Hi Alison,
In 2006 our small museum created an ecology/environment area where the director wanted to show how diversity affected populations.
She and I designed and then I fabricated what we called the "crab box." Essentially we had a grid with drawings of crabs with small variations in size and claw size. A series of panels with holes "apparently" randomly distributed could then be overlaid to show the results of different environmental impacts (change in predator, introduction of a disease...) to show a change in the crab population due to the change. The panels are moved by sliding handles and can be added individually or stacked. The box is very popular with children (I had to repair and modify it a few times early in its life due to extensive usage). If it sounds of interest I would be happy to send a picture and discuss its design and construction.
Rich Paselk
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Richard A. Paselk,
Curator Emeritus, HSU Natural History Museum
Curator and Webmaster,
Robert A. Paselk Scientific Instrument Museum
Humboldt State University
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Original Message:
Sent: 05-13-2021 12:02 PM
From: Alison Moyer
Subject: Evolution/Natural Selection interactives
Hello all,
Me and my team are currently designing a station with a mechanical interactive that conveys natural selection as a mechanism of evolution, for our brand new state-of-the-art paleontology/geology/natural sciences museum that we are currently designing and plan to open in 2023.
I am wondering if anyone could help provide examples or ideas of how to effectively convey evolution by means of natural selection where the guest will take away that evolution and natural selection are not direction-oriented and that these small changes in a population over geologic time adds up to change that can be observed? The goal is to turn this into a mechanical interactive.
All thoughts and ideas welcome!
Thank you so much for your help!
Sincerely,
Alison Moyer
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