My mother, in her advanced age, used to justify some unhealthy habits of food and drink by remarking (only half-jokingly), “If we wait long enough, the scientists will disprove themselves, and our vices will be virtues.” In this simple remark, she was reflecting the quandary of her era: respect and enthusiasm, tinged with some skepticism, about the breathtaking pace of scientific achievements.

We still hold our scientists in high regard for their intelligence, curiosity, and determination. But we demand better communication. After all, we may never hope to fully comprehend the science of crippling diseases or the Higgs boson, but we know that fear arises when open communication with our scientists is lost and trust is broken. Science centers and museums help communicate the relevance of science and the excitement of discovery.
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Interviewed by Joelle Seligson

This interview appeared in the September/October 2012 issue of Dimensions magazine.

The Greek philosopher Plato is quoted as saying that you can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. It’s a philosophy Nicole Lazzaro—president of XEODesign, Inc., the world’s first Player Experience Design consulting company—subscribes to today. Players’ emotions are at the core of gaming, says Lazzaro, and they are the reason why games can be so compelling. She chatted with Dimensions in anticipation of the 2012 ASTC Annual Conference this October in Columbus, Ohio, where she’ll share how science centers and museums can implement the power of play.

Read the full transcript, or listen to the podcast.

This is an extended discussion of the question that appeared in the Viewpoints department of the September/October 2012 issue of Dimensions magazine.

The central focus for science centers is serving the communities in their region. Many of the science festivals popping up in the United States are led by museums, reflecting the responsibility that science centers have to reach out to audiences that do not normally attend exhibitions. Science festivals enable this by hosting events and programs in places where the people in their communities naturally live, work, and play.
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IN THIS ISSUE
July/August 2012

As a key part of our commitment to our members, ASTC is dedicated to providing vision and direction by anticipating trends and helping our member institutions to prepare for new opportunities and challenges. In this issue, we look at a selection of current and future trends that shape and influence the science center and museum field. This brief, and by no means exhaustive, survey of trends includes new exhibit innovations, the Maker Movement, crowdsourcing, informal science learning outside the classroom, and crowdfunding. Have thoughts on these or other important trends on the horizon? Send us a letter to the editor.

Contents

• The Future of Exhibits: Where Are We Headed?, by Julie Bowen
• Museums and the Maker Movement, by Eric Siegel
• Harnessing the Crowd, by Elizabeth E. Merritt and Philip M. Katz
• STEM Learning in Afterschool: Ready to Soar, by Anita Krishnamurthi and Ramya Sankar
• Crowdfunding: Money from the Masses?, by Larry H. Hoffer

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By Julie Bowen
From Dimensions
July/August 2012

I have been wondering for a while why recent ASTC annual conferences have had fewer sessions about exhibits than they did five or 10 years ago. Have exhibits reached a point of perfection and become a craft needing only minor tweaking around the edges? Have museums run out of new things to talk about in exhibits? Are exhibit developers too busy or too few, or is exhibit development being outsourced? Is our modality of interactive, hands-on physical exhibits at the end of the evolutionary road? Or, is there an inflection point where exhibits transform into something new? I was caught musing out loud about these questions and asked if I would speculate on the future direction of exhibits.
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