Smithsonian Associates Presents October Program Highlights

The October issue of the Smithsonian Associates’ program guide features a variety of educational and cultural programs, including seminars, lectures, studio arts classes, performances for adults and children and local and regional study tours. Highlights this month include:

Mindshift: Learning How to Learn

Wednesday, Oct. 18; 6:45 p.m.

Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium

In this special evening event, Barbara Oakley will explain how to learn more effectively, drawing on her experience as both an engineering professor and a linguist, as well as from key research findings in cognitive psychology and neuroscience. Participants will learn how to use the brain’s different learning modes to their best effect, improve recall with methods such as “chunking” pieces of information, beat procrastination with the Pomodoro technique and more.

Smithsonian Sleepover at the National Museum of American History: Halloween Special

Friday, Oct. 20; 7 p.m.

Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History

During a special overnight family program, children ages 8 to 12 and their chaperones can experience the museum in a whole new way during a night of fun that features games, experiments and craft projects. Participants can wear a costume to this special Halloween sleepover as they solve a mystery of historic proportions collecting clues during an interactive exploration of exhibit halls.

The Evolution of Alice Waters: How American Cuisine Found Its Way

Thursday, Oct. 26; 6:45 p.m.

Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History’s Baird Auditorium

When Alice Waters opened restaurant Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., in 1971, no one ever anticipated the indelible mark it would leave on the culinary landscape. In conversation with Joe Yonan, food and dining editor for the Washington Post, Waters will share stories and recipes, and discuss her evolution from a follower to a respected activist who effects social and political change on a global level through the common bond of food.

The Grisly World of Victorian Surgery

Tuesday, Oct. 31; 6:45 p.m.

Smithsonian’s S. Dillon Ripley Center

Medical historian Lindsey Fitzharris leads a fascinating Halloween-night excursion into the germ-ridden, dirty and often-deadly Victorian operating room, where surgeons made up for their lack of skill by some fairly gruesome means. She also explores the critical turning point in the history of medicine when Joseph Lister, a young, visionary Quaker surgeon, claimed that germs were the source of all infection and could be treated with antiseptics, bringing centuries of savagery, sawing and gangrene to an end.

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SI-560-2017