A new museum built on an idea we know well

National Geographic’s Museum of Exploration opens June 26 in Washington, and it makes a hopeful case for the work we do at ASU and the Conservation Futures Academy. The more people it brings into the science of the natural world, the larger the community that will help protect it.

Science you can walk through

For more than a century, National Geographic has used science, exploration, education and storytelling to help people understand the natural world. Its new museum, which the National Geographic Society calls the most significant expansion of its campus in its history, brings that work into public view. Visitors can trace an Explorer’s path from a first question to lasting impact at the Rolex Explorers Landing, stand before Joel Sartore’s Photo Ark portraits of at-risk wildlife and walk through an archive of maps, artifacts and footage the Society says would stack to the height of Mount Everest.

For school groups, the museum’s National Geographic Learning Launchpad, powered by Cengage, turns a visit into the kind of questions scientists ask. It draws on a nearly 15-year partnership that reaches close to 20 million learners a year in more than 100 countries. At the center of it all, the Society says, are its Explorers: the scientists, conservationists, educators and storytellers who do the work.

From wonder to the work

It runs on an idea we build on every day at Learning Enterprise: people protect what they come to understand. Through the Conservation Futures Academy, led by Jack Kittinger, director of the Rob Walton School of Conservation Futures, we help some of them gain the science and skills to protect what they care about. Courses like Conservation Technology: AI, Drones and GIS and The Future of Conservation Leadership turn that first spark of curiosity into a career. The field is growing fast, with up to 32 million nature-based jobs projected worldwide by 2030. A growing field, an open door, and a good moment to be doing this work.

The Museum of Exploration is located at 1600 M Street NW, with tickets starting at $29.99 at natgeo.org/moe. 

Read the full story from the CFA newsroom.

Image: The immersive nighttime experience ‘Wonders of Our World: Ocean’ at the National Geographic Museum of Exploration.
Credit: Moment Factory