News Articles: Nature on the Web
A new museum-based resource about Saskatchewan and sustainability
The Royal Saskatchewan Museum (RSM) has been a respected and reliable source of information about the natural and human history of Saskatchewan for many years. As far back as 1906, students, teachers, and other people have been visiting in person to make use of specimens, objects, exhibits, and programs.
More recently, as part of an outreach program, the RSM has been providing access to some of its resources through its website, www.royalsaskmuseum.ca, including updates on research and overviews of its galleries. The latest addition is a series of six “treeless textbooks” or Interactive Learning Centres (ILCs) that explore topics in the life sciences.
Written at a Grade 6 level, the ILCs are an integral part of the RSM’s new Life Sciences Gallery, which opened in June 2001 and includes 1,200 square metres of exhibit space. They provide computer-based, in-gallery classrooms that enable students, teachers and other museum visitors to explore different gallery themes in detail. The topics they cover are also addressed in the Saskatchewan science and social studies curricula, including:
The physical, physiological and behavioural adaptations that plants and animals use during winter.
How organisms get the energy and nutrients they need to survive, grow and reproduce.
Adaptations that help plants and animals ward off predators.
What organisms do to produce the next generation.
Humanity’s impact on regional and global ecosystems and the importance of sustainable forms of social and economic development.
Except for The Human Factor, which offers a global perspective on conservation and sustainability issues, the ILCs deal almost exclusively with Saskatchewan plants, animals and ecosystems. Combined, they contain about 134 megabytes of text, illustrations, animations, videos, and photographs. Other features include an on-screen glossary of terms and “hot” words and photos that lead to additional information or examples.
As a major addition to the RSM’s website, the ILCs will play an important role in its outreach program, extending the resources of the RSM to anyone with internet access in Saskatchewan and around the world. The ILCs will be kept current with developing scientific knowledge and will soon be augmented with encyclopedic information, including “neat” and often little-known stories, about the plants and animals featured in the Life Sciences Gallery.
Adaptation of the ILCs to the internet was funded through a grant from the Department of Canadian Heritage, Museums Assistance Program.
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