Week 5 November 19th

Today was started out by playing a quick game then each group shared their exhibit/prototype ideas so far. We bounced ideas off each other and refined them a bit.

Next, we traveled upstairs to the museum floor and met with Mallory Vopal who manages the floor spaces on the museum. She gave us a good idea of what places would be great for setting up our prototypes.

From there, we headed back to the classroom and worked diligently on our prototypes until the end of the day. We also tested some of our work on other groups in order to get some feedback.

Week 5 November 17th

Today we started off with an introduction to Ricardo Washington, a game designer who came to help us better decided how we want to present our exhibits. We then identified areas of interest to communicate to the public in our group. This decided what subject matter our prototypes would focus on.

From there, Ricardo spoke a lot about how games are designed to entice people as well as communicate something. He then explained briefly how this information could be used and applied to a museum exhibit.

Next we set up a "Climate Playground" of various prototypes of museum games and activities. The teens were encouraged to take part in each activity and deduce what made that activity enjoyable or memorable, or what made it unenjoyable or confusing.

Lastly, we got into our teams and the teens assigned themselves various roles which will be used during the exhibit design. These roles are project manager, design specialist, materials person, content specialist, and engagement specialist. We then shared our ideas and finalized our materials list.

Week 4 November 12th

Today we started off with a visit from a speaker, associated with Jane Clougherty, who came and talked to us about Jane's research. This research focuses mainly on how air quality and various social stressors are related.

We then had a visit from a representative of the group GASP. She brought in some very interesting air monitoring equipment. The teens then used these resources to monitor air quality in the are around the museum and the library while recording there findings. It was a fun activity which showed how particulate matter can vary from place to place even when indoors.

To round out the day, we all took part in straight talk within our teams. This gave everyone a chance to give honest feedback to the other members within our teens.

Week 4 November 10th

Today, we started off with a lesson about history of environmental justice. Included in the lesson were some examples of what environmental justice entails.

After this, we introduced a project, of which, the teens would be a major part. The project was an environmental justice debate. This debate was specifically focused on the practice of fracking near residential areas. The teens were split into teams and each given a pro or con stance as well as the role of someone concerning fracking near the Pittsburgh International Airport.

The teens then proceeded to do research on the subject matter and their particular role in the debate. The debate then took place for roughly 45 mins and was very heated. The teens took on the roles well and did an excellent job debating. The judges (Lindsey, Clara, Justin, Amanda and Tom) will tally up the scores and see who won the debate on Thursday.

Week 3 Novemeber 5: Museum Tour

Today we started our session with a Carnegie Museum of Art Design Tour. Two docents from the Museum gave us a tour of the HAC lab and the Charity Randall Gallery. The teens were really interested in the pieces and were really engaged in the docents' presentation.Through the tour, the  teens were able to learn about the design process of an exhibit well as the communication strategies used to convey the message of the exhibit. This tour was a great way to get the teens thinking about their own museum exhibit.

After the tour we stayed in our tour groups and continued our group discussion work from last Thursday. The group that went to the Dinosaur Hall to learn timescale with Justin stayed in the classroom with Lindsey to go over exhibit design and brainstorming and visa-versa.

When both groups finished we regrouped in the classroom to learn about legacy effects. We watched a short video on the effects smog and pollution has on locals living near industrial sites of pollution. The video showed what life was like 50 years ago in Pittsburgh as well as today. Although a lot has changed, there is still room for improvement. After the watching the video, the teens browsed the Breath Project website to learn more about the current state of pollution of Pittsburgh. The teens were able to see time lapse videos, today's air quality reading and air quality comparisons between Pittsburgh and other major cities.   

Week 3 Tuesday Novemeber 3: Atmosphere and Sources of Pollution

Today we learned about Parts per Million (ppm), atmosphere and time scale. Justin gave a lesson on the different atmosphere layers and what happens in those layers through a guessing game activity. The students had a lot of fun guessing which layers contained airplanes, satellites, and geological features such as Mt. Everest. They were also very surprised to find what each layer contains.

After our guessing activity, Justin discussed sources of air pollution. He went over sources and the differences between primary and secondary pollutants. The teens then used their research skills to look up the different primary and secondary pollutants, sources and the source's pollutants. It was great to see the teens so engaged in their research! We collected back as a group and went over our findings.

