Rising to the challenge

New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science highlights educational online content

Although museums are closed to in-person visitors, there’s a treasure trove of information online. The staff at New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science is helping to keep the original content coming.

“We’re putting as much content as we can online,” says Jim Greenhouse, the museum’s space science coordinator. “We have a new page called Science@ Home, where visitors can go to that for information.”

Science@Home contains original programs as well as resources from partner organizations. The program listings include topics for all ages and levels of interest.

Greenhouse says the following have been put online for visitors:

Museum Story Time — A new video is offered every other week. Story Time educator Dr. Misty narrates a popular science-based children’s book and provides related activities that you can do from home using common household materials.

iNaturalist — Families use this website to record observations made while participating in challenges arranged by the museum. A how-to video, recorded by a Sandia Mountain Natural History Center educator, has been added.

Space Science Sundays will return online on Facebook. Space Science Sundays includes fun facts, anniversaries of various missions, and current space science news.

The NMMNHS Learning Garden will be posting on the museum’s Facebook page twice a month.

Practical programs on biosynthesis, composting and related topics can be found there. See Facebook.com/ nmmnhs. An Instagram series is in the works.

Virtual Mineral Monday started May 4. Send descriptions of rocks, fossils and minerals to be identified by museum experts.

Sandia Mountain Natural History Center (a partnership with Albuquerque Public Schools) offers five videos to help New Mexicans appreciate their outdoor walks and nature investigations. They can be found on YouTube by searching for “Sandia Mountain Natural History Center.”

Margie Marino, executive director of the center, says the biggest obstacle has been getting everyone coordinated.

“With some staff working off site, we’ve had to be patient in getting answers,” Marino says. “We’ve also been able to get ahead on some projects.”

Construction continues on the renovation of the planetarium, as well as the permanent volcano exhibit and an interactive wall that will complement the Bisti Beast at the front of the museum.

“The museum has been transferring it’s collections to a central database to take it online,” Marino says. “Because of this closure, we’ve been able to assign other people to the project. We’ve been making amazing progress, and most of our collections is going to be done in months rather than the expected few years.”

Marino says Greenhouse is working on summer camps to be offered.

“Ideas are kicking around,” she says. “Jim is looking to put in some kind of field experience into the programs.”

To visit the many programs of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science, visit nmnaturalhistory.org

COURTESY OF SILVER PLUME EXHIBITIONS “Sauropods Hatching” by artist Luis V. Rey is part of the “Tiny Titans” exhibit.

COURTESY OF SANDIA MOUNTAIN NATURAL HISTORY CENTER A fox at the Sandia Mountain Natural History Center in the East Mountains.

COURTESY OF NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENCE FossilWorks is a public display area in which trained volunteers demonstrate the painstaking process of paleontological preparation.

COURTESY OF NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENCE A scene from the online exhibition “Growing Green Goop.”

COURTESY OF NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENCE The online exhibit “The New Tree of Life” at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science.

COURTESY OF NEW MEXICO MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY & SCIENCE An interactive map shows where tyrannosaurs were found in New Mexico. It’s part of the online exhibit “New Mexico: The Tyrannosaur State.”