Exploring the Sky Islands: Basin and Range in the Desert Southwest

亚利桑那大学科学中心与地球环境科学学院合作，正在建设一套互动展览和补充计划，以提高公众对地球科学的认识。天空群岛是沙漠盆地海洋中的山脉群岛。该项目吸引游客，包括普通观众和学校团体，参与动手，调查和贡献活动，增加他们对构成天空岛地区的独特大气，地质和环境条件的了解。“天空岛”展示了有助于天空岛地区生物多样性的地球科学过程，并展示了人类互动如何影响系统。这些项目和展览将亚利桑那大学的研究人员和公众聚集在一起，提供了一个机会，将研究成果翻译给外行观众，并为当地居民和游客带来实际意义和相关性。将本科生纳入展览和项目的开发和交付中，为学生提供了在大学环境中不常见的真实世界的体验。 这是一种新的方法来建立科学中心的展品和展示。亚利桑那大学科学中心还在开发一套创新、可靠、开源的展览模板，允许廉价且可立即更新的交互和内容模式，以保持展览的相关性并延长其寿命。展品还使用识别技术来识别用户，在展品组件之间进行通信，并个性化展品体验。这些展览模板为科学中心和博物馆社区的比特建设带来了更具成本效益的方法。

The University of Arizona Science Center, in collaboration with the School of Earth & Environmental Sciences, is constructing a set of interactive exhibit displays and complementary programs that increase public literacy in the Earth sciences. The Sky Islands are the archipelago of mountain ranges in a sea of desert basins. The project engages visitors, both general audiences and school groups, in hands-on, inquiry-based and contributory activities that increase their understanding of the distinctive atmospheric, geologic and environmental conditions that make up the Sky Island region. "Sky Islands" illustrates the Earth science processes that contribute to the biodiversity of the Sky Island region, and demonstrates how human interactions affect the system. The programs and displays bring University of Arizona researchers and the general public together, providing an opportunity to translate research findings to a lay audience and bring practical meaning and relevance to local residents as well as tourists. The incorporation of undergraduate students into the development and delivery of the exhibits and programs provides students with a real-world experience not often available in a university setting. This is a new approach to building science center exhibits and displays. The University of Arizona Science Center is also developing a set of innovative, reliable, open source exhibit templates that allow for inexpensive and immediately updateable modes of interaction and content to keep exhibits relevant and increase their lifespan. The exhibits also use recognition technologies to identify users, communicate among exhibit components, and personalize the exhibit experience. These exhibit templates bring a more cost-effective approach to exhibit-building to the science center and museum communities.