The Hidden World of Permafrost

这个项目由阿拉斯加大学和俄勒冈科学与工业博物馆的团队组成，将使公众参与到永久冻土带的性质和流行、它在地球上的规模以及它在全球气候中所起的重要作用的主题中。它建立在阿拉斯加州费尔班克斯附近的阿拉斯加永久冻土隧道50年的非正式教育和外展活动的基础上，自20世纪60年代以来，该隧道一直是美国唯一一个用于研究永久冻土和气候的地下设施。该项目由四个部分组成：(1)全国分布的2000平方英尺的巡回展览；(2)增加隧道内的学习机会；(3) 27个阿拉斯加土著村庄的节目、桌面展览和口述历史研究；(4)教育研究性研究。这些组成部分中的每一个都将在工作过程中进行评估。通过升级隧道内的展示，并将旅游项目带到村庄，这项工作将把隧道体验扩展到整个阿拉斯加。在这些村庄里，科考队将收集有关气候变化的故事，以及真正的古冰和永久冻土样本。这些故事和材料将用于巡回展览，预计每年在三个博物馆展出，为期八年。该计划的研究部分将建立在迄今为止的观察基础上，该隧道为数千名游客提供了一个沉浸式的地下环境，在那里他们可以了解正在进行的科学研究，并利用他们的所有感官与气候敏感材料（例如永久冻土、楔冰、冰冻淤泥、更新世骨骼）接触。据推测，他们的学习经验是通过与真实物体或复制物体的互动而增强的。由于博物馆经常包含更有可能包含复制和/或虚拟对象和环境的展品，因此了解这些不同类别的对象对学习的影响非常重要。该项目将使用这两种材料，调查它们在与气候变化有关的非正式科学学习机构中的效果差异。假设真实对象具有以下属性，以刺激更充分的参与；它们(1)通过纹理、气味和维度等特征来丰富信息；(2)真实规模；（三）真品，即原物；(4)往往是独一无二的，即具有内在价值。研究问题将探讨这些特征和相关特征对学习的潜在影响。所采用的方法将是观察、录像和公众访谈，特别关注游客关于永久冻土、临界点、气候变化和地质时间的解释和阐述。

This project by teams at the University of Alaska and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry will engage the public in the topic of the nature and prevalence of permafrost, its scale on the earth and the important role it plays in the global climate. It builds on 50 years of informal education and outreach at the Alaskan Permafrost Tunnel near Fairbanks, AK, which, since the 1960s, has been the Nation's only underground facility for research related to permafrost and climate. The project has four components: (1) a nationally distributed 2,000 square-foot traveling exhibition; (2) exhibit and program enhancements to the learning opportunities at the tunnel; (3) programs, table-top exhibits and oral history research in 27 Native Alaskan villages; and (4) an education research study. Each of these components will be evaluated over the course of the work. By upgrading the displays at the tunnel, and by taking traveling programs to the villages, the work will extend the tunnel experience across Alaska. In the villages the team will collect stories about climate change, along with samples of real ancient ice and permafrost. These stories and materials will be used in the travelling exhibit which is expected to be at three museums per year for eight years. The research component of the initiative will build on the observation to date that the tunnel has provided thousands of visitors with an underground immersive environment where they learn about the science research being conducted and engage with climate-sensitive materials (e.g., permafrost, wedge ice, frozen silt, Pleistocene bones) using all of their senses. It has been conjectured that their learning experiences are enhanced by interacting with real vs. replicated objects. As museums often contain exhibits that are more likely to contain replicated and/or virtual objects and environments, understanding the impact that these different categories of objects have on learning is important. Using both types of materials, the project will investigate differences in their efficacy in informal science learning institutions related to climate change. Real objects are postulated to have the following attributes that stimulate fuller engagement; they are (1) information-rich by virtue of such features as their texture, odor, and dimensionality; (2) at real-life scale; (3) authentic, i.e., original objects; and (4) often unique, i.e., have inherent value. Research questions will explore the potential impacts on learning of these and related features. Methods employed will be observation, video, and interviews of the public with a particular focus on visitor talk with respect to explanations and elaborations about permafrost, tipping points, climate change, and geological time.