We ended today's session with a scavenger hunt around Oakland. We broke up into three groups and set outside. The teens were given a sheet with clues to find evidence of pollution. After some thinking about the clues, the teens were able to find the different locations: The Natural History Museum, Carnegie Library, Mellon Institute, the Cathedral, the former coal power plant behind the museum and vehicles! It was great getting outside and showing the teens real life examples of what we've been learning in sessions.

Week 2 Thursday October 29: Geological Timescale

Today we finished our experiment team presentations and demonstrations. Then we went over the geological timescale and its importance with Justin and Tom. Afterwards, we broke up into 2 groups. The first group went up to the museum with Justin to tour the Dinosaur Hall and learn some more about the geological timescale. The second group went over exhibit design with Lindsey and brainstormed interview questions and design layouts. After the two groups finished, we went over workshop goals and did our first straight talk.

Week 2 Tuesday October 27: What is Air? Atmosphere Components

Today the teens met Justin, our Graduate Researcher. He talked to the group about his research, air quality, and components of our atmosphere. The teens played a fun activity with M&Ms that mimicked our atmosphere's composition. It was a great way for them to visualize how much nitrogen, oxygen, and other elements make up our atmosphere.

After our atmosphere activity, we broke up into our 3 experiment groups. Amanda's team focused on how humans effect air. This group burned different fuel sources in the fume hood and measuring the PM count on the Speck. Tom's group focused on gas mobility and density. This group created carbon dioxide through a mixture and  blew out candles using the gas. Justin's group focused on chemical reactions of air. This group also created carbon dioxide through a mixture and demonstrated the gas by capturing it in balloons. The teens had a lot of fun performing these experiments. Afterwards, we regroups and each experiment team performed their findings.

Week 1 Thurdsay October 22: Creating Goals and Playing with Specks

Today we started Energy-Net by continuing our icebreaker from Tuesday. We played a game of social bingo to learn new things about our peers.

Afterwards, we recapped our trip to Filmmakers and presented our findings on the exhibit, took care of some paperwork and went over Energy-Net standards. Then we broke up into groups and discussed what our personal goals are for the program and what we can do to achieve those goals. Two big group goals for this semester are improving communication skills and creating an exhibit that the museum will want to keep. We also talked a lot about being respectful and listening to one another.

The teen then broke up into 2 groups and played with the Specks. They had a lot of fun finding out what will make the particulate counts rise. Some materials they used were baby powder, paper, and carpet squares.

Week 1 Tuesday October 20th: EnergyNet is back!

Today was our first day back in the classroom. We welcomed back some old faces and met some new ones! To kick things off Lindsey went over this year's Energy-Net project: air quality. The teens were really excited about this year's topic. We then walked over to Pittsburgh Filmmakers to take a look at a local air pollution photo exhibit. We explored the exhibit and observed it's message, how the message is being delivered and why. On our walk back to the museum the teens took photos of air pollution evidence. We had a lot of fun looking at the exhibit and seeing evidence of air pollution in real life. We look forward to the rest of the semester!

Final Energy Net Post: Our Final Project

In the middle of April the Energy-NET staff, environmental interns and student interns debuted their  final project. Pictures of the final product are below.

We would like to Thank all of our followers and the assistance of everyone at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Museum of Art and the Geology and Planetary Science Department at the University of Pittsburgh.

Our exhibit has 3 parts, a Lead Infographic, a texture soil column wall, and a brownfield map of the City of Pittsburgh.

One of our student interns preparing a panel for the textured soil column wall.

The wall features the layers typical in a soil column. These layers are:

O Layer- Is the top layer, which is typically very thin and comprises Organic Matter.

A Layer - This layer is below the O layer and comprises a rich organic materials and minerals.

B Layer- This layer is primarily constructed out of clay.

C Layer- This layer is typically sandy and filled with slightly weathered parent material (Bedrock).

R Layer- The R layer is the bedrock layer.

The Lead Infographic shows the different ways that lead gets into our environment and bodies. This includes sources such as industrial, leaded gasoline, and leaded paint.

The final part of the exhibit is the Brownfield map. This map shows the historic brownfields in the City of Pittsburgh. Panels on the exhibit show what the brownfields looked like and what they have been turned into, whether it be a shopping center or a new research facility for Pitt, or a new residential development.

Please visit the exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh PA.

Look forward to the work the program does next Fall Semester. 

Once again we would like to Thank all of our supporters that helped us build this exhibit.

