Art & Culture Live!: Vetted Performers – Underwater Adventures
Underwater Adventures Aquarium at the Mall of America put together a program for libraries and was included on the SELCO Vetted list of programs. This hands-on program focused on the importance of water to every living thing on Earth, gave information about the animals that live in the water, and highlighted the water habitats in Minnesota, the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.” Each program provided interactive learning, hands-on activities, live animals to touch, and activity stations.
Six locations around the SELCO region booked the Underwater Adventure programming during FY 2010.
- Preston Public Library – June 15, 2010
- Buckham Memorial Library, Faribault – June 18, 2010
- Wabasha Public Library – June 23, 2010
- Kasson-Mantorville Elementary School – June 24, 2010
- La Crescent Community Center – June 24, 2010
- LeRoy Community Center – June 29, 2010
Program Outputs: Outputs are things you can count such as attendance, number of new participants, and the number of attendees who had never been at a similar event, and so on.
• Preston – 76 attendees
• Faribault – 251 attendees
• Wabasha – 108 attendees
• Kasson-Mantorville – 396 attendees
• La Crescent – 85 attendees
• LeRoy – 104 attendees (10% of the entire population of LeRoy – a huge success!)
Total – 1,020 people attending Underwater Adventure programming
Measurable Outcomes may be collected by survey, anecdotal responses, post-test; End user change in Behavior, Attitude, Skills, Knowledge, Condition and/or Status
The overall response from people of all ages attending this program was positive. Information collected from interviews and surveys showed that the workshop presenters were well prepared and the program presented was positive and educational. The hands-on experience and the artifacts enhanced attendees’ knowledge and understanding of underwater animals and Minnesota habitats. Here are some comments from the collective pool of surveys:
- The kids learned new things and several wanted to check books out about the specific animals the presenters talked about.
- I want to learn more about turtles.
- Quote from a librarian: “People in small towns like LeRoy can see pictures of animals like these in books from the library, but they seldom get the chance to actually see and touch the real thing without incurring the expense of traveling a great distance. This program solved that problem. Our community members were able to have an experience that many might not otherwise have been able to have.”
- Some of the information was far above the age level of participants.
- One boy had fun dressing up with the Minnesota beaver tail and we observed a family with three children playing with the provided puppets and putting on a little puppet show on the side – an unexpected creative outcome.