Exploratorium.edu is a science website from the San Francisco-based museum of science, art, and human perception that carries the same name. While most websites like these are designed in such a way to make visiting a prerequisite for proper use of the content, Exploratorium.edu is different. The website boasts over 35,000 pages of content, film screenings, and more, the majority of which, while showcasing existing or future exhibits, can be used to their full extent independently of the museum. In fact, there is not even a need to register to see any of the content on the webpage, making it extremely user friendly.
While the sheer amount of content on the website can seem daunting, the site’s imagery and overall design is appealing and quite easy to navigate. Everything is categorised perfectly and can easily be navigated either by subject or by content type. You will even find hundreds upon hundreds of intriguing experiments and activities that you can easily carry out at home.
While a lot of the content is geared towards kids and parents, the website also has a ton for teachers and education professionals, all of which, as we mentioned before, can be used independently of museum visits. This content also includes professional development programmes for science teachers. So, regardless of if you are a kid or an adult, if you have an appreciation for science, Exploratorium.com is definitely a site you won’t want to miss.
The actual Exploratorium, the museum of science, technology, and arts in San Francisco was a brainchild of Frank Oppenheimer, a professor, a high school teacher, a cattle rancher, and an experimental physicist. While teaching at a university, Frank developed a “library of experiments” that enabled his students to explore scientific phenomena at their own pace, following their own curiosity. This was a ground-breaking idea for a science museum in 1969 when the Exploratorium opened.
Frank Oppenheimer viewed art and science as complementary ways of exploring the world and incorporated both into the Exploratorium from its earliest days—a pioneering idea at the time that’s been woven into the fabric of the institution. Today, artists and scientists continue to work alongside each other in envisioning new ideas and directions for the museum and its programs. Their common goal: to support a culture of experimentation and collaboration, inspire curiosity and understanding and stimulate fresh ideas and directions.