Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
Considering these kids will mostly grow up with laptops and cell phones this strikes me as a definite museum appropriate exhibit =).
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.)
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.
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?
totally unbreakable.
famous last words
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."
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.
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