THE GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE AS AN INFORMAL SCIENCE EDUCATION RESOURCE Development Of The Golden Gate Bridge Outdoor Exhibition Copyright © 2016 Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Denis Mulligan, Principal Investigator of the Project; General Manager, Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District Robert Reitherman, Project Manager, Consortium of Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering (CUREE) Exhibit booklet research and layout: Reed Helgens and Darryl Wong, CUREE Prepress production: George Mattingly Design Funding for this project provided by the National Science Foundation, Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (award DRL-0840185), awarded to the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . 5 PUBLIC WORKS FOR PUBLIC LEARNING . 6 EXHIBIT DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW EVALUATION . 7 THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: PUBLIC WORKS FOR PUBLIC LEARNING (2012) . 13 STUDENT INVOLVEMENT . 16 ORIGINAL CONCEPT AND MODIFICATIONS . 19 AN UNEXPECTED VISITOR EXPERIENCE . 23 LIST OF EXHIBITS . 24 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . 31 INTRODUCTION This project extends beyond the usual venue of the Evaluation consultants were retained to measure usage of science center to provide Informal Science Education the exhibits, and resulting depth of understanding, which, (ISE) experiences for the over 10 million visitors who given the large number of visitors, was accomplished on a are annually drawn to the Golden Gate Bridge. stratified sampling basis. Visitors already have an exciting experience looking at the Bridge and its spectacular location at the The NSF award was made to the Golden Gate Bridge, juncture of the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay. Highway and Transportation District. Project management Through the development of outdoor exhibits, the and lead design were performed by the Consortium of project builds on this positive experience by enabling Universities for Research in Earthquake Engineering. visitors to acquire Science, Technology, Engineering, Other exhibit designers were Princeton University, and Mathematics (STEM) insights concerning the the Exploratorium, and West Wind Laboratory. EHDD world’s most famous bridge. Exhibits are designed Architects provided site planning services. to surprise our visitors with how enjoyably they can explore STEM topics: They come as sightseers, they leave with a positive ISE experience that piques their curiosities. A secondary audience of the project has been the operators of similar infrastructure facilities and informal science education professionals, who were invited to attend an international conference, Public Works for Public Learning, around the 75th Anniversary of the Bridge in 2012. Introduction | 5 PUBLIC WORKS FOR PUBLIC LEARNING The conference on “Public Works for Public Learning” held in San Francisco in June 2012, had as its keynote speaker, Dr. G. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Clough shared his unique perspective as a civil engineer, educator, and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He gave his insight on the power of public works projects like the Golden Gate Bridge to teach important lessons about history, engineering, culture, and geology. In his presentation titled “If you Build It, They Will Come,” he explained how public works projects are historic milestones representing some of humankind’s greatest achievements. Engineering marvels from Machu Picchu to the Panama Canal have benefited societies for centuries, informed architects, designers, and engineers alike, and enriched everyone’s understanding of the world. 6 | Introduction EXHIBIT DEVELOPMENT OVERVIEW Over thirty exhibits engage the visitors and explain the engineering and history of the Bridge. Approximately ten million visitors per year come to the Bridge to walk around it, on it, or view it from bicycles. Several design principles are relied upon to make the exhibits a fun learning experience. Illustrations, simple analogies, and hands-on interactive features, rather than just text and numbers, are used to present the many mathematical relationships involved in engineering a suspension bridge. Visitors are enticed to learn through out-of- the-classroom, voluntary learning (informal Exhibit illustration by Aaron Neighbour, CUREE learning). Informal learning is different than the instruction that occurs in the classroom (formal learning), as what is learned is experiential and How does one get across the interesting concept that as the self-directed. Informal learning invites a visitor wind speed doubles, the wind pressure a structure must resist to ponder an interesting question, and then more than doubles–it quadruples? Instead of just saying “wind learn about it. Because the Golden Gate Bridge pressure varies as the square of the velocity,” a one-foot-square itself is the “headliner” exhibit, it is important plate with a handprint on it invites the visitor to push and see to connect the immediacy of the experience a how much force is felt to make a speedometer read out higher and higher wind speeds. person has at the site with the content of the exhibits. Exhibit Development : Overview | 7 Exhibition On The Web QR (quick response) codes were added to each exhibit to provide the visitor with direct access to the Golden Gate Bridge’s website on the exhibition. Each exhibit’s text is translated into nine languages, plus English, with additional information on the individual exhibits provided at: http:// goldengate.org/exhibits/. Prior to designing some of the exhibits for the project, Exploratorium designers visited the lab of Stanford University civil engineering professor Sarah Billington to explore structural engineering principles with her instrumented scale-model of the Golden Gate Bridge. 8 | Exhibit Development : Evaluation EVALUATION Research was conducted, prototypes made and remade, drafts were discussed and critiqued, and only then were the final exhibits constructed. Front-end evaluation was conducted by Inverness Research at the beginning of the project, when goals and initial design were being considered. Front-end evaluation collected input from potential visitors to find out what kind of information they already know, what visitors would like to know, and explored how exhibits could best present the interpretive information being provided. Summative Evaluation was conducted by David Heil & Associates after final installation, when the exhibits could be evaluated and final adjustments could be made. Placement of the exhibits throughout the south visitor area of the Golden Gate Bridge was another consideration, as some of the exhibits operated best in a windy location, or made the most impact within view of the Bridge. It was necessary to work within the restrictions set by the National Park Service, which regulates the land around the visitor area, for final placement of the exhibits. [Shown right (top to bottom)] • An exhibit by The Exploratorium that demonstrates how the height of the tower impacts the amount of tension in the main cable is first sketched out. • A prototype is built and public feedback is gathered. A suggestion to make the posts resemble the Bridge towers is illustrated using paper templates. • The final design, with towers resembling the actual towers of the Bridge. Exhibit Development : Evaluation | 9 To broaden the outreach of the exhibition, a tactile exhibit was developed to be accessible to visitors who are blind or have impaired vision. Designed with Braille lettering, it includes a raised relief of the layout of the bridge design and a model of a Bridge tower the visitor is able to touch to gain a concept of the overall shape of the Bridge and of one of the towers. A nonprofit organization, The Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired, tested a plastic model for accuracy of the Braille text and effectiveness of the overall design. A suggestion that was incorporated was to be sure the model width did not extend past the average reach of a visitor so that both hands could reach and touch the entire depiction of the Bridge. The final model was cast in bronze. 10 | Exhibit Development : Evaluation The area around each exhibit and the height of the tabletop displays were measured to be accessible to visitors in wheelchairs. Other details included the rounding of sharp corners, using a font large enough to be easily legible, and ensuring the base of each exhibit did not block wheelchairs. A special section for teachers and students may be found on the exhibition website where additional content is posted and sorted into material appropriate for students in kindergarten to fifth grade, students in sixth through eighth grade, and students in high school and college level, using the categorization of the Next Generation Science Standards. The website link is accessible on site by a QR code posted at each exhibit. Links to videos related to the construction and maintenance of the Bridge have also been added to the website. Suggested display heights for viewing based on various heights of visitors. Exhibit Development : Evaluation | 11 THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE: PUBLIC WORKS FOR PUBLIC LEARNING (2012) A two-day conference titled Public Works for Public Learning was the forum to exchange innovative ideas about educational programs that positively impact visitors at a wide range of types and sizes of public works facilities. The nation’s infrastructure is a very underused informal learning resource, and bringing the extensive public works community within