Museum of Life and Science exhibit explores race

This time of year, museums put their best foot forward with revamped exhibits or special ones. The Museum of Life and Science in Durham has two exhibits this season, both great options if you're looking for places to take visiting guests.

Posted 1:37 a.m. Dec 23, 2011 — Updated 1:37 a.m. Dec 23, 2011

Sarah Lindenfeld Hall

This time of year, museums put their best foot forward with revamped exhibits or special ones. The Museum of Life and Science in Durham has two exhibits this season, both great options if you're looking for places to take visiting guests during the holidays.

I featured the museum's Wonderland Express a few weeks ago. The exhibit features model trains zooming through a wintry North Carolina scene. A cafe next to it features coffee, hot chocolate and holiday treats. Read my earlier post for details.

The other exhibit focuses on a more serious subject: race. Race: Are We So Different runs through Jan. 22.

This award-winning interactive exhibition tells the stories of race from the biological, cultural, and historical points of view. The exhibition brings together the everyday experience of living with race, its history as an idea, the role of science in that history, and the findings of contemporary science that are challenging its foundations.

You'll find everything from puppets and picture books for the youngest museum visitors to more complex pieces about the composition of our skin or wealth disparities.

"People can see how we are all connected," said the museum's Taneka Bennett,

In addition to the exhibit, the museum also offers online guides for parents and teachers about why it's important to talk about race with kids. To find them, click here and go to the right hand side of the page. You'll find them in the PDF downloads column.

For more about the exhibit, watch my interview with Bennett in the video and go to the exhibit's website.

Admission for both the museum, a fantastic place for families on its own, and the race exhibit is $14 for adults; $10 for kids ages 3 to 12; and $11 for ages 65 and up. Kids 3 and under are admitted free.

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