Week 11 - Thursday, February 12th 2015: Carnegie Museum of Art and more creative communication

Thursday continued off of Tuesdays focus on creatively communicating science. The first activity was taking the teams into the museum of art to examine the exhibits and analyze what makes art effective. How it grabs attention, how it communicates feelings and messages, why we feeling something from it, and so on. Then, a few volunteers shared the pieces of art they selected with the class and spoke about their analysis of it.

An example used to show how visuals can easily and effectively communicate knowledge.

Next, some of the creative ideas from Tuesday were shared with the class to give everyone a starting point for the next activity. The four teams again came together to condense the 2 most important findings from their research on Tuesday and wrote them on sticky notes. Then individual teens placed their sticky notes next to potential creative exhibit ideas on the whiteboard. 

Creative and interactive exhibit ideas!

Ideas with the fewest sticky notes next to them until 4 remained, and then each team was assigned an idea to further brainstorm and develop. The teams worked on this until the end of session.

Having a little fun during the break.

Week 11 - Tuesday, February 10th 2015: Metaphors

Tuesday was all about communicating science. A recap of last weeks museum scavenger hunt started off the session, followed by some researching about lead and then some activities involving using metaphors to communicate the findings.

Some of the metaphor ideas the teens came up with.

The interns and teens split into their respective groups to research these topics: how Pb (lead) works in the body; how Pb affects growing plants; how Pb moves through air, soil, and water; and what kind of research is being done about Pb.

Next, the groups collaborated to create metaphors used to more easily communicate the research findings. After everyone agreed on their best metaphors, they were tested on the other groups to see if they were easily communicated and memorable in a "pass it on" fashion.

One of the teens explaining her groups research and metaphor.

Then, a representative from each group explained the metaphor and its connection to their research to everybody else. After the short presentations, the groups reformed for some brainstorming. Ideas for how to incorporate the metaphors into the existing exhibit components were discussed. Before ending session, there was a brief discussion of the importance of creative communication in the sciences which will continue into the next session.

Week 10 Thursday, February 10th: Radioactive Decay, Hillman Hall of Minerals, and the Benedum Hall of Geology

On Thursday the teens conducted many activities. These activities included an activity on radioactive decay, a scavenger hunt in the Hillman Hall of Mineral, an examination of the Benedum Hall of Geology and a breakdown of science jargon. 

An intern giving a lesson on Radioactive decay of Uranium and Lead. The goal of the lesson was to introduce the teens to the idea that lead is a naturally occurring substance.

The groups were split up some going into the museum and others staying in the classroom. In the classrooom the radioactive decay lesson was being giving. Teens were giving three eggs to be different isotopes, each egg had a different number of neutrons but were the same element. They then weighed these eggs to see that in fact they were different weights. Next a mystery set of eggs, isotopes, were giving to the teens. They weighed these and found the proportion between the different isotopes. Using this ration and a chart giving out by our Grad Student allowed the teens to determine what the source of their lead was.

Pb210 and Pb206 used to demonstrate the concept of half-life. Over a certain interval of time half of the parent material would be turned over into the daughter material. In this case Lead 210 to Lead 206.

While in the museum the groups were further split into their teams, Cream, Peaches, Flaming Wolves, and the Swizzle DIzzle Penguins. In their individual teams they went on a scavenger hunt in the Hillman Hall of Minerals. The goal was to find as many elements as they could in ten minutes. The winning team had found 18 different elements. 

The Peaches right before the scavenger hunt.

While one team was doing the scavenger hunt the other followed Michele into the Benedum Hall of Geology to examine the exhibit and learn more about half lives. This is valuable information to have while developing our exhibits further. 

One mineral with six different elements in it. A very valuable contribution to the scavenger hunt.

Afterwards the teams reconvened in the classroom for a final activity. Rob gave a sample of a scientific paper that was heavily worded. The teens then went sentence by sentence to break it down into understandable english. While developing the E-Net exhibit we will have to keep this in mind so that all of our audience can understand the information being presented. This includes teens and small children all the way up to the elderly and included all educational backgrounds. Effective communication is key to many aspects of life and understanding your audience is key to effective communication.

Week 10: Tuesday February 3 Lead Jeopardy and E-Net Exhibit Space

On Tuesday, we all went up into the museum to view the space available to develop our exhibit. While we were there we broke into our groups, Peachs, CREAM, Flaming Wolves and Swizzle Dizzle Penguins. While in these  groups we brainstormed different ways to develop the space and how to incorporate different exhibits in with ours. These included such things as using our projects and developing them further with some of the activities that we have done previously.

