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Take Five

After the corps, Bella Desai (Bay Area ’98) faithfully pursued a career in science education, working as a web producer for National Geographic and helping to launch Sesame Workshop in India. Now the senior manager of exhibit education at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Desai works to determine the best way to marry great design with complex science for the museum’s 3 million annual visitors. On a recent afternoon, One Day caught up with Desai in the museum’s dinosaur hall—because, let’s face it, it’s cool in there.

By Karen B. Manahan

ONE DAY: How do you work with the exhibits?
BD: There’s a new exhibit coming on climate change, and I’m helping put together learning goals and checking throughout the process that we’re addressing these. People from all different points of view are coming in—artists, designers, writers, and education folks—and it’s challenging to hash out decisions we all feel comfortable with. There is a fear from the design side that education goals mean we’re trying to cram in as much content as possible, and that’s a misperception. Our goal is to teach a few things well.

ONE DAY: What is the most challenging part of your work?
BD: My Teach For America collaboration leader used to say, “There is a certain space in which kids can learn.” Kids’ minds have to be in this space, and if they’re not there, then learning can’t happen. It’s the same with the aesthetic side: If the kids aren’t having fun, they’re going to walk by. So the first goal is to capture their attention, their imagination. Once you have it, then you have to get them to learn something as well.

ONE DAY: What’s your favorite permanent exhibit?
BD: I really love the tree of life exhibit. It’s an evolutionary tree, and at each branch point, there is an adaptation which follows the evolution towards humans. The way it’s set up, you get to walk along this glass walkway, and below you is the backbone of one of our dinosaurs.

ONE DAY: Is it hard to capture the interest of the video-game generation?
BD: The permanent hall [with the life-size habitat dioramas] is oldschool stuff that hasn’t changed. Part of me says we can update this to make it interactive, but the funny thing is, it’s still working. Schoolkids come through and nothing is dancing or moving, and yet they run up and get drawn in because it’s a window into another time and place. The newer exhibitions are hands-on and use technology to advance object-based learning, so the museum has evolved.

ONE DAY: What is the coolest part of your job?
BD: Going through the doors that say “staff only.” The museum is this huge labyrinth, and there’s always something new to explore. The museum is 1.5 million square feet, and only 40 percent is open to the public. I’m still discovering nooks and crannies that I didn’t know about!