Museum opens virtual doors
CHICO » While the physical doors of the Gateway Science Museum have been locked since March due to the pandemic, its virtual door has remained wide open to science enthusiasts, students and the curious.
For those who never had the chance to visit the museum pre- COVID or did visit but miss wandering the halls and galleries, there’s a nine minute virtual tour of the extensive mural, building and garden on the Gateway Science Museum’s YouTube channel.
For those who are more hands- on, the museum opened its lending library in October. The library stocks 40 science kits for loan to teachers, students and families. The categories include earth and science, chemistry and physics and are geared toward third through eighth-grade students. The museum team is working on natural science kits and “continues to make other new kits,” according to Adrienne McGraw, museum director.
“The learning environment looks really different this year and we wanted to support science learning wherever it’s happening,” said McGraw.
Kits are free to borrow and available for curbside pickup by making online reservations through the museum’s website.
Half of the museum’s staff are Chico State students earning their degrees in a variety of different majors. These students have created more than 70 original science videos on topics ranging from America Sign Language to zoology. The videos are “tailored to a general audience,” ranging from three to five minutes each so they are “easy to digest,” said McGraw.
“The students picked their niche, the subjects they have the most expertise in. They make the videos at home and then come into the museum to upload them. The videos are a great contribution to the museum. I’m pretty proud of them. They are fun, sincere, great resume builders for the students and a great resource for children and families,” said McGraw.
The museum also hosted Our Earth Ourselves Museum Without Walls, an online lecture series for adults. Recordings of these 30 to 45 minutes lectures which, cover topics ranging from climate change to vaccine development, are also available online.
Due to COVID-19 there will not be a traditional in-person science fair in the spring but that doesn’t mean budding mad scientists can’t have some fun. In partnership with the Chico Science Fair, Gateway has created online science challenges.
These hands-on challenges include designing and “launching” parachutes an engineering challenge to build the “tallest tower,” and a paper airplane construction and flight activity.
“We post new challenges online every month. They are simple challenges to do at home or in the classroom that explore different science phenomenon,” said McGraw.
Behind the scenes the staff at Gateway are maintaining the building and native plant and pollinator gardens. Laura Lampe, garden curator; Michelle Ott, artist in residence; and Stephanie Parker, curator for the California Native Plant Society Wreath Masters competition created two wreaths from native plant clippings from the Gateway Gardens for the competition.
The museum is also partnering with the Chico State Geological and Environmental Sciences Department to develop a new exhibit, “Fossils & Formations,” featuring a vast collection of fossils including some from the north state and the stories behind their finds.
“When we reopen people will get to come back to a new exhibit,” said McGraw.
For more information on and access to the Gateway Science Museum’s virtual programs visit https:// www.csuchico.edu/gateway/.