Messing About In Science!

Messing About Exhibits: 

Turntables
I spent the most time at the turntables. I made the decision prior to engaging kids at this exhibit to get as abstract a concept as possible from whichever child participated without leading. I did this activity with 3 kids total, but only 2 of which gave me their wonderful ideas. I first asked what they thought was happening, and followed up their responses through the "yes, and" method.

A young girl told me that the spinning motion reminded her of a tornado. Ultimately, her wonderful idea was that there was a "bounce", a word she used to describe the action of two balls colliding, and that the speed was different inside and outside the tornado. I asked what would happen if someone was in the tornado, and she replied nothing if that person is in the center. She repeatedly used the term "bounce", thus I think she had a unique concept she wanted to explore. Yet, our time was limited and upon reflection I could've asked her more about a "bounce".

Magnets
I engaged 2 children with the "yes, and" technique while they played with the magnets. I had the hardest time trying to get them past the question of what a magnet is. So, I would illustrate with the magnet by slowly putting them together. A wonderful idea was "stickiness". A few kids described that what makes a magnet just that is the act of sticking together. The extent of the interaction was limited due to the lack of observable phenomenon; not many angles could be taken when analyzing magnets conceptually.

From Here to There
This was the hardest exhibit to generate wonderful ideas from, however the easiest to get messing about out of. Even when kids played first and then I asked questions, they seemed to be in a different state of mind. I would try to facilitate by simply asking what they thought the triangles did. Kids would then adjust the wind direction and get excited about the change.

Wind Columns
Not as much wonderful ideas obtained, similar to From Here to There/Hyperloop, however a lot of messing about, especially when I presented the challenge of hovering the parachute or editing the materials. I found that dialogue is helpful for this exhibit, and that a common question I received was what the wind column was to which I'd respond by asking what kids thought the contraption was.

Spinetic Wheels
I was finally able to test an activity I thought of during orientation, which I think I'll call MOXI-macallit, the intent of which is to get all the graphics to light up on the wheel by coming up with a word associated with any aspect of that graphic. The only rule being you can only use the letters in the word you called the prior graphic to name the following one—thus, it's encouraging to use challenging words as you will gain more options. I started with the MOXI logo, spelled it for the kids, and then asked them to pick any of the clips to name using a word starting with one of the letters in MOXI. Whenever a kid named a graphic I challenged them to spell the word they thought of, and then spin the wheel when they thought of a name. I never negated what they saw, because sometimes it was a shape, color, species, action, activity, place they would associate with the image, and as a result numerous answers.

-Samantha Brown