Our exhibit area has shrunk :( We have from the grey wall to the end of the carpet and from the windows to the end of the table. We will have to get creative to utilize this space in the most efficient way.

Lead Jeopardy: A creative game to teach people about lead.

After viewing the museum we came back to our room and played a game of lead jeopardy. It ended in a tie between the two teams Swizzle Dizzle Penguins and Flaming Wolves; against Peaches and Cream. This game goes into depth with uses, pollution, contamination and remediation, and health affects. 

Keep checking in to see how the E-Net exhibit continues to be developed for its debut on April 11th. 

Week 9: Thursday January 29th - Personality Test and Museum Exploration

On Thursday, the teens and interns started the day by taking a personality test. This personality test would place them into one of four different animals based an how they rated certain qualities. As it turns out the teens are mostly type A personalities. The animals associated with these were Buffalo and Eagle. In contrast the interns tended to be type B Personalities characterized by Beavers and Mice.

Two of our teens posing for a picture.

After the personality test the teens were broken up into there groups. These groups are 3-4 teens per intern and will be utilized through out the program for different projects and tours. These groups were paired up and sent into the museum to look at the importance of soil. This gave the teens more cultural and historic back ground on lead and soil.

The names the teens chose for their groups.

This was also the first time the teens were exclusively lead by the interns. One group went into the Mineral Hall and the other group went into the Cultural Exhibits.

Here at E-Net we try to be inclusive and welcoming to all of our interested partners. This includes Steve the Skeleton, Karl the Snake and Bella the Polar Bear.

Week 9: Tuesday January 27th - Coming Back Strong

On Tuesday we performed some team building exercises and welcomed our new students and interns. It was great to see everyone again and we are all looking forward to continue to develop our exhibit. The two main activities that were performed by the teens were a Tower Building Competition and an Obstacle Course. 

Teens constructing a tower out of pipe cleaners.

The teens were given a box, 2 newspapers, 25 pipe-cleaners, a length of tape and string. Using these materials the teens had 10 minutes to create the tallest tower possible.

The second team building their tower.

The teens showed their creativity and problem solving skills when creating the towers. The competition ended in a tie, as it was not stated that body parts could not be used.

The end of our obstacle course, with one of the new interns.

The teens built and guided their fellow teens through an obstacle course. This involved crawling under a table. Then they navigated over several chairs and had to guide a table to the white board. At the white board they had to draw a cat. After the cat they were guided to the skeleton. Our resident skeleton felt much love as everyone had to hold his hand.

Steve and his new friend Karl!

Keep checking-in and seeing what our team develops as the Spring Term continues.

Week 1-7 Recap and Update

It was an exciting end of the semester that culminated in the testing of our exhibits in the first week of December.

Expect our Tuesday and Thursday posts to start rolling in! The teens started back up on January 27th!!!

A young museum patron intrigued by the soil rug exhibit that the teens developed and built.

Two of our teens displaying their project for the public.

RECAP

Week 1: During week one the Interns and Educations introduced the program and our field of study to the teens. This was done by taking the teens through stations where they learned more about soil.

Week 2:   During week two we read two stories from different Native American tribes about the creation of the earth. The teens split into two groups and each performed one of the 2 stories we read as a skit. This week the teens also researched different things about soil.

Week 3: During week three the Energy-Net team went to Schenley Park to learn about how to use a GPS. On Thursday, PhD candidate and paleoclimatologist David Pompeani gave a presentation about ancient lead pollution. He is responsible for finding the oldest lead pollution in the world! 

Week 4: At Energy-NET this week the team gathered soil samples from Flagstaff Hill in Schenley Park On Thursday the teens broke out into groups and conducted a Town Hall Brownfield Debate!

Week 5:  A presentation was giving from a Museum educator about evaluating an exhibit. After which the teens were sent to different parts of the museum to evaluate and look at how different exhibits worked.

Week 6: Week six was the idea and creation time. Teens broke into their different groups to develop and display their exhibits. These exhibit reigned from Pittsburgh Industrial History Timeline, to lead history. They also contained Soil Rug, create your own lot, and a video about why soil is important.

Week 7: It was crunch time! We deconstructed and evaluated our exhibits. After, the teens reconstructed the exhibits and presented them during the family day on Saturday.

*** To learn more about what we do and have done in the past, Please visit our past blog posts!!!!