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Interactive Computer Exhibits For Ages 3-8?
Johnny Mnemonic writes "My company has the opportunity to contribute to a children's museum in our area. We are a technology company, so I'd like the exhibit to be computer/networking related, and to raise the awareness and understanding of how the Internet, networking, and computers work. However, children's museums cater to a pretty young age group, 3-8 years old, so the the exhibit needs to be highly interactive, durable, tactile, and yet instructive of the concepts. Google fails to turn up any turn-key options, and, although the concepts are computer related, a computer-based exhibit tends to be too fragile and susceptible to withstand the rigors of 250 preschoolers/day. How would you design a display that meets these requirements and is still fun and educational?"
Stick a bunch of tied-down iTouch there. I say this only half jokingly, because my two year old finds them extremely intuitive and interactive. She unlocks it, watches videos, plays her games just by recognising the icons and the buttons with their visible gestures. Because of these features, this is the first phone I've owned that hasn't been thrown, drowned or buried by her.
Going to more fundamental principles, could you have a display centered around boolean logic with mechanical gates? I recall having seen Lego-based logic gates in the past that could probably be scaled up in size and built out of more durable materials.
This most certainly would be durable enough for some tikes, wouldn't it?
computer, in a much larger pexiglass box, with buttons that light up a componet of the computer based on what they press.
*press motherboard button, mobo lights up.. etc..*
Here's one that would work on kids that young: Turn them into "packets" and have them travel through an open-ended maze in their effort to get to their desination.
:)
Create an inter-connected maze that has no single entrence and exit, but a bunch of ways in and out. Each point is marked as a different city across the world. Let's say a kid enters in "Japan" and a computer screen tells him he needs to get to "New York". He then walks through the maze, where there are a series of hubs where he has to ask another terminal what direction he has to go in next.
It would be highly physical and an easy way to introduce kids to the simplest building blocks of the internet... you could even build it as a "series of tubes"
I really hope you see this one to the end- please submit the end results to slashdot. Good luck!
I did some exhibitions a few decades ago, but I think the principles would be the same.
Anything that shows 'cause and effect' for the 3 year olds: Press this and this happens.
Don't forget that 8 year olds already use computers in the classroom
You should have an interactive centerpiece - mine was a 'Robot' built on an stand covered with old cards with a speaker as a mouth, based on an Apple ][ with a speech card. The space bar was programmed to cycle through different progs - like math tables, songs (Daisy Daisy from 2001) etc
We had some old hubs and switches with different colored network cables. Not powered at all so they could just plug them in random order.
A continuum of old to new tech as a display - a big daisy-wheel was a real hit. Also any old tech that still works like LCD typewriters, dot matrix printers, coupled modems.
Web Cams with screens out of the way.
Some LAN net talk for the older ones. I had a messaging guest-book system set up.
Fractal displays and interesting screen savers. Set up a SETI for public view.
There's a lot you can do, but don't forget that whatever you set up, it will take maintenance.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Imagine a vertical board with channels in it, these channels go to wooden gates (think mini teeter-totter), a ball might close a gate and rest there until another ball hits that gate and opens it (or possibly sends the ball in a different direction/etc.). Kids can experiment with setting the gates (positioning them A/B) and then hitting a button to engage the engine which drops balls through 9screw drive/bucket belt, whatever). An Example of an adding machine:
Binary marble adding machine - http://woodgears.ca/marbleadd/
Unfortunately I can't find an example online but I think you get the gist of it
Chain a bunch of OLPCs down and simply turn the kids loose.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Go for something with simple, well illustrated logic. Remember that kids of that age aren't supposed to be good at abstract thinking. Use clear boxes so they can see what's inside. Make it strong but not so it looks strong (clear is good for that). Have multiple terminals that can interact but do not need to for a good experience.
There is an exhibit in the Australian Museum in Sydney that uses a projector on a table and uses touch to start animations of different creatures.
