Frank Oppenheimer

The Exploratorium: A Playful Museum Combines Perception and Art in Science Education

The role which museums can play in science education is discussed in general and with particular reference to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. We describe how art, an atmosphere of playfulness, and exhibits about the mechanisms of human sensory perception, have figured in the development of our museum. It is suggested that some of the objectives of interdisciplinary survey science courses can best be achieved in museum like settings where students and general public alike can gain firsthand experience with the fabric of natural phenomena.

A Library of Experiments

A new concept in physics laboratory instruction is described in which the experiments are available to the student in much the same fashion as books in a library. The general nature of the experiments is explained and the philosophy underlying the use of the laboratory for instruction is discussed.

Sophomore-Laboratory Experiment on the Viscosity of Air

We present the design of a simple rotating-disk viscometer that can be actuated while under a bell-jar to measure the viscosity of a gas as a function of pressure. The instrument is designed to provide an interesting application of the kinetic theory of gasses for an introductory physics laboratory.