BYU Night at the Museums 2022

It was a night to remember as we had record amounts of people participate in the BYU Night at the Museums event this past Friday (March 25, 2022)! Thousands of people came pouring through the door, searching for the answer to one of the five clues they had to solve to win a free water bottle. To find what they were looking for at the Bean Life Science Museum, they had to make their way to the basement where one of our educators, Holly, was waiting by the bat display with stickers for the visitors who had solved the riddle.

But that’s not all the fun that was waiting for them! There were education stations where patrons could learn more about animal furs and skins or native Utah plants; 

a craft room where they could make their own butterfly or dragonfly out of pipe cleaners, paper and beads; and donuts for visitors - at least until all 1,000 of them had been handed out! 

Visitors who came later also got the chance to guess the name of a mystery animal that stumped everyone but our museum director! And even he had to think for a while before he could think of ‘ringtail cat’.

All in all, it was a great night. If you couldn’t make it, don’t feel too bad - there’s always next year! 

Check out the Daily Universe article about the event.

Arissa, museum educator

Winter 2022 Date Night - Tomb Raiders

On Saturday, March 5th the BYU life science museum ran a date night for thirty couples. Dinner was catered by Brick Oven and included pizza, pasta, and salad. Afterwards, we ran a series of games and riddles with a tomb raider theme. The games included a nerf gun shooting range, two scavenger hunts, a laser maze, a trust exercise where one partner guided the other blindfolded through a maze, and a series of five riddles. Throughout the games, the players had to avoid being captured by a group called the shadow guard. All in all, it was an enjoyable night at the museum. 

Daniel, educator

Winter 2022 Trivia Nights

On January 29 and February 26, 2022, we had our first Bean Museum Trivia Night! For January we had trivia about Mandela Effects, Geography, and Mythological creatures. As participants came out of the elevator they were met with a difficult choice, which animal they wanted to have represent their team. With options including a hawksbill sea turtle, coral, and an eared grebe it was not an easy choice. As the questions began, participants were under the threat of Karl G. Maeser’s ghost as they scored themselves through the rounds. After totaling their points the winners were announced, earning the right to choose their prize from some of the best options left over from the store. Even though only three teams got to bring a prize home, everyone got a prize they could eat. The perfect consolation to those who lost, and an added bonus to those who won, donuts were available to all of the guests. 

The February Trivia Night was just as successful. We focused on life science questions this time with rounds requiring you to identify animal sounds and close up animal pictures, determine if the image was a plant or if it was a fungus, invertebrate trivia, how to interact with animals and finally an animal fact kahoot speed round. This time there was a three way tie, meaning that those three groups in first place were able to choose their prize from some animal figurines or a bean fidget toy. The winners of the kahoot round were also able to choose a prize. We had table mascots again, but this time there was a small write up to teach the groups about the animal they chose to represent them. Of course we had to follow it up with donuts again, as they were a big hit at the first trivia night. Kahoot Winners:

February Trivia Night:

Darwin Day 2022

On February 12th, the Bean Museum was excited to celebrate Charles Darwin’s 213th birthday. 12 days leading up to the party, the museum posted on their various social media accounts 12 days of Darwin posts. BYU professors talked about the life of Charles Darwin, the campus’ honors program hosted a behind the scenes field trip of the museum, and a plush Darwin (nicknamed “Chucky-D”)  was even hidden in various museum exhibits for museum patrons to find and win a prize!

On the day of Charles Darwin’s actual birthday, the museum had several activities and games to commemorate his big 2-1-3. In the front classroom of the museum, guests could listen to a story of Charles Darwin’s life and color a picture of him. The downstairs auditorium of the museum played a short video biography. The East classroom had activities focusing on concepts learned by Darwin. This included a game to determine which “bird beak” was more effective at eating “food” and mixed up phylogenetic trees for patrons to put together themselves. 

Of course, what is a birthday party without birthday cake? Museum party-goers were given a passport with all of the activities listed, and after each activity they were given a stamp on their passport. After finishing at least 3 activities, they could take their stamped passports to a special exhibit about Darwin’s life and get a piece of cake!

Parties are fun, but at the end of the day the important thing celebrated was Charles Darwin and his contributions to science. Biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky once famously said, "Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution." Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has helped us to make sense of and appreciate the world around us, increasing our understanding of the importance of taking care of the planet and all the living things here.

Happy Birthday Charles Darwin!

Robyn Slater, museum educator

Earth Day 2021 Summary

On Saturday, April 24th, we had the opportunity to partner with Provo City and Conserve Utah Valley in a project coined, “Purge the Spurge.” The hope of this project was to restore Slate Canyon through efforts such as picking up trash, cleaning graffiti, participating in citizen science projects, learning about the wildlife found in Slate Canyon, and various other activities. Volunteers from around Utah Valley signed up for different assignments and participated in the effort! It was great to see the community rally together to beautify and restore an important biological location.

One of the Bean Museum’s main objectives was to provide education stations for visitors to view as they participated in their volunteer assignments. We had 4 different topics: The Identification station, the “Leave No Trace” station, a geology station, and a prize station. Each was prepared and run by one or two educators and included posters, animal mounts, rocks, and lots of other supplies to help volunteers learn.