Quite cool and totally unbreakable.
A local children's museum has an exhibit that shows how "email is sent through the internet". It uses a pneumatic tube system to shoot wooden balls from a sender through a series of clear tubes to a receiver. The balls go through various T-junctions, which makes the actual route taken "random", and these junctions are labeled with city names. Balls are released at such an interval that regardless of the route, they still arrive in the same order they were sent. A combination of black and white balls allows the recipient to verify the sender's message. There's even a little ascii-type chart to map color combinations to characters.
When my 4-year old saw and heard balls being shot around the wall-o-tubes, she said it was "the coolest thing she'd ever seen." We spent a good half hour feeding the machine.
(I don't know if copying someone else's museum exhibit would be legal, IANAL.)
You can do a computer display with a washable screen and projection or a flat screen behind lexan.
How about a simplified version of Alice (Alice.org) where the commands are plate size tiles that are stacked on a table and then executed?tt
You can do simple commands or loops and if statements.
Use LEGO WeDo Robotics kit.
How about a happy computer on one side of the room/world wants to send a nice message to a sad computer on the other side. I order to do so, they must have some connection. Children could take patch cables (dressed up in thick, soft, colorful rope or something... not an actual cable, or it could be a safety hazard, as well as wear out easily) and connect them from one computer to the other (perhaps through some other computers in the middle). After connected, the kids could select the message they want to send, then watch it show up on the other end. Alternatively, you could set up a webcam thing at each computer and the kids could see the other kids on the other side.
Heres a wall projector/camera idea my son and I built.
Its going in our church after Christmas.
It shows shapes on the wall that dance around if you smack them.
So its good for non-readers.
It was designed for "take away" messages at the exit of a science center. Eg, a quiz with A-B multiple choice, scoring, takes your picture if you win and keeps it on the wall.
But for 3 graders, I had an app that shows animals. If you smack the wall over the animal, it moved to a different square. Its all written in Hornetseye which you can find on the web. Let me know if I can help. Source code, whatever, you are welcomed to it.
how to build a wallthing
Hey, help us out at 10 seconds can save a life -jim
You should open it up to a competition for a few starving industrial design students. You would be your best results and options.
Take apart an old arcade console and pay attention to the design details.
You will learn a lot about how to make a robust system that will withstand physical abuse.
monkey labs and other critter computer tests.
Simple covered interface and a screen.
Plastic sheet, tamper proof switches and a computer safe from hands.
Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
Have a look at the Computer Science Unplugged site csunplugged.org. It is mainly classroom activities but it should give some ideas.
How about a large array of colored button-lights with a moving "cursor" light along the bottom. When a column of buttons is activated in time with the cursor's arrival any activated button (lit) will play a specific sound. The kids can toggle the various sounds by pressing the corresponding buttons in the array. Add sliders or mode control buttons for each column (or maybe just global for the entire array) that changes the sounds with distortion or tone. Add a mic with a sampler that they can yell into and store sound into some of the buttons in the array. Put a super-sized stomp-able keyboard on the floor at the bottom that makes sounds when they step on them. Include a real-time sweeping feedback display of the total sound amplitude and/or frequency distribution.
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288
If you can afford it and bother,
Have four terminals pointing inwards towards the middle, with a different color scheme for each terminal/sitting area. Close together so they can see each other and talk, but not each other's screen. For each terminal have a touch/magnetic pen screen, and a second screen with three colored buttons next to it. The idea is that pushing a button changes which of the drawings of the others you see on the second screen. Add Autowipe after some minutes, a wipe button for your own screen, which wipes your drawing for yourself and others, and a wipe button for the other screen, which just wipes what you can see. In case a concerned mom is worried that the kid a meter away is drawing something naughty.
Cost: more than nothing.
And do they match up with the mission of the museum? I used to manage many of the technology exhibits at Pacific Science Center in Seattle, and I think the first thing to ask is what are you trying to teach to 3-8 year olds? Is your focus on teaching the wonder of technology or is it using technology to teach something else? Robots, logic games, enhanced reality... whatever it is, are you showing the tech or teaching a concept?
