Our KidsTeam:
Creating a Museum For Kids, By Kids

When we say we’re a hands-on children’s museum, we mean that in more ways than one! We’ve had children’s hands on our project from the start, and we formalized our commitment to including children in the development of the museum when we established a partnership with the University of Maryland’s Human Computer Interaction Lab (HCIL) in May 2007. The HCIL’s director, Dr. Allison Druin, is a leading expert in child-centered design, and we are pleased to have her chairing our Educational Advisory Committee. Under Dr. Druin’s guidance, the Children’s Science Center will utilize a “KidsTeam” to capture children’s input into every aspect of our facility, exhibits, and programs.

The HCIL’s in-house team is a group of seven children ages 7 to 11 who meet twice a week with talented researchers from computer science, education, art, robotics, and other disciplines. They have been hired by companies ranging from Google, Microsoft, Leap Frog, Sesame Workshops, and the National Park Service to provide a child’s perspective into technology. This uniquely intergenerational, interdisciplinary design team is working with Children’s Science Center to come up with ideas for the interactive exhibits that will help “make math and science cool” for our young visitors.

“Design partners are equal stakeholders in the design of new technologies,” Dr. Druin says. “While children do not have the same specialized expertise that adults have, they have equal opportunity to contribute in any way they can to the design process. For example, adult researchers that are visual artists or educators can support the technology design process with domain specific expertise and experience. The same can be said of child researchers. They too have special experiences and viewpoints that can support the technology design process. When children act as design partners they contribute at all stages, from the initial idea to the final product, and the end result is far richer for the collaboration.”

We at Children’s Science Center are excited to be working with Dr. Druin and her team in building our new museum and fulfilling our mission to spark children's interest in science through a variety of interactive exhibits and engaging programs that stimulate creativity, encourage exploration of math and science, and promote active learning. In the future, Children’s Science Center plans to create our own in-house team of child consultants. The Children’s Science Center is committed to truly being a museum built “for kids, by kids”!

For more information on the HCIL’s children’s team, visit http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/kiddesign/

A KidsTeam and Children’s Science Center Group at Work Designing a Museum Exhibit

A KidsTeam member creates his vision for an exhibit, the “Planet Scale”

A KidsTeam/Children’s Science Center Group’s early Prototype for a “Splat Wall” Exhibit