Bookmaking With Kids

The California Academy of Sciences is back! The combina-
tion natural-history museum, planetarium and aquarium reopens this weekend in dramatic contemporary quarters, with impressive new exhibits and a thoughtful nod to old favorites.

My first visit was at a preview day earlier this week, and I’ll be going back again (and again) once the crowds thin out. I loved the old Academy; I wanted to love the new one, and I did find lots to like. But I also found myself wondering if I’d walked into a science theme park … bustling … theatrical … and interactive to the point of hyperactive. I hope that for children, sensory overload doesn’t eclipse the possibility of real understanding.

For now, however, I’ll table my concerns in favor of a quick catalogue of the Academy’s attractions:

One of its much-touted new features is a living roof, planted with native flowers and covering seven hillocks studded with sky-
lights. The 2½-acre garden makes the building’s interior 10 degrees cooler than it would be with a conventional roof. For more about the building itself, check out this article in the New York Times. It’s a rave review of architect Renzo Piano’s achievement with the Academy.

The new exhibits inside are equally dramatic, each in its own way inspiring reflection on the Academy’s twin themes: the evolution and sustainability of life on Earth.

• There’s a living coral reef that visitors can explore both from the surface and from 25 feet below, through underwater windows.
• Inside a 90-foot diameter dome, there’s a tropical rainforest where visitors can enter an underwater tunnel to see a flooded Amazonian forest and walk up a spiraling path past plants and animals from Borneo, Madagascar and Costa Rica to reach a tree-top canopy.
• The Expeditions area showcases the Academy’s research trips, both contemporary and historical, on a rotating basis. Right now, the spotlight is on its findings in Madagascar in the past decade as well as the specimens collected in the Galapagos in 1905–1906. Those specimens, by the way, gave the Academy its new start after its collections were destroyed in the fire following the 1906 earthquake.
• The Academy’s beloved dioramas are back—with some twists. Of the original 24 dioramas, 12 were faithfully recreated. Four are new, depicting the Namib desert, Cape Floristic Province, a montane forest and a Somali arid zone. And alongside the still and silent specimens are five displays with live animals, including a colony of African penguins. You can watch them through a vast window, 26 feet wide and 16 feet tall. Or, follow their activities via webcam and a blog.
• The Naturalist Center is an oasis of quiet with cabinet after cabinet of specimens. There are easily hundreds available for up-close examination, and it’s awe-inspiring to consider that the Academy’s collection numbers 20 million specimens.

You can see an overview of the grand-opening activities for September 27th and 28th by clicking here. For student groups, field trips start January 5, 2009, and teachers can make reservations now by sending an email. The Academy’s lesson plans, classroom kits, activities, lab programs and other kid-friendly resources are excellent, and you can start exploring them by clicking here.

Welcome back, CAS.