Ask Slashdot: What Should a Children's Computer Museum Look Like? (yourobserver.com)

Long-time Slashdot reader theodp writes: If you're a wealthy techie looking for a way to establish your legacy, the City of Sarasota has a 117,000-square-foot children's science museum that's vacant and could use a little TLC. Housed on prime Bayfront property, the building that once housed the Gulf Coast Wonder and Imagination Zone might make a fine children's computer museum.

So in case any of those CEOs who stress the importance of getting children interested in CS are reading and want to put their money where their mouth is, any suggestions about what a kids' version of the Computer History Museum should look like? Something like an Apple Store? Microsoft Store? Something else?
There's often criticism about the ways computer science gets taught in schools -- so leave your suggestions in the comments. What would a good children's computer museum look like?

Comments

Lots of hands on activities

[Mostly a lurker]

It should be designed in such a way that kids can actually make the exhibits work, not just tell them how it works. All other considerations are secondary. However, dramatic comparisons like an IBM 350 disk unit displayed alongside a modern mSATA drive will also make an impression.

Probably a website.

[dgatwood]

To play devil's advocate here, the idea of children's computer museums and science museums is nice and all, but realistically there's a reason why these things close down, and it usually comes down to not making enough money to keep the lights on. Perhaps a nice interactive science website with VR would be a better way to spend the money, rather than restoring a building whose design results in high upkeep costs, plus the cost of staffing and renting exhibits and so on.

I mean, the city of Sarasota was spending something like $150k+ in maintenance every year just to keep the building from deteriorating further. At ten bucks a head, it takes 15,000 visitors every year (almost 10% of their total during the final years) just to pay for the absolute minimum level of upkeep. I'd imagine the real numbers to keep the building in good shape were at least double that. A good target for a business is closer to 5%. Basically, that building is a money pit.

A children museum needs be be for adults

[jellomizer]

A common mistake people do when making stuff for children is assuming that kids are dumb so let's make it simple for them.
Kids are not dumb and a good children's museum teaches the adults too. The only real difference is the "Adult" museums are more or less teach like the Victorian times quite expecting you to stay attentive with learning to be done via audio and visual learning.
A "Children's" museum offers the tactile learning as well and fully engages all the senses for proper learning.

I would make physical and manipulable exhibits such as not gates and gates and or gates either out of blocks or plumbing with color water. Then getting so far to make a 4 bit adder.
After you get that far then you can switch to electricity. Perhaps with a large quartz transistor and circuits. Where they can turn a dials and press buttons pull leavers to get the point.
The goal is to demistify computers to children and adults before you get to the other suggestions with robots writing code. But for the most part target towards teaching adults the concepts using as many stimula as possible.