The Science Museum of Minnesota displays the Maya: Hidden Worlds Revealed exhibit for the first time since the exhibit first debuted in 2013. Park’s Spanish classes got the opportunity to take a field trip on March 21 to learn more about Mayan history, take some time relaxing in the omnitheater, and explore all that the science museum has to offer.
Before even stepping into the exhibit, I got a rush of nostalgia as I stepped foot into the Science Museum. This used to be like a second home for me when I was younger, so seeing kids run around the different interactive stations that are placed all throughout the museum brought a sense of joy to my heart. It was a bit troublesome to find the actual exhibit with the chaos of all of the students when we first arrived, but once we stepped into the exhibit, I was wonderfully surprised.
One thing that the science museum does best is the use of interactive displays and components as part of the exhibits. Immediately my eye got caught on an interactive board where you could create your own Mayan name, and it printed off a little ticket-esque sheet of paper that you’re able to keep. The name that I chose was Radiant Flower. Later, I got to re-use the Mayan name that I chose when I found out my Mayan birthdate. I plugged in my birthdate and my Mayan name, and it printed me another sheet of paper with the hieroglyphics that represented them. Those same sheets are currently hanging up in my room as my own form of decoration.
Since this was a learning-induced field trip, each Spanish teacher gave their students a sheet of paper to take notes on each exhibit so the students would actually try and comprehend what they were looking at. Every portion of the exhibit had a Spanish section that was translated from the English section, which was a nice touch considering that the Mayan people were located in Central America. As we explored and looked through the different displays and videos they had set up, I would just jot down a couple of notes for each section and attempt to challenge my brain by reading the Spanish section since we came with our Spanish classes. It made me actually read some of the descriptions for the monuments and listen to some of the videos.
After spending countless minutes traipsing throughout Mayan history, included in the field trip was the omnitheater. The omnitheater was one of my favorite things when I was younger, and I am just as amazed to this day as I used to be. The video screen wraps around you, creating the illusion that you’re actually in the documentary. The seats are automatically reclined for you, so you are looking up to the ceiling for the movie to project. I was completely blown away by how big the movie was and the surreal feeling of being “inside” the movie.
Overall, the entire Mayan exhibit and the whole field trip in general blew me away. The exhibit is only at the Science Museum of Minnesota until Sept. 4 — if you have the time to spare, I would definitely check it out. It’s the perfect interactive exhibit where you can have fun and be engaged while also learning about the history of the Mayan people.
