By: Lorraine Montero

I took a look into an exciting virtual tour of called Cellphone: Unseen Connections a special exhibition showcases on the second floor of the museum. This exhibition takes a deep dive in the anatomy and science of cell phones and the eco-friendly sustainability behind them. When you first enter the virtual tour, you have an assortment of enlarged cell phone screens with a floor light reading “stand here”. The screen that really got my attention was the section 3 about the raw materials of a cell phone and how it is recycled.

It was incredible to read the conflicting minerals used to construct the battery that powers a device or how these minerals are obtained through small-scale miners and the risk they face to excavate these minerals to make a source of income as well as their livelihood. I would definitely recommend this tour for those who could not travel to Washington D.C especially history teachers looking to create an engaging new lesson plan outside of a textbook.