Modesto library tests new way of teaching evolution — an ‘escape room’ with venomous plants
Patrons of the Stanislaus County Library have been testing out an interactive means of teaching evolution.
It involves fanciful creatures in a portable “escape room,” which visitors can exit only after solving scientific puzzles.
All of the time slots are reserved for the free program, which runs through Thursday, June 29, in the basement of the main library in Modesto.
It is called VENOMventure, about a carnivorous plant that causes humans to break out in itchy purple splotches. The visitors try to come up with an antivenom through genetics and related science.
The creators are at the UC Berkeley Museum of Paleontology and the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum. They got a grant of about $1 million from the Science Education Partnership Award program at the National Institutes of Health.
Modesto is escape room’s second stop
Modesto is the second stop after the debut earlier this month at the Berkeley Public Library. VENOMventure will have a July 9-13 run at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, another partner in the project. Stops will follow in Kansas, Arizona, New Mexico, Iowa and Connecticut. The program is in English and Spanish.
Escape rooms can have various themes, such as history, science fiction or Halloween. The library’s version is an inflatable structure about the size of a small school bus.
The Modesto Bee visited Saturday afternoon, three days into the run. Each day has seven one-hour slots.
“The room is a lightly fictionalized scenario of research that is relevant to the development of a new antivenom,” said Anna Thanukos, a senior editor at the Berkeley museum. “You have to understand its evolutionary history in order to develop the right antivenom.”
The Bee agreed not to disclose many details, which could spoil the fun for upcoming visitors. OK, one teaser: The plants dance.
The puzzles are designed for students 8 to 14 years old. Older family members are welcome in the interest of encouraging problem-solving in general.
‘It was really, really cool’
Kimberly Trujillo came to VENOMventure with two of her three children. “I thought it would be more like they were going to lock you in the room and throw away the key,” she said afterward. “But it was really, really cool.”
The Modesto visit came about with help from Amber O’Brien-Verhulst, a library assistant in the children’s department. She consulted with the creators on age-appropriate material.
Thanukos specializes as an editor in how to improve education about evolution. The general idea is that millions of life forms have developed over billions of years of genetic changes. VENOMventure has the specific aim of encouraging careers in biomedicine.
The program staff includes experts who observe how each family interacts with the subject matter. Afterward, the visitors fill out surveys and can leave comments on large sheets of paper.
“I learned how evolution can do important stuff,” one wrote. Said another, “Plants can dance and are important!”
