The Underwater Sea Life exhibit captured my attention the most because it was presented as if we were living underwater and to view the sea life from the perspective of an sea animal. The dim blue lighting, sea animal displays and the water sound created a surreal atmosphere to experience what it would be like to live underwater as a small fish. The exhibit allowed for me to experience the different organisms underwater without actually having to go out and the information plates were direct and very informational. The experience at the museum that I found the most enjoyable was the different interactive machines that as well as how it would integrate the importance of environment in our daily lives.
The Butterfly Rainforest provided the opportunity to experience nature in ways that Leopold recommended. At first I wasn't very interested in the Butterfly Rainforest because I was just thinking to myself that it's probably nothing too exciting in there but when I stepped in I was caught off guard how beautiful the garden was and there was more butterflies around than what I had expected. The variety of butterflies allowed it to connect more closely with the nature aspect. There's always butterflies outdoors but not the kind I was able to see at this exhibit. It allowed me to take in the beauty that nature is able to provide to us and I also started taking notes of the different plants and flowers around. I felt very relaxed and I think other visitors would so too and this exhibit would definitely spark the ethical concern about preserving the environment. This exhibit allowed the visitors to escape reality and modernization for a bit since we are so involved with the industrial parts of society that we often forget about the natural beauties in life.
The Natural History museum had an exhibit about the Calusa, native people of South Florida, as well as other indigenous people of Florida. I think through these exhibits it allows us to step back in time and out of our comfort zone to experience a culture that's vastly different from ours and makes learning an interactive process. These different cultures are other mysteries that make up our world. These different cultures that were presented throughout the museum identifies with the core value of variety and this helps give visitors a small reality check there are a plethora of different cultures besides your own.
From these displays it showed the Calusa peoples' way of living long before the introduction of technology. It should surprise visitors how the Calusa people were able to make use of the natural resources around them to achieve their work goal such as using shells as cups, bowls and fishing weights. What I found particularly interesting was their way of body decoration and it allowed me to see how it different it was to obtain piercings without the use of technology.
Credits:
All photos were taken by Fan Ling