As for exhibit design, stability, and usability these are all tried and true in other museums through out the country. Hap controls makes great switches, track balls are more stable than touch screens, and assume the children will taste your entire exhibit, even the parts that don't move.
Basically, encase all your computer works in hand built cases, embed trackballs into cabinetry, and solder in external switches. Some of the best exhibits, especially for young kids don't necessarily need to be hands on. They could be things where computers, video cameras, create an imaginary physical environment the children can play in. A virtual video studio where they can act out a play and then watch themselves is very experiential and gets to use technology they might not have a chance to play with on a large scale.
So, think creatively about what you're trying to showcase and teach, then the design comes after.
"Slow baby" school? Really? It'd be a better use of resources to turn them into food.
The carrier pigeons should be a hit
Been there, done that, paid for the T-shirt
and didn't get it
Sorry but ... at age 3 you can show pretty much any shining things and they will laugh ...
At age 8 you can tell them a concept and they'll want to learn more ...
What kind of age-range is that?
Having worked in a children's museum I have seen what kids do to sensitive instruments and equipment. You're lucky if it lasts for 10 minutes without total destruction. Embedded touch plates and proximity sensitive controls are your best bet.
I hate to do this, because it seems wildly unprofessional, but I just finished engineering/inventing a touch-screen computer "baby" kiosk (baby in terms of table-top form factor, and easily transportable) designed specifically to be a powerful computer, very durable, attractive, and interactive. I'm just starting to bring it to market now. I don't want to advertise it here because, well, it seems cheesy and self-serving to do so. But if you're interested, reply here and I'll help you out.
I'm surprised we're up to almost 40 responses without:
"Obviously you have no idea what you are doing, so hire someone who does."
There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
A pump, some colored water, some machined Plexiglas ogic elements and you have a great teaching tool. Also works well to demo electric theory: voltage=pressure, current, resistance, a balloon for capacitance, etc. Not sure how to do inductance, flywheel??
There are computers exposed to the general public in places like airports and railway stations. These use specialised hardware referred to as cabinets.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Note that this kind of thing has to be water proof so that it can be sanitized and should not have small pieces that can be swallowed and definitely no lead paint...
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
Two sources which might help: http://www.exhibitfiles.org/ http://informalscience.org/
Johnny Mnemonic (176043) writes: "My company has the opportunity to contribute to a children's museum in our area."
Well there Just Johnny, why Ask Slashdot when you've got experts at making kid-proof displays right there? They're the same people to ask just what kind of exhibit they'd like to have. What's the point of a computer/network oriented display? At the ages stated, there's not much to interest them. If it's not an outright concrete example, it's not going to do anything for them because it'll be an abstraction and kids that age don't cross levels of abstraction well if at all. They only reason to have a display based on what your company does is the PR for donating a display. The kids aren't the target for the PR so this is lost on them, and the parents or teachers could get the same PR input from a sign with your company's name. Go that way, and you can give the museum any sort of display they need. Might as well let the museum have the say. After all, at 3 to 8, how are you even going to get the instructions into their heads?
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
I'm a big fan of CS Unplugged. It's generally aimed at a slightly older age range, I think, but you can probably adapt some of their demos quite easily.
http://www.intech-uk.com/folders/frontpage_welcome/
I haven't been there for a number of years but last time I was there they had a large number of technology related exhibits plus a lot of general science related ones, all aimed at children. They build (or at least used to build) most of it in a workshop on site and seem to have a reasonable turnover of exhibits - as a child I would often go there and find new things that had been added since my last visit.
Offhand I can't remember many specific examples but I believe they had a “network” based on routing coloured balls representing the data, an exhibit on batteries where the children could compare the outputs from cells made with different metals (copper, steel, aluminium, zinc) and electrolytes (vinegar, cola, etc). There was also a pile of parts that if assembled according to the diagram would create a steam engine which could be run on compressed air, a demonstration of Pythagoras' theorem using volumes of liquid and so many more which I have forgotten.