Photo credit: Kaye Wheeler Nelson

Brie was in charge of our Identification Station. With a variety of animal mounts, Brie talked with visitors about what kinds of birds and vegetation are commonly found throughout Slate Canyon. Brie said, “It was a lot of fun to see people of all ages coming with so much interest in Slate Canyon! They had a huge desire to learn about what kinds of plants and wildlife are in the area.” The Identification Station was a huge success! 

The “Leave No Trace” station was run by Kaitlin, and it’s goal was to teach volunteers about the importance of leaving things the way you found them. She taught about the importance of picking up after your dogs, because their excrement can damage the soil and get into drinking water! She also talked about the importance of leaving things like rocks where you find them, otherwise plants and fungus may be damaged. “There were lots of people who were invested in protecting and taking care of Slate Canyon. They were happy to learn and have this opportunity to do more to help the environment,” said Kaitlin. We hope that this station was able to inform volunteers about the importance of “doing their doody.”

Marie ran our geology station and taught volunteers about the different kinds of rocks they might find in the canyon. She also talked about how canyons are formed. This was especially fun because we were standing right in the middle of the canyon, surrounded by all the rock layers. “Everyone loved learning about how the canyon was formed and about the three main types of rocks. It was also fun to see the kids try to identify the rocks I had on the table,” said Marie. The geology station, to put it plainly, “rocked.”

Once volunteers visited a station, or completed one of the tasks given by our educators, they could visit the prize station. Here they met with Maren and Alyssa, as well as a large beaver mount (a few dogs found this part of the table especially interesting). Volunteers were able to spin a wheel and won one of our own “bio-cards.” Kids and adults alike were excited to collect a bio-card of their own.

The event was a great success, and we were able to gather quite a few bags of trash, as well as survey different areas of the canyon. Citizen science projects were completed, and the canyon looked better when we left it. Educator Maren said of the event, “I was really impressed with the community turnout. It’s so encouraging to see how many people care about our corner of the planet.” Likewise, educator Alyssa said, “I thought it was a great event! I love the variety of projects they had, so that anyone of any age could participate and help out!”

We want to give our thanks to the many organizers of this event, especially Provo City and Conserve Utah Valley. We are grateful we had the opportunity to be a part of this effort, and look forward to more similar projects in the future!

Lindsey Rees, student educator

Join the Bean Life Science Museum, along with Conserve Utah Valley, and Provo City in a special earth day project to restore Provo’s beautiful Slate Canyon. On Saturday, April 24th from 9:30 AM until noon the event will include projects such as improving the trailhead and trails, eliminating graffiti, and improving the landscaping. Another project volunteers can help with is removing the cuttings, weeds and overgrowth that have been cut down to trim back the trees and shrubbery. Volunteers can also help paint over and remove paint from concrete as part of the graffiti removal team. Volunteers can also help with the citizen science project by meeting with scientists from BYU and UVU to learn about the different plant and animal species that live in Slate Canyon. They can use phone cameras and the iSeek and iNaturalist apps to document the different insects, birds, animals, and fungi of the canyon. The Bean Museum will also be there with fun education stations for all ages. This project will be launched on April 24th, but will continue through the year 2021. More activities will take place every fourth Saturday of the month in the summer. This effort and day can help the goal in restoring this canyon back to its beauty and glory!

To learn more about the earth day projects, visit this website.

What's "bean" going on?

 What’s new at the Bean Museum?

Hello all! It has been a moment since we have updated you all. The museum is up and running for the new Winter semester on campus. The museum hours are still limited due to COVID-19 protocols. We are open from 2pm to 8pm, Monday through Friday and 10AM to 5PM on Saturday. It is still required that all guests wear their mask and that it covers both the mouth and the nose. This helps keep everyone safe and helps the museum doors stay open to all of you! We appreciate your understanding during this unique time. Just like all animals in nature, we too must adapt!

Can’t make it into the museum? There are still lots of online programs going on! Come and watch Life Science Live every Friday at 11AM on Facebook with Brie! Field Trip Science videos are being released every Friday from Maren and Sarah. Each video includes an activity for you to try at home! Organism of the Week videos are coming out on Mondays! Did you know that the Bean Museum now has a podcast? We sure do! Come and listen in as various science professionals are interviewed about their work. Y Life Science Podcast is on Apple Podcasts and Spotify so be sure to check it out.

Are you sad about Night of the Museums? Fear not! This year we will be doing March at the Museums! Come visit each of the BYU museums and solve each puzzle. You will have one month to visit each museum and complete the challenge! There are awesome water bottles on the line. Visit one museum each week of the month of March and you’ve got it.

In other news Bioboxes and FHE Monday programs with educators are all the rage! The educators are all booked up for Family Home Evening into May! We are so glad that we are getting to see so many families. Sign up if you would like to spend your Monday family night with an educator over Zoom. Bioboxes are also booked nearly through the whole school year. Due to COVID-19 protocols we are sanitizing the Bioboxes thoroughly. This means there is a little bit of a longer turn around for boxes. Remember that these boxes can also be checked out in the summer! Check for availability on our website.

It is great seeing you all back in the museum! Remember that if your child completes a Zoom program with an educator at their school that there are Bio-cards that correspond with each program! Have your child find an educator and we would love to give them the Bio-cards that go with their grade’s science standards.

See you around the museum! 

Sarah, museum educator