INTERPRETING IMMUNOLOGY: Barry Aprison with Chicago museum's new AIDS exhibit.
"Science museums have a great potential to really help society become scientifically literate because they attract enormous numbers of students and their parents and teachers," maintains Bassam Shakhashiri, a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin who was assistant director for science and engineering at the National Science Foundation from 1984 to 1990. "In the past eight to 10 years, museums have made a deliberate attempt to capture the attention of the audience."
He adds that he believes devices such as robotics "are an appropriate vehicle to sustain a visitor's interest." At the same time, he notes that "these approaches need to be constantly looked at and evaluated to make sure that the participant is learning something worth learning." Shakhashiri points out that museum officials "are sensitive to these things, but I think it's still important to keep on ...