If you have a video display section, check out this youtube video titled "Die Maus erklärt das Internet". Sponsoring a translation into English might be a good idea, the vid is highly entertaining and funny at the same time (even for my age group). "Die Maus" ("The Mouse") is a character from German children's TV and has developed a cult following in the decades since its inception.
Ever wondered whats wrong with the world? http://www.ishmael.org/
Show something colorful/educational about computing on computer display terminals. However, make sure that when the kid get too close or touches the screen, he/she gets a good zap. That'll make them think twice about damaging the equipment.
(In case you are a moderator, I am of course joking, and not trying to give informative advice here).
I went to google scholar, typed in "museum technology children" and this link:
http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=503376.503430&type=series
was on the first page. The second and third pages have more interesting potential as well. There's a whole area of research on museum education as well as journals both practical and theoretical. I'm sure there's stuff out there that can help.
Posts on slashdot are all exciting and interesting and stuff, but journal articles and other sources are peer-reviewed and typically written by people with real expertise in the field (e.g., Ph.Ds)
How about showing a cartoon picture of a different location on different terminals (maybe 6-8 screens/locations) and then have one or more animals on the "network" and the kids can tell the animal to move to another location. Maybe even "go to the orchard screen, pick an apple, and come back here."? Networks for 3 year olds!
Arrange the terminals in a physical arrangement that reflects the paths followed to get from location A to location B.
Sounds like a job for Unity3D, which is now free. I know it's been used for several installation type things as well as for games.
From the post:
"I'd like the exhibit to be computer/networking related, and to raise the awareness and understanding of how the Internet, networking, and computers work. However, children's museums cater to a pretty young age group, 3-8 years old"
Exactly what do you want 3-8 yeaq-olds to pick up from this installation:
1) Binary numbers
2) Boolean Logic gates (AND, OR, etc)
3) Network operation
4) Programming Languages
5) Concept of stored program computers
6) Electricity
Your zeal to provide a display has caused you to overlook the fact that your audience is between 3-8 years-old, likely can't read, and if they can read, most likely won't want to.
Go to the children's museum in your area and see how they have striped their displays down to the very basic concepts, avoid long text (that has to be read to the kids), and rely on 'obvious' interactions (turn the wheel, the light bulb glows).
Ken
Years back I worked for a company who did a very successful display at the Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans: http://www.bentmedia.com/case_studies/teamturtle.php
The computers were all touchscreen enabled and put into cabinets like kiosks, and they were scheduled to automatically restart if a crash was detected and relaunch the multimedia presentations. The exhibit itself was bright, colorful, and interactive.
I wasn't directly involved with the implementation of this project so I don't know all the details, but maybe from the photos in the case study you can get a sense of how it was set up. I remember it being a pretty big hit - and while I don't know the extent of any "unpleasant surprises" that are sure to occur with a project like this, when I visited the exhibit I recall everything working very smoothly.
This is all I can think of right now, but I'll check my notes tonight to remember what else we've done. Good Luck!
i ~ Celebrating Science, Cyberspace, Speculation
Please tell me the food vendors will be offering an OSI seven layer cake.
I went to the city because I wished to live without deliberation.
If your budget allows, why don't you have duplicate rooms that have the same exhibits and rotate as some need "maintenance." You won't have downtimes and allows for future consideration of better equipment for handling physical stress(es).
Put your computer in an arcade cabinet, and use arcade style buttons and controllers. They're expensive, but designed to handle the load.
All ideas^H^H^H^H^Hprocesses in this post are Patent Pending. (as well as the process of patenting all postings)
Arrange the children in groups ("buses") of nine. Each child in the group has a designated bit, 1-8 and Chk(the team captain). Come up with a secret message for each team, but all the same length. Have them run back and forth across the room between two computers (for each team) carrying data. First group to successfully transmit their message wins. Maybe they'll learn something, and even if not, at least it'll wear them out.
