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Ah, not so fast, Ian.

As one of the advisors to Project APE, I'd say that the range of  
exhibit parameters and ways of thinking about  "Active Prolonged  
Engagement" is not so easily dismissed.

In the U.S., there are plenty of educators and academics interested  
in play involved in the American Association for the Child’s Right to  
Play <http://www.ipausa.org/>   for example.

Not to mention organizations like "Right To Play" <http:// 
www.righttoplay.com> and "KaBOOM!" <http://www.kaboom.org/>.

One interesting thing that much of this discussion of "visitor guided  
experiences"  and "free choice learning" shares are two other "P"  
words beside "PLAY", namely "PROCESS"  and "PASSION".   Too many  
exhibits in all types of museums seem overly concerned with "right  
answers", or products, rather than the process and passion behind  
those things .

I wish every visitor to an art museum could try their hand at messing  
around inside an interactive studio environment with the types of  
paints or clay that an ancient Egyptian or Picasso or a modern artist  
might have used; to investigate artistic process, as well as seeing  
"finished" paintings and pottery in the galleries.  In a comparable  
way, I wish there were even more wonderful opportunities in science  
museums for visitors to get excited about using some of the "building  
blocks" of science such as observation, testing, and  
experimentation.  (Even if they don't call them that!)

Some of my favorite playful/APE/constructivist/Museum 2.0  exhibit  
experiences do seem to share some subtle framing mechanisms, that  
increase visitors' engagement.  That sets these types of exhibit  
experiences apart from someone just tossing a pile of sticks and  
crayons on the floor and calling it a "visitor-directed creativity  
exhibit"

To that end, I think you'd be hard pressed to find more interesting  
musings about the process of creating, evaluating, changing, and yes,  
struggling, with making more engaging exhibit experiences and  
environments than those found in the Project APE book.
<http://www.astc.org/pubs/ape.htm>

Playfully yours,


On Nov 16, 2006, at 6:00 AM, Ian Russell wrote:

> But isn't it interesting that 'play' is such a tricky word to sell  
> to educators and academics? it was apparently necessary to re-name  
> 'play' as 'Active Prolonged Engagement' for a four-year project  
> funded by the National Science Foundation, subsequently documented  
> with a publication, conference presentations, and journal articles...

----------------------------------------------------------

Paul Orselli, President and Chief Instigator

Paul Orselli Workshop (POW!)
1684 Victoria Street
Baldwin, NY  11510

www.orselli.net

(516) 223-1043  voice
(516) 238-2797  mobile

The Great Big List of Exhibit Resources:  http://www.orselli.net/ 
sources.htm




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