Hi there,
Not sure if this is the level of participation you have in mind, but the
Museum of Natural and Cultural History at the University of Oregon has
something they call the PaleoLab.  In this "lab" visitors can watch museum
workers clean up and catalog fossils, but there is also a section of the
PaleoLab in which kids can mimic these activities.  Bone and shell and stone
fossils are mixed in a pile together in a "beach setting" mimicking the
Oregon Coast, and the kids can search through the pile for different kinds
of fossils.  There is a station where they can then measure the fossils,
weigh them, etc. using the same tools a museum worker or paleontologist
does.  After doing this they catalog their fossils in little boxes according
to what type of fossil it is, much like they do for the actual museum
collections.  It's a great activity for younger visitors, around age 11 or
so and younger.  They love putting on their miniature versions of lab coats
and "practicing being scientists."  The only thing is, as I mentioned above,
I'm not sure this is the level of visitor participation you are looking
for.  While the fossils that the visitors can view the museum workers
working on are part of the museum's official collection, the fossils that
the kids are allowed to work with are, for one reason or another, not
included in the museum's collection.  They are real fossils, but ones that
are technically "useless" to the museum's collection, which is why it's O.K.
for large numbers of children to handle them.  The kids just love it,
though.

Hope that helps,
Jessica Hollowell

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).