A new exhibit in the Saban Center will visually teach children how the planet’s environmental and earth systems work.
The exhibit, called “Science on a Sphere,” will be a projected hologram of Earth onto a sphere 6 feet in diameter with an interactive kiosk that holds over 600 databases showing weather patterns, water currents and a variety of other related topics about the planet.
When a database is selected, the data is projected onto the sphere to allow students to visualize different Earth phenomena with real-time imaging.
“Science on a Sphere is an incredible exhibit,” said Brandt LaPish, the director of development for the Saban Center. “It really shows how the Earth systems move throughout the globe. We are so excited about this exhibit. We’re happy, and we feel like it’s going to be very important.”
The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration developed the technology for the exhibit for use across the world as an educational tool to help illustrate Earth system science to people of all ages.
“We are particularly happy to leverage this gift to advance the understanding of water hazards and the life-sustaining water forecasts provided by our agency,” said Edward Clark, the director of NOAA’s national water center.
The exhibit is in 195 locations across the world. According to NOAA, over 60 million people tour the institutions the exhibits reside in each year.
Tuscaloosa residents can experience this exhibit when the Saban Center opens its doors in 2027.
To customize the sphere in Tuscaloosa, NOAA is working with the Alabama Water Institute to use its data to increase water literacy.
LaPish said that the Saban Center is thankful for the partners helping to create this.
“We’ve seen it [Science on a Sphere] in a couple of different places. We thought that would be cool, but we want to do it better,” LaPish said. “If we can make this happen, that would be tremendous.”
The exhibit will be in the discovery section of the Saban Center, which is called IGNITE. It will be one of the main exhibits in this section and allow for teaching and tours.
“We hope that this piece will be a really captivating lesson to teach these very sophisticated science lessons that are happening in our world,” LaPish said.
Lanna Nations, the education and outreach program director of the AWI, said that students are the focal point of the exhibit.
“Our goal is to bring the story of water and environmental science to life through this impressive instrument and hopefully get students excited about the work we are doing here at UA centered around water,” Nations said.
