area allows the visitors to imagine as if they are

Figure 5: Many plastic bottles
hanging on the ceiling wildlife living in the polluted ocean. Those plastic

bottle not only provides a disturbing view, they also block the light from brightening up the

room. Not a single upright animal is placed in this part of the room, showing that no wildlife can

survive in this kind of environment. Instead,

the body of a dead albatross filled with

plastic waste is on display. This exhibit

allows the visitors to reflect on their mass

consumption and see how it impacts the

ocean and the wildlife. Not only does this

exhibit highlight a destructive phenomenon,

Figure 6: A body of a dead albatross is shown
it also lets the visitors understand what they
and placed in the same room as the ceiling
with the plastic bottles can do to help to reduce their environmental
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footprint: reduce plastic usage. This exhibit is placed in the very back corner of the museum,

which may help leave the visitors with a haunting memory that will resonate in their mind while

urging them to make a difference in their community after leaving the gallery.

Finally, before exiting the museum, there is an outdoor garden that provides a remarkable

view of the city Oakland, including Lake Merritt. The garden provides the visitors an immediate

opportunity to investigate the city they are currently in. Even with a short amount of time spent

in the garden, you will be able to enjoy the diversity of the California wildlife. You may see a

hawk flying across the sky, enjoying nature as much as we are, or you may see a spider searching

for prey.

Overall, the museum is inclusive not only all age groups, it is also inclusive to people

from different countries. For example, near the entrance to the natural science gallery, there is an

introductory board that introduces this part of the museum in three different languages in order to

be inclusive. Therefore, the natural science gallery is well designed for different age groups and

for different national groups. I believe that the gallery’s renovation makes the tour more

engaging by having real places throughout the state that visitors can engage with. The

uniqueness of the museum in highlighting the diversity of California urges its visitors to help

protect this diversity and makes this small local museum worth visiting. I will definitely visit the

museum again, and also bring my friends and family to help them understand the great diversity

of California.
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Works Cited

Long, Douglas. “A Curator’s Perspective.” Transforming the Gallery of California Natural

Sciences. http://museumca.org/ns/transformation

Pohlman, Don. “Adding Humans to a Natural Sciences Gallery.” Transforming the Gallery of

California Natural Sciences. http://museumca.org/ns/transformation