Abstract
This paper discusses the variety of ways in which The Bakken Museum has made use of replicas or simulations of historical instruments and experiments and demonstrations in education programs and exhibits for school children, families with children, and other museum audiences. Early efforts were stimulated in the mid-1980s by a collaboration with Prof. Samuel Devons, who pioneered the use of historical experiments at his “History of Science Laboratory” at Barnard College (Columbia University). This collaboration resulted in a series of summer institutes for high school science teachers which incorporated historical simulations. An “Eighteenth-Century Electricity Kit” aimed at middle schools also was produced. Beginning in the early 1990s, versions of these historically-based instruments and experiments and demonstrations were successfully integrated into school field trip programs and to a degree in school-based outreach programs developed in the late 1990s; topics include static electricity, batteries and bioelectricity, and magnetism/electromagnetism. “Science theater” programs such as puppet shows, first-person interpretations (e.g., Benjamin Franklin, Mary Shelley), and short plays (“War of the Currents”) also utilize historical simulations. A new exhibit, “Ben Franklin’s Electricity Party”, uses classic eighteenth-century electrostatic instruments to engage visitors. These various uses will be analyzed in terms of their effectiveness, the question of historical authenticity, how they compare with similar uses at other museums, and how they are integrated with historical stories.
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I use a rather broad definition of “replica” that includes instruments that are more or less functionally equivalent. It is readily admitted that although some replications at The Bakken are fairly faithful to their historical antecedents, others make no pretense of authenticity. Audiences have a general sense that they are witnessing how science was done in the past, but they seem most responsive to the novelty and excitement of the phenomena being demonstrated and few are concerned about anachronisms such as the substitution of modern materials.
NSF Grant No. MDR-8850876.
A traveling version of the Electricity Party was developed in collaboration with the Minnesota Historical Society as part of the Society’s version of Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World in 2009.
It’s Alive! The Science and Myth of Frankenstein.
References
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Rhees, D. J. (2009). From Frankenstein to the pacemaker: A profile of The Bakken Museum. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, 2009, 78–84.
Acknowledgments
The author would like to acknowledge the longtime support of Earl E. Bakken for the mission and programs of the museum that Dr. Bakken founded over 40 years ago, and for his humanistic vision that has animated the integration of history and science at The Bakken.
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Rhees, D.J. Sparks and Shocks: Replicas of Historical Instruments in Museum Education. Interchange 46, 45–56 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-015-9237-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-015-9237-7