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An integral part of the success of the Peabody Fellows program is the inviting BioAction Lab. Developed and built by the Peabody Museum’s own Construction Shop and Graphics Lab in conjunction with the program staff, this unique learning tool is specifically designed for demonstrating hands-on, and inquiry based teaching methods. The Lab is a “wagon train” of 10 wheeled carts filled with over 300 hands-on natural history specimens (such as fossils, plants, animal skins and skeletal materials), a computer, a nature video library and stereomicroscope especially designed for young students. The specimens were carefully selected for visual and tactile appeal, a mix of organisms, colors, and textures that would invite investigation.
Six of the carts represent three separate habitats and were painted by Taylor Kane, New Haven artist and freelance exhibit painter at the Peabody Museum. Large folding panels, with photographs by Museum photographer Bill Sacco and Yale Forestry student Josh Schachter ('99), provide a backdrop for each pair of habitat carts. The pictures show three unique New Haven locales and the matching carts feature specimens that reflect the respective habitats and biodiversity.
The blue carts represent the water, and the panel photo depicts the shoreline at Lighthouse Point Park on Long Island Sound. Another set of carts is decorated with lush leaves and vines set against a green background, to portray the forest. New Haven’s West Rock Park, a trap rock ridge dotted with wooded expanses, is highlighted here. Finally, a brilliant set of autumn leaves is set against the bright orange carts that represent the field or meadow habitat, naming Edgewood Park as the representative environment. In addition to the habitat carts with specimens, there is an oversized pair of technology carts, painted to look like a blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds. One cart contains a computer with Internet capability, a printer, and a VCR to screen any of the Lab’s 40 videotapes on biodiversity and the natural world.
The other cart houses a highlight of the BioAction Lab, the Mantis stereomicroscope. This 3-D scope, with an exquisite depth of field, is manufactured by Vision Engineering in New Milford, CT. It features a single large eyepiece, eliminating the need for children to maneuver a binocular microscope, as well as patented stereo optics that are usually found in more expensive microscopes. There is an oversized space between the lens and the stage (area for specimens), allowing for magnification of intact items, such as butterfly wings, seashells, insects and even beakers of pond water, The Mantis had been used primarily by workers in precision engineering industries until the Peabody Fellows Program chose to use the Mantis with children, courtesy of a generous grant from the JPMorganChase Foundation.
In the fall of 2001, carts #9 and #10 were developed through the Peabody’s first Science Education Partnership Award from the National Institutes of Health. Taylor Kane again designed and painted the cart exteriors with a variety of oversize organisms she transferred from actual microscope photographs. These two “microbe carts” contain several microscopes, an incubator for sterile plating and additional laboratory instruments. Other human health resources available include anatomical models of the human torso (one with a functional digestive tract), skeletal materials from diverse species and science kits with which students can explore a variety of topics related to human health. These range from demonstrating how germs spread and typing simulated blood to using bacteria to clean up oil spills.
Transporting the Lab to each school involves a truck with a hydraulic lift from Yale Traffic, Receiving and Storage, piloted by the ace moving team of Dave Tyrrell and George Rosello. These men have carefully moved the Lab over 20 times, and are now a part of the Peabody Fellows family.
The Museum’s curriculum specialist and several volunteer docents provide in-class support to the Fellows.
The Peabody Fellows Program has developed a second traveling science lab for expansion into four new Connecticut school districts during the 2003–2004 academic year. Beginning in October 2003, this Lab will visit five schools in Bridgeport before proceeding to Waterbury, Seymour and West Haven.
Eric Hoag and Walter Brenckle of the Peabody’s construction shop designed the Lab in collaboration with Science Educator Terri Stern. Taylor Kane, New Haven artist and freelance exhibit painter at the Peabody, designed and painted the cart exteriors with exquisitely detailed depictions of organisms in their habitats. The Peabody’s Graphics Lab produced large photographic panels of Connecticut habitats that comprise a dramatic backdrop for the Lab.
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