My best museum experience ever!
I just love the Museum of Science in Boston. I grew up going to it for as long as I can remember, so I think part of it is really sentimental. I’ve gone with a lot of people I care about, friends, family, co-workers. So this is really more about my cumulative experience there through the years. I love how they keep a lot of the old, familiar exhibits, like mathematica, the very cheesy but awesome virtual volleyball, and the theatre of electricity, and the space capsule, but also the new rotating stuff. I’m also okay with how they try to expose the science behind more pop culture-y, sci fi stuff like star trek, star wars and the lord of the rings. I love the IMAX theatre, but think this would have more potential for learning in conjunction with a companion exhibit and activities. I think they also have some good programs and events. I volunteered with the computer clubhouse on my own, and I’ve done Zoom into Englineering several times through work. The former I helped adolecent girls learn about multimedia, and in the later, I helped younger kids do engineering activities.
Christy Johnson: Thanks for sharing such an interesting museum. Isn't it interesting how emotions impact our experience? It sounds like the facility is constantly updating its exhibits. How have the designers built that into the space? I am always looking for examples of how flexibility can be incorporated into a facility.
YH: Hi Nicole! From what you described, the science museum in Boston sounds like lots of fun! There's an IMAX theatre in Singapore as well and I used to frequent it (despite the pricey tickets); I'm always blown away by the documentaries - historical, geographical, space - but there is no follow-up. Everytime I finish watching a film, the walk to the exit is always littered with the same old boring exhibits about the solar system. There's no connection to the theme whatsoever. So I agree with your comment that there would be more impact if the theater is used in conjunction with a companion exhibit.
Nuree Choe We both wrote about the same place! I also love the Boston Science Museum although I've only gone once when I was younger. You talk about the various exhibits and touch upon the ones that you participated as an adu;lt , perhaps as part of a voluntary staff(?). What was it like as a visitor to the museum and then as part of the "behind-the-scenes" person? What was done to teach adolescent girls abut multimedia? Were you involved with the curriculum designing process at all or were you just a volunteer who was handed instructions on how to "run" the activities?
Nicole They had this huge sort of "black box" exhibit hall that they could really turn into anything, which was really neat. It was right near the IMAX, and would have been a great place to put those related exhibits we wish had been there, come to think about it. I wish my volunteer work had had more to do with the exhibits, but it was also fun to be the one guiding kids to discover things on their own. This worked really well w/ Zoom into Engineering, because there was an underlying structure to the activities. I did feel though, that with the Computer Clubhouse, there wasn't quite enough scaffolding built in to make it a really rewarding experience for the girls. They were pretty much on their own except for some guidance from the mentors, and we hardly had any training--just what we happened to know already about multimedia. It was a bit frustrating because sometimes there was a ratio of one or two mentors to 20 girls, but because we were supposed to concentrate on one-on-one and small group interactions, it always felt like we were ignoring most of the group, as much as we tried to pay equal attention to everyone. I don't know that this had to do with the space, as much as the structure of the program, but it definitely shows the difficulty in balancing exploration and guidance in learning design.