In June I had the opportunity to visit one of the most unique museums I’ve ever been to: the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum. I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of place-based, experiential learning ever since.
A bit of context: I’m a digital literacies educator, focused on supporting people in using technology to support their learning, express themselves, and connect with others. Naturally, a lot of my work involves screens and devices.
It’s a lot of fun, but sometimes can feel a bit removed from the real world. Particularly when I’ve been indoors staring at a laptop monitor for too many hours, and then I go home and stare at a slightly different monitor.
The Brooklyn Seltzer Museum is in Cypress Hills, a working class neighborhood bordered by an enormous cemetery to the north and the very hectic Atlantic Avenue on the south. It’s on the same block as a Dominican cafe, an Indian dress shop and an auto body repair.
Kenny, one of the leads at the Brooklyn Seltzer Museum, greets us as we arrive. We learn that he is a third generation “seltzer man” and we are standing in an actual seltzer factory as well as a museum.
Kenny takes us through the complicated process of how seltzer water is made, from the water purification to carbonation to bottling and distribution. It’s honestly more fascinating than it seems, particularly when someone like Kenny is explaining it to you.
The Brooklyn Seltzer Museum is a perfect example of a place based experience that engages all of your senses:
- hearing ancient machines whirring and thunking and hissing
- touching glass bottles made a hundred years ago
- swallowing a mouthful of cold, effervescent seltzer shot into your mouth
- sipping a delicious egg cream soda made just for you
We left two hours later with a newfound appreciation for seltzer water, its history, and the people’s lives it touched. And it was also a reminder to me that learning is not something that just happens in your brain. Rich learning is an embodied experience, and the more you incorporate all of your senses into it, the deeper that learning goes.