"Hands-In" Science Exhibits

Science centers—like Technorama, the Swiss Science Center—provide hands-on experiences of hundreds of technological marvels and natural phenomena. Unlike traditional museums, everything in a science center can be touched, played, and experimented with: everything is hands-on.

Recent advancements in embodied theory, motion-detecting technology, and educational design have led to the emergence of a new category of “hands-in” educational activities. In “hands-in” activities, movement becomes an integral part of knowledge development through the activity. For example, walking out of a beat can support the understanding of ratio, rate of change, and even gradients in differential calculus. Balancing can impact one’s sense of social (in)justice. Children’s understanding of elementary astrophysics can be supported through activities where they physically “act out” the trajectory of a meteor traveling through the Solar System.

In a novel collaboration with Technorama, we are working on enhancing existing science exhibits and creating novel ones that put into practice the principles of “hands in” exploration.