The NSVC will offer educational programs for all grade levels, and include spectacular ‘Geoshow’ presentations which will be displayed by means of the ‘living graphics’ map surface. Digital technology will be used to illuminate imagery directly into the map from underneath. Visitors will see, for example, the journey of Lewis and Clark – brought to life with color, sound, and light.
Example presentation to young students on a field trip
A middle school tour group arrives in the morning and enters the grounds of the National Scenic Visitors Center. The visiting children enjoy the sunlight as they elbow past each other to the top of Mt. McKinley, the highest peak in the United States, in Denali National Park, Alaska. Here. it is about a foot tall, a bit safer for less experienced, 8-year-old mountain climbers, but a thrilling destination nonetheless. Others are splashing around near Hawaii’s Big Island, shouting that they’ve found the volcanos and the great astronomy observatories, and there’s Pearl Harbor and even the place where their Aunt Victoria lives. The chaperones gather them: time for the main event, a walk across America.
The children hustle in and step onto the continent, which rolls away towards the distant, far wall. They scramble and hop, delighting in the familiar and the legendary, the ups and downs, roads, rivers, greens, browns, and blues. After a half-hour or so of exploring, the group is ushered to the upstairs balcony where they take their places in auditorium seating. The house lights go down: Geoshow technology takes over. Music and narration augment the graphics that detail a part of American history, an aspect of science, or any number of appropriate topics. After the program, the children are free to explore once again: hike across the continent, visit any of 50 state rooms, and stop in to see a life-like diorama of the Grand Canyon and other national park treasures.
The day ends with a trip to the dining area and a walk through the General Store before the bus is brought around for the ride home. Visitors take home much more than a ticket stub, with a new way of experiencing America carried into their tomorrows.
The children hustle in and step onto the continent, which rolls away towards the distant, far wall. They scramble and hop, delighting in the familiar and the legendary, the ups and downs, roads, rivers, greens, browns, and blues. After a half-hour or so of exploring, the group is ushered to the upstairs balcony where they take their places in auditorium seating. The house lights go down: Geoshow technology takes over. Music and narration augment the graphics that detail a part of American history, an aspect of science, or any number of appropriate topics. After the program, the children are free to explore once again: hike across the continent, visit any of 50 state rooms, and stop in to see a life-like diorama of the Grand Canyon and other national park treasures.
The day ends with a trip to the dining area and a walk through the General Store before the bus is brought around for the ride home. Visitors take home much more than a ticket stub, with a new way of experiencing America carried into their tomorrows.
