NASA Astrobiology Institute (NAI)

Old Faithful Visitor Education Center (OFVEC)

Millions of people visit Old Faithful every year, making a visitor education center next to the world’s most famous geyser a multigenerational project that will touch the lives of young and old. It will improve the public’s understanding of Yellowstone and inspire individuals to pursue further scientific learning in their personal and academic lives. A central interpretive element for Old Faithful Visitor Education Center will be to present, with remarkable thoroughness the magic, mystery, and meaning of Yellowstone’s hydrothermal features and their inhabitants.
The Old Faithful Visitor and Education Center will serve 2.6 million visitors onsite and tens of millions of on line visitors with web-based educational opportunities. The new facility will set standards for sustainability, accessibility, aesthetic design, and for the interpretation of complex scientific information to the public. OFVEC is currently scheduled for groundbreaking during the fall of 2006. Construction should be completed during the summer of 2008. The Yellowstone Park Foundation has completed the capital campaign this year that raised $15 million to fund the construction. Lockheed Martin Corporation contributed $200,000, which will contribute to a more scientifically literate citizenry in the following ways:

The primary resources and interpretive themes of the new exhibits will focus on the park’s hydrothermal features, the fact that Yellowstone preserves the greatest assemblage of natural, undisturbed geysers, hot springs, fumaroles, and mud pots on the planet, and the story of life in these extreme environments. The NASA Ames Astrobiology Team has been invited to provide information on the astrobiology component of the thermophile story, based on their ongoing scientific research in Yellowstone. The permanent exhibits are being designed with great care and thoughtfulness because they are absolutely central to a successful and memorable visitor experience. The exhibits will have an integrated approach and be developed to complement and build upon partner expertise and facilities. The development of these exhibits offers the NAI Ames team an opportunity to work with the National Park Service’s Division of Interpretation and an interdisciplinary team of geoscientists including geologists, volcanologists, geothermal specialists, microbiologists, sociologists, educators, exhibit specialists, and interpretive planners from an array of organizations.

The exhibits will focus on Yellowstone National Park as a living laboratory where diverse resources, natural processes, and cultural history provide important and unique opportunities for research and education. Current research on Yellowstone’s thermal features will be incorporated throughout the exhibits and will be presented in an easily updateable format. The exhibits will be designed following a layered-learning model. They will be categorized in technical complexity so that all visitors, from the very young to the very old, can understand and appreciate the Yellowstone experience at their own level. Accordingly, an automated, on-line component will be incorporated into the exhibits. World Wide Web presentations and long-distance learning materials will be well developed along with innovative and appropriate technologies that will be interesting and relevant to visitors. School groups that cannot visit Yellowstone in person will be able to access web-based Electronic Field Trips (EFTs) that will correspond to the science themes represented in the center. This on-line component will provide students from around the world, particularly from inner cities, rural areas, and nearby Indian reservations the opportunity to learn about the rich biological diversity of Yellowstone as well as the science and resource issues that concern our planet today.

Multiple points of view from the perspective of scientists, Native Americans, early explorers, artists, visitors, and others will be incorporated to make the exhibits relevant to a broader audience. The design of the exhibits will be multidisciplinary and include information about the physical sciences, math, history, humanities, Native American culture, etc. The exhibits will also focus on current and emerging research that is critical to understanding and solving environmental issues facing society today. The arts will be incorporated throughout the OFVEC in order to provide aesthetic and important historical perspectives to link Yellowstone’s establishment, hydrothermal features, and worldwide recognition to the multitude of artists who have painted, photographed, composed, and written about this special place.

Seven to 20 percent of total on-site Yellowstone National Park visitors, and an even greater percentage of on-line park visitors, are from foreign countries. Exhibits will be multi-lingual and translated into the four major non-English languages spoken among Yellowstone visitors. To view an artist’s conception of the lobby and exhibit features, visit http://www.nps.gov/yell/tours/onlinevcs/oldfaithful/sketches.htm.

Special emphasis will be on activities that serve school groups. Curriculum-based programs, classroom materials, and life-long learning opportunities will correlate with national standards for science education. Programs for organized school groups on-site will expand upon the exhibits presentation and inspire new generations of young scientists and Park stewards. The curriculum will present science as a tool for exploration and facilitate learning in engaging ways that will increase the scientific literacy of many Park visitors who might otherwise be intimidated by the subject.

Opportunities for hands-on learning about science, math, and technology will be developed through the Young Scientist Program. This program will provide structured, field-based opportunities for children ages 6-13 to engage in science exploration activities with their parents and mentors during their Yellowstone visit.

The exhibits will be developed to complement and build upon partner expertise. With the NASA Astrobiology Institute $50,000 award towards astrobiology content development we can proceed with the development of these exhibits which offers NASA, specifically Astrobiology lead teams, an opportunity to work with the National Park Service’s Division of Interpretation and an interdisciplinary team of geoscientists including geologists, volcanologists, geothermal specialists, microbiologists, sociologists, educators, exhibit specialists, and interpretive planners. Dr. Ward continues to
participate on the Advisoty Board for OFEC representing the Ames Astrobiology Institute team science research nd space exploration goals.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will be an innovative element to enrich the visitor’s experience. “RFID tags” can remotely store and retrieve data. These tags can be incorporated into wristbands, rings, and other portable devices; they will enable visitors to “bookmark” their tour of OFVEC. For example, if a visitor sees an exhibit about thermophiles, the microscopic organisms living in Yellowstone’s thermal springs, and wants to learn more about their relationship to life on early Earth and perhaps other planets, the visitor would simply scan the RFID tag. This would enable them to “bookmark” this specific topic of interest and later access detailed information from home. RFID technology is currently being successfully used at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, California, and is being incorporated into the new D-day Museum in New Orleans. RFID is especially useful for formal education at the Park and for visiting school groups that can continue learning about Yellowstone long after their field trip. The information that these RFID tags will disseminate must still be developed, and the Ames Team has been invited to contribute content on astrobiology and microbiology.