The Dalí Museum is partnering with the USF St. Petersburg College of Education to create the Dalí Mobile, a traveling museum experience for seventh grade math and science students.
“Not everyone can come to the museum, but the museum should come to everybody,” Peter Tush, curator of education at Dalí, said.
Spearheading USFSP’s involvement is Benjamin Smet, the College of Education graduate program recruiter. Smet, with other USFSP education faculty, is writing the curriculum for the Dalí Mobile.
This project comes from the “Blue Sky Initiative,” the Dalí Museum’s partnership with USFSP and other local organizations in order to combine resources.
USFSP influenced decisions made regarding the mobile. Originally, Dalí Museum staff wanted to target seventh grade art students. Smet convinced them to target math and science students.
The choice to reach math and science classes reflects the STEAM initiative. A current trend in education celebrates STEM: science, technology, engineering and math. The added “A” in STEAM is the art component.
Art isn’t disconnected from science and math, Tush said, explaining Salvador Dalí incorporated ideas of science and technology in his artwork. Reaching out to math and science students presents a natural way to build on some of the ideas at the museum, he added.
Currently, Florida mandates a maximum of 22 students in math and science classes. Because of the small size, the Dalí Mobile can work with math and science classes easier than art classes. According to Smet, up to 11 students at a time will go aboard the mobile. Remaining students will stay outside the mobile to do an interactive project regarding sonar and senses.
Tush noted that by working with math and science students, the number of students reached would be greater, but in the process, art students would be also be involved.
Smet and his team are working to ensure the mobile meets Common Core Standards that seventh grade students should be mastering. They want the program to enhance the teacher’s curriculum and not be a distraction. Smet is preparing pre- and post-curriculum to accompany the Dalí Mobile visit, and teachers will have a choice whether they want to teach a weeklong or three day lesson based on the Dalí mobile trip.
In order to ensure the curriculum is meeting the teacher’s needs and is not a distraction, USFSP and Dalí will partner with teachers at Largo Middle School. The school recently enacted a STEAM program, with influence from its assistant principal, Susan Hedburg, who attended USFSP.
The design of the mobile is still being modified, but according to Tush, the inside is intended to look like a “Dalinean landscape,” melting interior and all. a The front of the vehicle has a TV with a sensor driven eye that will watch students as they enter. Several iPads in the interior also have eyes.
The current design enables students to photograph themselves with the iPad and pixelate the image, Smet said. This is reminiscent of Dalí’s piece “Gala Contemplating the Mediterranean Sea which at Twenty Meters Becomes the Portrait of Abraham Lincoln.”
The vehicle is being designed by Creative Arts Unlimited, a company that designs children’s libraries, hospitals and similar vehicles, including projects for Disney and All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.
According to Tush, this project was inspired by the Art Mobile, a portable building that traveled to Pinellas county elementary schools from 2007 to 2011. Because this vehicle required an expensive electric hookup to operate, it could only travel to schools in Pinellas County.
Museum Director Hank Hine wanted a more mobile vehicle that could go to more schools. While talking to Elliot Wiser, Bay News 9 creator and president at the time, Hine discovered Bay News 9 was in the process of buying a new vehicle. Wizer donated the old vehicle to the Dalí Museum.
Tush said the museum originally wanted to start the program this Fall, but expenses have pushed the project back. The Dalí Museum board and education committee are meeting to discuss ideas regarding the cost of the vehicle. A vehicle was donated by Bay News 9, but renovation costs may end up too high. Tush hopes the vehicle will be ready to visit schools by fall 2014, but he realizes the cost of the project could push the start date back further.
