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rhuYesterday, we took the kids to the exhibit "1001 Inventions" at the New York Hall of Science. It was horrible. It wasn't really about inventions, and certainly not about 1001 of them. It was propaganda about the Islamic contributions to science and technology during the European "Dark Ages."
If you took all the content on the various placards, you'd have maybe a thirty-page kids' book. And there were no interactives to speak of, certainly none that actually demonstrated significant science.
And that's the real shame here. If they'd put together an exhibit that actually demonstrated the science and technology that was developed in Islamic countries over those centuries, it would have been a really great show. Don't just tell us what an astrolabe is useful for, have a model! For bonus points, let the model have moving parts that let kids determine their latitude!
But instead of an exciting exploration of science that would have spoken for itself, we were treated to a series of assertions, largely not backed up by evidence, about how great it was to live under Islamic rule, even if you were a Christian or a Jew, because everyone got along wonderfully and were servants of science!
A few other notes.
• As their proof that Jews and Christians thrived, they used the story of Musa ibn Maymun. Who? Here's his biography as it appeared in the show (excuse me, "science exhibition"). Missing a few details, perhaps?
• To make room for the exhibit, they had removed all the permanent science exhibits from the lower level of the museum. Pity.
• But they did manage to make space for a prayer room in the main exhibit hall. (Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with there being provisions made for religious observance. It just seems to me that they could have used one of the nearby classrooms for this, and left some of the permanent science exhibits on display for benefit of visiting dhimmis.)
If you took all the content on the various placards, you'd have maybe a thirty-page kids' book. And there were no interactives to speak of, certainly none that actually demonstrated significant science.
And that's the real shame here. If they'd put together an exhibit that actually demonstrated the science and technology that was developed in Islamic countries over those centuries, it would have been a really great show. Don't just tell us what an astrolabe is useful for, have a model! For bonus points, let the model have moving parts that let kids determine their latitude!
But instead of an exciting exploration of science that would have spoken for itself, we were treated to a series of assertions, largely not backed up by evidence, about how great it was to live under Islamic rule, even if you were a Christian or a Jew, because everyone got along wonderfully and were servants of science!
A few other notes.
• As their proof that Jews and Christians thrived, they used the story of Musa ibn Maymun. Who? Here's his biography as it appeared in the show (excuse me, "science exhibition"). Missing a few details, perhaps?
• To make room for the exhibit, they had removed all the permanent science exhibits from the lower level of the museum. Pity.
• But they did manage to make space for a prayer room in the main exhibit hall. (Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with there being provisions made for religious observance. It just seems to me that they could have used one of the nearby classrooms for this, and left some of the permanent science exhibits on display for benefit of visiting dhimmis.)
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-25 05:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-25 02:39 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-25 02:58 pm (UTC)I will send this to the NYHoS and see what they say.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-02-25 03:47 pm (UTC)