Field trip notes for April 2013

As I mentioned yesterday, my wife and I were too tired to go to the Smithees in Ann Arbor yesterday.  What wore me out was that I took my geology class on a field trip, the second stop of which was the MSU Museum.  I've written about visiting the MSU Museum before, particularly about the Silent Spring exhibit that was there last year.  Those displays have since moved on, although I've incorporated the video I embedded into my lectures, along with the "DDT is Good for Me!" ad.

As for what my students and I saw there, the following interview with Gary Morgan, Director of the MSU Museum, shows several of the permanent exhibits, such as the pronghorn and the reconstruction of Lucy, that we passed on our tour.  Morgan also describes how the Silent Spring exhibit went outside last fall, as well as his philosophy behind selecting and organizing specimens to display.

Gary Morgan, director of the Michigan State University Museum, talks about his role and the diverse collections the museum displays.

Morgan appears in this next video, in which he and the curators explain why exhibits rotate.  The two items in the video my class see every year are dinosaur skull and the elephant skeleton, which appears in the video preview.

Different members of MSU Museum discuss the museum's collections in storage and explain why museums collect.

That's what we saw.  What my class missed were yesterday afternoon's events for the MSU Science Festival that were held at the museum.  Unfortunately, we had to leave before they started.  Maybe next year, I'll arrange the tour to catch them.