Science on the Move: A Guest Post From OMSI's Kyrie Kellett

Kyrie Kellett, an exhibit and program developer at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon was kind enough to share this guest post about the National Science Foundation funded  "Science on the Move" project.  Pictured above is the Chicken Scene Investigation (CSI) prototype at the Rose Quarter Transit Center in Portland.


What do you remember about your day? Your commute? Your neighborhood? For me, the things that catch my attention are the experiences that seem out of place, novel, silly, or just plain weird.

That’s what the Science on the Move (NSF DRL-1222659) project wanted to play with. How would people respond to a science exhibit at a light rail station or busy bus depot? In a museum we expect to see the extraordinary, but while waiting for the bus?  Would people be interested? What would catch their attention? Would they understand that it was about science? Would science turn them off?

To research these ideas, my colleagues at OMSI and I created two prototype exhibits and worked with the local transit authority to set them up at busy transit centers, one near the central city and one in a lower-income suburb. We then used design-based research to iteratively improve the exhibits and our model for how people interacted with the exhibits.

What did we find? Lots of interesting things! For example, we found that the OMSI logo was a big draw. When people of all ages, income levels, and from all parts of the region saw OMSI, they figured it would be fun and wanted to participate.  They were not scared off by the possibility of “science” at all.  That said, even though the exhibits were from OMSI, many people didn’t explicitly connect their experiences with science.  Since the exhibits were not in a science center, it took a lot more work to connect chicken coops and special effects to science or technology than if visitors were in the museum expecting to learn about STEM topics.

Our next step with this project is to start more conversations in the museum community about how and why we should (or shouldn’t) be experimenting with taking our exhibits outside of museums and into unexpected places.

Want to hear more? Please check out our “think piece” on the topic, a downloadable PDF entitled "Tripping Over Science: Taking STEM Exhibits Outside of the Museum" (http://programs.omsi.edu/sites/default/files/Science_on_the_Move.pdf.)

Have something to share or want to collaborate? Please contact me at: kkellett@omsi.edu.

Kyrie Kellett is a senior exhibit and program developer at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) in Portland, Oregon.  She has worked on a variety of federally-funded projects related to sustainability, inclusion, and new approaches to informal science education.



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ReWind: MaKey MaKey and Scratch and HCI+ISE

Recently I've been thinking about (and playing with!) materials and resources broadly related to HCI (or Human Computer Interface) matters.  So, what follows below is a "ReWind" (or "encore") version of a previous ExhibiTrick post about a cool (and relatively inexpensive) system called MaKey MaKey.

In that vein, I just wanted to make you aware of two other things that fit under the broad HCI umbrella:  The first is a cool project and conference supported by the National Science Foundation that I'm an advisor to, called HCI + ISE (Human Computer Interface + Informal Science Education.)

If the thoughtful use of technology in museums and exhibits is of interest to you, check out the HCI+ISE website, and apply to attend the conference in June 2013 in, and around, Albuquerque.

The second thing may be a bit of "old news" to some folks, but it's new to me!  Scratch is a simple programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art -- and share your creations on the Web.  Scratch was developed by the Lifelong Kindergarten Group at the MIT Media Lab.  I've just started working with Scratch myself and working on exhibit development and prototyping projects with kids and it's really been productive and fun!  I'll be writing a more in-depth ExhibiTricks post on Scratch in the future, but in the meantime, enjoy this ReWind post about MaKey MaKey!



I was a Kickstarter backer of a neat project called MaKey MaKey.  In exchange for backing the MaKey MaKey guys (two MIT Media Lab students) I received a set of stuff like that pictured below (a MaKey MaKey board, a USB connector, and a set of alligator clips) to connect my computer to the real world with real objects (like bananas, PlayDoh, coins, or anything else that is at least a little bit conductive.)

Basically you can make a physical object act like a computer key (hence MaKey MaKey) to cause other things to happen. Watching the video at the top of this post (you can also watch it on YouTube) gives you some fun examples like an electronic piano using bananas as keys.

This is all great news for exhibit designers who don't want to become computer geeks or code monkeys.  (Even though the MaKey MaKey board is built using Arduino, an open-source way of connecting computers with the physical world.)  The idea of using physical objects as HCI (Human Computer Interfaces) isn't new, but MaKey MaKey makes it much easier and cheaper than before.  In addition,  MaKey MaKey boards are a great tool for prototyping exhibit ideas that involve electronics, computers, or other digital media.

You can find out more about any of the groups or things mentioned in this post by clicking on any of the links above, but for now I'm off to start playing with my MaKey MaKey!  (I'll show off some of my own MaKey MaKey projects in future ExhibiTricks posts, or feel free to email me if you're doing cool stuff with MaKey MaKey that you'd like to share as well!)

P.S. Even if you weren't a Kickstarter backer of MaKey Makey, you can pre-order a basic kit via their website.



Don't miss out on any ExhibiTricks posts! It's easy to get updates via email or your favorite news reader. Just click the "Sign up for Free ExhibiTricks Blog Updates" link on the upper right side of the blog.

P.S. If you receive ExhibiTricks via email (or Facebook or LinkedIn) you will need to click HERE to go to the main ExhibiTricks page to make comments or view multimedia features (like videos!)