Exhibit will teach pupils lost skill of map reading

The next stop for The National Geographic MAPS: Tools for Adventure traveling exhibit is Augusta.

• Photos

Kendrick Brinson/Staff

Nick Schanz (left), of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, unloads displays with Roy Bender, of Fort Discovery, in the museum's Knox Gallery. The Explorers exhibit, which opens Feb. 7, came in 83 crates and will take two weeks to assemble.

National Science Center's Fort Discovery will be the site of an exhibit produced by the National Geographic Society and The Children's Museum of Indianapolis. It will be staged in the 5,000-square-foot Knox Gallery from February through April.

In a time when GPS use is expanding, foldout maps are becoming antiquated, and studies have shown that young people have a limited knowledge of geography, said David Keel, the chief operations officer for Fort Discovery.

"I think if we continue down this path, we'll have a generation of students who don't know how to use a map," he said.

The exhibit's aim is to spark an early interest in geography, he said. It also introduces children to famous explorers such as pilot Amelia Earhart. Visitors to the exhibit can look through Earhart's flight goggles and see other explorers' artifacts.

The exhibit, which is insured for $2 million, also offers lessons on latitude and longitude, map reading and using GPS coordinates. There's a full-scale replica of the Mars Rover and interactive features, such as steering a canoe by using the North Star.

It's targeted to fourth-grade pupils and older, but portions are designated for younger children, said Julie Butler, Fort Discovery's marketing director.

Reach Sarah Day Owen at (706) 823-3223 or sarah.owen@augustachronicle.com.