First-class science museum opens in Taguig

Interest in science may rise significantly among Filipinos with the formal opening this March of The Mind Museum at Taguig (TMMT), the first world-class science museum in the Philippines.

The 12,500-square-meter educational facility is at the J.Y. Campos Park, 3rd Avenue, Bonifacio Global City (BGC) in Taguig City.

It aims to make visitors more interested in science by showing its “beauty, clarity and intriguing character.”

“With the creation of The Mind Museum, more young Filipinos will take interest in science and technology,” said Vice President Jejomar Binay in his keynote address during the pre-launch of TMMT.

Binay said the youth could become part of the nationbuilding effort through this endeavor, as he pointed out that “science is transformative and should be put to work for the benefit of the Filipino people.”

TMMT curator Maria Isabel Garcia said, first and foremost, “people need to understand basic science.”

Interactive

The museum’s 250 interactive exhibits are divided into five galleries: atom, Earth, life, universe and technology.

The atom gallery shows the strange world of the smallest particle of matter. It showcases a whirlpool displaying how gravity works and an electric table to teach about magnetism, among others.

Earth tells the story of the planet and the Philippine archipelago across the breadth of time. It includes a replica of T. rex named Stan and a 3D animated film made by an all-Filipino crew that encapsulates 4.6 billion years of Earth’s natural history and evolution in 12 minutes.

The life gallery gives a visitor the chance to have a deeper understanding of the living things in this world. Its highlights include large animals, such as the butanding, or whale shark, and a giant model of the human brain.

The universe gallery gives a glimpse of the mysteries and vastness of outer space. It has a planetarium that simulates stargazing while lying down under the night sky.

Finally, the technology gallery on the second floor shows the tools invented by homo sapiens that express their evolving humanity. Some features are the solar bugs warmed by a halogen lamp that serves as the sun and MIMO, an in-house obstacle-avoiding robot that freely roams around the gallery.

TMMT also has an outdoor Science-in-the-Park where visitors can play through four-themed pockets: music, mathematics, living and water.

Other learning offerings include an auditorium for speaking engagements, laboratory, classrooms and a special vacant room for traveling exhibits.

Discount for teachers

Entrance fee is P400 for students and P600 for adults. Public schools and teachers in all levels get a discounted rate of P150.

Visitors are encouraged to book and pay online through www.themindmuseum.org. TMMT sells time slots for such visits. The schedule is as follows: 9 a.m.-12nn, 12nn-3p.m., 3-6 p.m. and

6-9 p.m. The museum can accommodate 500 visitors at a time.

Tours begin 20 minutes after the start of the chosen time slot and will be facilitated by guides called “mind movers.” Music will play 20 minutes before the end of the allotted time to signal that the next group is about to start its museum experience. Walk-in visits, however, will be unguided.

During the planning stage, TMMT consulted international experts from Science Center Singapore and Jack Rouse Associates (USA). But the museum is completely Filipino-made from conceptualization to actual exhibits.

Manny A. Blas II, TMMT managing director, said 95 percent of the museum was made by Filipinos. Artists worked with scientists and engineers to flesh out clearly and beautifully a scientific principle or fact.

Hundreds of meetings were held, attended by the best minds in the country, to create original exhibits not found in other science museums.

“This is a museum by Filipinos for Filipinos,” Blas said.

The TMMT idea started five years ago as a vision of the Bonifacio Art Foundation, Inc. (BAFI).

BAFI’s board of trustees, composed of representatives of Ayala Land, Inc., Campos Group of Companies, Bases Conversion Development Corp., and property owners of BGC, wanted to have the arts and sciences make up the “soul of BGC.”

The district already had a public art program, so the group turned its attention to a science museum.

This P1-billion project is fully funded by donations from corporations, families and individuals who share the same passion for science and technology.

“This is a project that started with a PowerPoint presentation,” Blas recalled. “The project sold itself. All the donors donated because they believed in the cause.”

TMMT is a nonprofit institution. Blas said all the money TMMT will earn would go to the museum’s maintenance and development.