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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ExhibitSEED: Beyond Green Exhibits Workshop

Heads up exhibit folks!  I've posted before about working on The Green Exhibit Checklist project with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI.) 

Now there is an opportunity to participate in some amazing one-day workshops around the country centered around "green design" topics, called "ExhibitSEED: Beyond Green Exhibits Workshop."

OMSI is presenting five regional workshops this spring on sustainable exhibit development. At each one-day hands-on workshop, exhibit developers, designers, and fabricators will discuss practical skills for creating more sustainable interactive exhibits. Each workshop will focus on case studies and concrete tools that allow exhibit teams to make more environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable choices throughout the exhibit development process. 

OMSI is currently registering for the first workshop which will take place on February 25, 2012, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (1945 SE Water Ave, Portland, OR). The other workshops will be hosted by the Children's Museum of Houston, the Miami Science Museum, the Science Museum of Minnesota, and The Franklin Institute.

To register, or for more information, visit www.exhibitseed.org.

Each one-day workshop is free for selected participants. Participants may also request travel funding. ExhibitSEED and the ExhibitSEED workshops are funded by the National Science Foundation and developed by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) with input from local and national museum industry and design advisors.

What are you waiting for?  Click on over to www.exhibitseed.org to find out how you can participate in one of the workshops!



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6 Keys To Greener Exhibit Design

OMSI (The Oregon Museum of Science and Industry) in Portland, Oregon has long been concerned about "green design" and the choices and approaches that museums can take to create truly sustainable exhibit environments.

I'm an advisor on OMSI's NSF-funded project on Sustainability,  part of which will involve creating a set of models and guidelines for the museum field in order to promote more reflective practice about "green" exhibit design.  (You can download a PDF article about OMSI's progress, as well as the "working model" of the OMSI Green Exhibit Certification assessment tool via the NAME website.)

During my recent trip to Portland to discuss the OMSI Sustainability project, I got the chance to tour OMSI's exhibit workshop, which, besides being big fun, gave me 6 takeaways regarding green exhibit design to share with ExhibiTricks readers through a mini photographic tour. Enjoy!


1) Internal Capacity IS Local Design

You don't necessarily need a huge shop like OMSI's at your museum, but if you don't have some minimal "internal capacity" to fix, prototype, and build at least some of your own exhibit elements and program props, how can you foster local design (which is often the greenest design) at your museum?


2) Sharing Models of Green Design Helps Everyone

Ben Fleskes, the Production Director at OMSI, shared the model of the simple math exhibit shown above.  From the locally-produced metal framing materials, levelers produced in house, powder coating for durability, an exhibit idea adapted from the ASTC Exhibit Cheapbooks, a recycled (from the OMSI Shop Racks) plyboo top, and the whole thing assembled by a community volunteer, the component above has lots of nice green design approaches embedded in it.

I will certainly be encouraging the OMSI folks to include models and examples of green exhibit design from the museum field into the final sustainable exhibit design project materials.



3) Materials DO Matter 

Some designers crab about sustainable design discussions (or any design discussions) degenerating into a drool-fest over the latest, coolest materials.  While this is often the case, it is still important to be aware of the materials available, their use, and most importantly, their re-use.

It was clear from the shop tour, that not only are the OMSI staff extremely careful about materials (PVC is just a non-starter) they are just as thoughtful about how to reutilize or repurpose materials from old exhibits into new exhibits.



4) Involving the Community is an Integral Part of Sustainable Design

Here Ben shows off work on a ball machine prototype being developed by community volunteers using lots of creatively "scavenged" materials from the OMSI Exhibits Shop.  It was clear throughout my visit to Portland how much OMSI included the community in their exhibit building efforts.




5) Green Design Includes Extensive Prototyping

Here Todd Kehoe shows us some cool nanotechnology prototypes involving reused materials that were mechanically fastened (not glued) together, so they can be easily modified.  Similarly, graphics were produced using low-impact materials that can be easily changed and modified.  Prototyping ultimately saves time and money by allowing for more thoughtful materials and design solutions in the final exhibit components.



6) Green Design Can be Fun!

There often seems to be a perception that sustainable exhibits need to be plain, rough-hewn affairs made of sticks and mud without a trace of color, fun, or design flair.  To disprove that notion, Ben showed us the beginnings of his desk prototype (created from reused extrusions and other OMSI shop scrap by volunteers, of course!) to harness the nervous fidgeting of a worker's feet through a treadle system and transform the motion into energy to power simple office devices like lights or smart phones.

Thanks to the entire OMSI crew for helping move the conversation about sustainability and green exhibit design forward for the entire museum field!


Have some of your own green exhibit design tips or resources to share?  Let us know about them in the "Comments" section below.


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