Unseen Connections: Thinking Routines and Exploded Objects
Dr. Joshua A. Bell Curator of Globalization National Museum of Natural History
Colleen Popson Experience Design Manager National Museum of Natural History
Nicole Webster Manager of School and Youth Programs National Museum of Natural History
NMNH Façade (Chip Clark)
NMNH Education Goal We help learners:
• Pursue their curiosity about the natural world
• Feel more connected to the natural world
• Expand their “science identity”: • I can do science • I understand that science is part of my everyday life and is relevant to me
• I understand that science matters
Smithsonian Smithsonian
Hallmarks of NMNH Education
• Object/collections-based inquiry • Aligned with NMNH science • Human-centered design • Audience-tested • Multidisciplinary instruction • Multiple entry points to science
Q? Method Flowchart (NMNH)
Joshua Bell working with members of the Mapaio community in Papua New Guinea, 2011 (Sebastian Haraha)
Cassowary feathers harvested from cassowary – Purari Delta 2001 (Joshua Bell)
M2 Y-Axis Assembly - Exploded Diagram. Rick Pollack (2012) (CC BY 2.0) Saturn V First Stage Exploded View Stuart Rankin (2017) (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Stand of young and mature pu (sago) - Purari Delta 2006 (Joshua Bell)
Photographs of various stages of the fixing of the glass screen of a white Galaxy S3 – Washington DC 2012 (Joshua Bell
Exploded diagram of the process of making a tevau (based on the work of Bill Davenport) - 2019 (Joshua Bell)
Google image view of the corner of 7th and H St NW Washington DC (left); Diagram of the street corner (Joshua Bell) (above)
Cellphone: Unseen Connections (NMNH)
Exploding Objects • What materials are used to make this object?
• Where are these materials from? • What processes brought them to the locality in which they were used to make this object?
• What tools were used? • Who made this
object? (Gender/Professions)
• What are the silences? Exploded cellphone watercolor (Smithsonian)
The Explanation Game Thinking Routine
• Name It: Name a feature or aspect of the object you notice
• Explain It: What could it be? What
role or function might it serve? Why might it be there?
• Give Reason: What makes you say that?
• Generate Alternatives: What else could it be? What makes you say that?
Project Zero Harvard Graduate School of Education CC BY-NC 4.0
Hafted End Scraper (Smithsonian)
Exploded cereal diagram (Joshua Bell)
Exploded toilet paper diagram (Joshua Bell)
In understanding the relationship between commodity and person, we unearth anew the history of ourselves. - Sidney Mintz, Sweetness and Power (1985)
Questions?