Burpee Museum of Natural History

Purpose: Supporting Lifelong Learning In the summer of 2001, the Burpee Museum led a family fossil trip to the Hell Creek Formation of southwestern Montana to search for dinosaur fossils. Two of the amateur team members discovered portions of a skeleton weathering out from a shale and sandstone butte. In 2002, Burpee staff and volunteers returned to the area with an excavation permit and set about uncovering, mapping, and identifying the bones that had been found. On the basis of a preliminary review of the evidence, the Burpee's opinion is that the skeleton, nicknamed "Jane," is of a 67-million-year-old Nanotyrannus. This dinosaur is often referenced in the scientific literature with a question mark, because there is a dispute over whether Nanotyrannus is a valid genus or a juvenile T. rex. The museum is developing a 2,200-square-foot permanent exhibit, "The Story of Jane," that will open in June 2005. This grant will support the development of technology-based elements of the exhibit, including intuitive user interfaces; interfaces that allow for multiple users, thereby increasing group learning and social interactions; extensive use of audio-image integration that will minimize the reliance on reading, making these elements appealing to nonreaders and visitors with vision impairments; and high-quality computer animations.