The first entry in my new “geek to teach” category (inspired by Lifehacker‘s “Geek to Live” of course), is this link, courtesy of my friend Ryan Chan who mailed this to our college buddies listserv (a yahoo group actually): Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination | California Science Center
Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination is the first exhibit of its kind that combines costumes and props from all six Star Wars films with real-world technologies, video interviews with filmmakers, scientists and engineers, and two large Engineering Design Labs, where visitors can build and test speeders and robots. Visitors will explore prototypes, learn about the engineers and designers who are creating new technologies, and discover intriguing similarities between how scientists and filmmakers think.
For more information about Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination, visit the exhibit website.
I hope some teachers in the area can take their students. Back in, oh… about 2000, my colleagues and I took all the Freshman Honors English students at our site to a Star Wars exhibit in one of the Balboa Park museums in San Diego… to learn about Joseph Campell and the Hero’s Journey. The exhibit and accompanying materials actually focused on this… the entire thing was like a critical analysis of the movies. I was thrilled with all of it of course, but was shocked not only to discover that some students thought the exhibit and studying parts were boring… but that some couldn’t believe we assigned watching the movies – and called the movies boring too. That was sobering… and I felt old. This was much more of a shock than discovering they didn’t want to study Rush lyrics to learn mythology.
I wonder, too, if introducing video games into the curriculum might have a similar effect.
In any case, I’m sure it was a highlight of the year for many students, and that many more might enjoy this science exhibit.