Instead of a touch screen, how about letting them control a computer with a projecter and a modded dance mat? With a little ingenuity, the dancemat could be anything you like; Big colourful pictures of icons to explain how a desktop works, or even just directional buttons to control any interactive display you like. Dance mats, by their nature, are designed to be hardwearing, and the little tykes will probably enjoy jumping around like nutters. Of course, you'll probably need to do a risk assessment on them. Heaven forfend they should be subject to the laws of gravity, precious little angels that they are.
Do not underestimate the interest in computer stuff of young kids. They recognize modern electronic toys (computers, phones, handheld gaming devices) from the other toys. My 4 year old is very good at playing his Nintendo DS (Kirby or anything Mario) and our Nintendo Wii (Zelda, Mario). He correctly uses a computer. Turns it ON, logs in to his account, launches Firefox (knows not to launch Explorer ;-) and watches Thomas the Train movies on Youtube.
My 1 year old knows how to operate a computer mouse. Moving it, clicking the buttons while looking at the screen for results (mixed ;-)
Both have little kids computers that teach them letters, numbers and soon easy words and arithmetic.
The biggest thing for them different from my generation is that computers aren't special.
Get a touch screen Kiosk, and log GCompris http://gcompris.net/. "GCompris is a high quality educational software suite comprising of numerous activities for children aged 2 to 10."
Years ago I wrote a little program for my (then) 3-year old sister on a TRS-80 Color Computer (it was kinda old even then). She loved it, it entertained her for hours, taught her about interacting with the computer via the keyboard, and about the order of the alphabet and numeric digits.
The program was really simple:
When the child pressed a letter or number key, the *entire* screen background changed to a bright color, the letter was displayed at the maximum font size that would fit, and an audible tone was played. Each letter/number was mapped to a specific color and tone, in case-insensitive alphabetic + numeric order (A-Z,0-9), so that colors and tones spanned both the spectrum and audible range (e.g. A= Red + low tone, 9=Blue + high tone).
I think that two simple additions would make it appropriate for an interactive kiosk for 3-8 year olds:
1) Create an over-sized keyboard for the the letters and numbers that use large 'industrial-strength' buttons
2) Provide a 'record', 'erase', and 'play' button and equivalent functionality in the software: Child can press record, then press several buttons, then press play and the letter/color/tones will be played back.
My 2c
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3i0WmI8l8M&feature=related Jealous?
Ann Arbor's Hands-On Museum has at least two interesting computer displays:
1. Colorful visual effects via a computer projection system which the kids can control by moving in front of a video camera. You really have to see it. Found a photo at: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/175283594_e5a67d0221.jpg
2. Green screen chroma key area where kids can fly, swim, deliver the news, etc, while other kids act as TV news directors at a control panel
You're guaranteed to win, or money back.
http://www.gcompris.net/
http://debian.org/
The two knob etch-a-sketch has a very long history. Connect two or more of them together via a network link. Then see if pairs of participants cooperate on a design.
Smart phones have the richest sensory interfaces of any computer system in common use- (1) microphone, (2) speaker, (3) camera, (4) video display, (5) keyboard, (6) text, (7) touch-sensitive "skin", etc. You could have a giant exploded mockup of the different parts of a cellphone. You'd demonstrate the signal paths and conversions: analog(graph) -> digital(tesselation) -> RF signal and reverse. I'd also include the hidden guts of the cellphone- (8) CPU, (9) magnetic memory, (10) RF antenna, etc.
