The Hidden World of Permafrost

这个由阿拉斯加大学和俄勒冈科学与工业博物馆的团队开展的项目将让公众参与到永久冻土的性质和普遍性、其在地球上的规模以及它在全球气候中所扮演的重要角色的主题中。它建立在阿拉斯加费尔班克斯附近的阿拉斯加永久冻土隧道50年的非正式教育和推广的基础上，自20世纪60年代以来，该隧道一直是美国唯一的地下设施，用于与永久冻土和气候有关的研究。该项目包括四个部分：(1)一个2000平方英尺的全国巡回展览；(2)展览和项目增强，以增加隧道的学习机会；(3)项目、桌面展品和27个阿拉斯加土著村庄的口述历史研究；以及(4)教育研究研究。这些组成部分中的每一个都将在工作过程中进行评估。通过升级隧道的显示器，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，研究小组将收集有关气候变化的故事，以及真正的古代冰和永久冻土的样本。这些故事和材料将用于巡回展览，预计将在八年内每年在三家博物馆展出。该倡议的研究部分将建立在迄今为止的观察结果的基础上，即隧道为数千名参观者提供了一个身临其境的地下环境，他们在这里了解正在进行的科学研究，并利用他们所有的感官与气候敏感材料(例如，永冻土、楔冰、冻结的淤泥、更新世的骨骼)进行接触。据推测，他们的学习体验是通过与真实对象与复制对象的互动来增强的。由于博物馆经常展出的展品更有可能包含复制的和/或虚拟的物品和环境，了解这些不同类别的物品对学习的影响是很重要的。该项目将使用这两种材料，调查它们在与气候变化相关的非正式科学学习机构中的效力差异。真实物体被认为具有以下属性来激发更充分的参与；它们(1)凭借其质地、气味和维度等特征而信息丰富；(2)真实的尺度；(3)真实的，即原始物体；以及(4)通常独特的，即具有内在价值。研究问题将探索对学习这些特征和相关特征的潜在影响。使用的方法将是观察、视频和对公众的采访，特别是游客的谈话，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.