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Dear Paul,
Unstaffed is a tall order, but please check out the activities in 'de
uitvinderij' (spelerij.nl) and 'de ontdekhoek' (ontdekhoek.nl) in the
Netherlands. At 'de ontdekhoek' we manage a staffing of 1 to 20-30
visitors, 'de uitvinderij' manages up to 1:50 (with metalworking equipment,
which always impresses me).
Regards,
maarten horstink
de ontdekhoek


On 2 January 2013 19:13, Eli Kuslansky <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> I think the way for small museums to address the expense of floor
> staff would be to develop these spaces in partnerships with either
> existing partners or new and non-traditional ones. Then the expense of
> staff could be shared across organizations.
>
> It also seems that the point of Maker's spaces is not as much only about
> learning, although that is a significant factor, but about "making",
> creating, inventing. It is a different paradigm. Learning with a
> tangible results. This paradigm will eventually shift the way museums
> and science centers operate.
>
>
> > There's certainly evidence to justify the operational expense of floor
> > staff (in addition to our common-sense observations). I was at a museum
> > that participated in an industry-wide survey of museums and zoos and
> > aquariums and we learned that visitors who reported 3 or more positive
> > interactions with staff were also the ones most likely to give the top
> > score for overall satisfaction.  That said, many museums are in a
> position
> > to staff up sometimes but not all the time, maybe weekends only, or for
> > school groups only. Some museums I'm working with are  are operating on a
> > shoestring with one or two staff running the whole museum on weekends. A
> > staffed maker space is a best case scenario but are you suggesting that
> > smaller museums should skip "making" altogether?
> >
> > I'd love to see museums of all sizes move toward "learning through
> > making"--it seems to have so much more potential than simply pursuing
> > business-as-usual "learning through hands-on interactives." To offer some
> > practical suggestions for Paul's client, perhaps a "multiple personality"
> > maker space can be designed to function in multiple modes with or without
> > staff to avoid locking up scarce public space when staff are absent. We
> did
> > something along those lines in the Mystery Learning Lab at the Museum of
> > Science and Industry--text panels could be flipped over and 2 versions of
> > each software program could be launched on the same machines to interact
> > differently with the same tools (calipers, microscopes, etc). The
> > facilitated experience was much richer and more complex and required
> > teamwork across 4 different exhibit components. I called it
> > "capital-intensive programming"--for once we were giving educators a
> > big-budget resource to support programming instead of expecting them to
> > collect paper towel rolls. I'd say maker spaces fall in the
> > "capital-intensive programming" category--they'll offer the richest, most
> > complex version of an experience and all the better if there is a
> fallback
> > "exhibit mode": I'm picturing tools and supplies that come out of hiding
> > like Murphy beds. Or those ironing boards that fold up against a wall. Or
> > the sewing machines that tip over to hide under a flat counter. Or
> > enclosures like those secretary desks with doors that fold down to
> create a
> > work surface and reveal cubbies of tools and supplies. Heck, you could
> take
> > that strategy beyond a dedicated maker space and integrate maker tools
> and
> > supplies into existing galleries on topics like electricity or airplanes.
> > Pop-up maker spaces!
> >
>
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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