If I had infinite resources and great carpentry skills, maybe I'd build a physical mockup of the parts of an exploded cellphone. However, with the rate phones are evolving today, that mockup would be obselete before it is finished. Instead I might assemble ten or so 40" HDTVs together on a wall. Each TV would be dedicated to explaining the function of one of the sensory or gut items mentioned in the previous paragraph. I would provide a multiple views of the item perhaps interactively accessed and/or a sequenced presentation. For example consider the microphone HDTV. Views might include the (1) human analog ( large mouth ), (2) external picture on actual cellphone, (3) an cross-section diagram of an ideal microphone, (4) a visualization of sound, (5) an analog graph of sound, (6) a tesselated digital representation of sound. Then the sound path in the cell phone would be illustrated by a string of blue lights connecting all the relevant TVs together- the microphone to the CPU to the antennas to the speaker, etc. Other subsystems such as video, text, etc. would have other TVs and different coloured light paths.
The goal would be to keep the context rich, tangible, and simple.
The Ontario Science Center used to have (not sure if it's still there) a fantastic display of logic gates. It was probably 20 feet tall and allowed kids to 'program' it so that a ball would make it's way from the top to the bottom. Very cool demonstration of AND, OR, XOR, XAND logic. I have fond memories of it from my (pre-PC) days as a kid. Very interactive. You could probably email them and see if they have images of it (couldn't find anything online).
Although the question was not directed towards 3-5 year olds, the systems described in this thread would be similarly useful to you.
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/09/11/04/2236220/On-Demand-Video--CMS--Interactive-Input-For-Museum
6 to 8 year olds wont grasp the internet, they barely grasp personal hygiene. How bout setting up a multituch clone of flower or stylophones and outher synths.
I think you could do a touch screen that takes them to a limited number of sites, kids like touch screens. You could take them to google, and wikipedia, and show them how wikipedia is bigger than X number of stacks of encyclopedias. Then you could talk about Tim Berners-Lee and html/http and how that revolutionized the internet. You should start out with the arpa and tcp/ip and gopher and fetch and telnet and all those things most people don't know about any more. Give them real information. Real history.
Then progress up into the modern day, maybe like 3 rooms, past, present, future? Put a big quote up on the wall, the Arthur C. Clarke (I think) one, "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." (or whatever.) Teach them the wonder and joy of computers. You'll make 1-2% of them geeks for life. Show them how space flight and medical procedures and everything else on the cutting edge of technology is dependent on computers.
K.
Shameless self promotion, but whatever you build, be sure to put Tux Paint on it. (Especially if you've got some cool art-friendly interface like a touch screen.) :)
And while you are at it, don't reinvent the wheel.
Contact museums that have some experience with this sort of thing, such as the Exploratorium in San Francisco. Find out what they do. They would be more than happy to help.
In older times you could get away with a tic tac toe type game.
Now its a lot more sophisticated. I would suspect that you would get the best answers from teachers from third grade down.
Probably a game with fun animals that "speak"might be an option.
year old boys. In designing exhibits it is important to be very cognizant of the age group you are playing to. Talk to an early education specialist. Second, it helps if this exhibit is in the context of the remainder of the museum. This exhibits "lesson" (don't use that word around the patrons) should tie to other lessons within the museum. KISS. Pick one idea to get across, don't get greedy. No matter how bulletproof the physical design is a 3 year old will break it at least once. Have spares. I spent a lot of time (in the dim and distant past) visiting children's museums all across the country and building exhibits for the Miami Children's Museum. The exhibits that seemed to excite me and the kids the most were the ones that were either just fun (who cared about the ideas) or that gets an idea across in a very simple visually (or tactile) understandable way. What is the first thing a kid in the 3 - 8 range needs to know about computers? Is it the parts (cpu, display, kbd, etc). Is it that it does multiple things (types, shows movies, etc). Talk to the folks at your museum, they know their clientele. Then talk to the clientele about a couple ideas (if you can slow them down or have your own captive ones). Good luck. My life with children's museums was some of the most rewarding work I've done. Don't let the opportunity pass you by.
It has an SDK and has been developed specifically for pre-K to Grade 3.
http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SMART+Table/