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Beverly S. Sheffield Education Center
As a continuation of the Barton Springs Bathhouse Rehabilitation project, the education center will be receiving a facelift. As part of the renovation the main entrance to Barton Springs Pool will be moved into the Beverly Sheffield Education Center and Splash! Exhibit creating an opportunity to educate everyone who visits the pool about the importance of protecting water and preserving salamander habitat. The mission of Sheffield Education Center and Splash! into the Edwards Aquifer Exhibit is to mission is to foster stewardship of Barton Springs and the Edwards Aquifer through education.
Community Meeting on Dec. 5, 2019
I first experienced the Splash! Exhibit while working at the annual Barton Springs University event. I had been to many museums and exhibits as a child, but this is one of my favorites. I absolutely love the interactive activities that are available. It's like you get to conduct mini-experiments to explore and validate the information provided by the exhibit. It's lots of fun and a great learning experience even for knowledgeable adults. I love that it is located at Barton Springs. I believe this really helps the community understand their particular environment and how their actions affect the very place that they live.
When I was a little kid, my mom took my younger brother and me to the Splash! Exhibit. Every time we would go to Barton Springs pool or Barking Springs, I’d want her to walk us over to the exhibit to see if it was open (In hopes to see a salamander). I don’t remember the exhibit having as many things to explore and look at when I was younger. Now, when I go I wish I could be a little kid again. There are many opportunities for children to explore & learn about their water resources. I also think actually seeing a salamander helps people build a connection with Austin’s endangered species.
My 5 year old has been visiting splash since she was an infant. It's one of the first places she wants to go when we go to Zilker Park. She immediately wants to go see the salamanders & she's must faster at spotting them than I am. :-) She loves pointing them out to people and telling them that they breathe through gills and that they live in the pool. She also LOVES crawling through the little cave crawl through area and playing the game where you match up if animals live on land or water. I have enjoyed lots of the events there, especially when mermaids are involved or the Living Springs video screenings. It's a beautiful space and puts so much content and diversity of educational moments into a small space.