September 08 Issue - Employee Monthly Magazine
Why the clock works
Educator makes the technical tangible
Science educator Gordon McDonough stands by "Clockworks," the moving sculpture that he helped create. Photo by Richard Robinson
When it was time for the Bradbury Science Museum to unveil Science in Motion, the newest featured exhibit in the TechLab, Bradbury's science educators wanted something eye catching to encapsulate their message.
With Science in Motion's focus on gears and levers, pendulums and pulleys, they turned to one of their own, science educator Gordon McDonough, to help create a moving sculpture. The result: Gears attached to a giant pendulum, looking like a faceless, oversized clock— aptly named "Clockworks."
"It was a natural fit for me," said McDonough. "A lot of my art is science-based, so I felt well-prepared to tackle this challenge."
The design seemed a natural choice as well. "Clocks are ubiquitous, but very few people today know how clocks actually work," McDonough said. "They don't think about what makes a clock tick or a pendulum swing. Even I was somewhat mistaken when I was conceptualizing the clock. The way I had envisioned it would have made the clock run backwards! It was a learning experience for me, too."
McDonough also emphasized the importance of introducing a physical aspect to science education. "Clockworks, like the rest of the Science in Motion exhibit, helps make science tangible," said McDonough. "Some people learn well with museum displays and paragraphs of text, but kinesthetic learning tends to encourage a deeper kind of knowledge that involves both the muscles and the brain.
"This is a chance for us to make the lessons learned in the museum really stick," McDonough continued. "We hope the next time people look at a clock, they'll end up thinking a little more about what makes it work."
Clockworks is on display at the museum's TechLab through summer 2009. Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday and Monday.
—Laura Anderman
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