Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Katie Safford, 2, of Los Gatos came with her dad, Pat, to the Discovery Museum. Here, Katie's playing at the Power Girl exhibit's main Power Control Station.
Children's Discovery Museum teaches a powerful lesson in how stuff works
'Power Girl' features hands-on learning
By Genevieve Roja
Pushing. Pulling. Cranking. Riding. That's the extent of physical dexterity required at the new Power Girl exhibit in the Community Connections section of the San Jose Children's Discovery Museum. At this particular exhibit, and inside an eye-popping, tactile environment that breaks ranks with conventional museums, parents and children learn hands-on. Children are allowed to be inquisitive, blow bubbles, gasp at a real fire truck, and ooh at plant life.
As the newest installment, the Power Girl exhibit provides answers to such questions as "what makes things go?" In this instance, the "what" is electricity, and the "things" are items found in homes, such as electric fans, and in transportation, such as trolley cars and airplanes.
The Power Girl exhibit is named after the signature character, Elena, whose friends dub her "Power Girl" for her interest in electricity. The exhibit is actually part of a larger research scheme funded by a National Science Foundation grant.
Kevin Crowley, now a researcher at the University of Pittsburgh's Learning and Research Development Center, was working at the University of California at Santa Cruz for the Discovery Museum on a previous project. During that project, Crowley was surprised to learn that the parents who participated in the study were twice or three times as likely to explain exhibits to boys than to girls.
"At the time, we knew about what families learned [at museums]," says Crowley, who oversees the University of Pittsburgh-UCSC Psychology Department collaboration. "People thought that the museums were doing a good job of creating a gender-neutral environment. We found, too, that in the museums all over the world, boys and girls were equally likely to use the exhibits and talk to parents about the exhibits. It was wonderfully neutral."
But the gender gap revelation predominated, sending museum staff into a brainstorming frenzy.
"They weren't looking for a gap," says Sally Osberg, the museum's executive director of education and programs. "They just found it. It was up to us to come up with theories and strategies which were tested out by the research team."
But could they develop creative ways for parents to effectively communicate science to girls? Power Girl emerged. CDM staff and researchers agreed that Power Girl--dressed in a orange T-shirt, blue overalls with a lightning emblem, white sneakers and a red toolbox--would be the central character of the story and a tool to link all the elements of the exhibit--Treadle Power, Bowling Ball Power, Airplane Power, and Trolley Power.
At Treadle Power, parents and kids ride on a rubber mat that simulates the motion of a treadle. At Bowling Ball Power, kids yank a rope and let go at the top. When the rope is released, the motion powers a ceiling fan. A trolley and airplane move when a child cranks the handle. A dollhouse and control power station explain the relationship between all four "powers."
"[The key is that parents and children] are finding out stuff together, even relating the electricity exhibit at home," Crowley says. "Making those seemingly simple connections really helps kids organize things thematically. That's what's important for kids in learning about science."
Those expecting to see signs indicating the geographic location of the Power Girl exhibit (or the identity behind Power Girl) will not find it--for now. However, the CDM team added text explaining each exhibit on April 15. The recent addition is merely one of several stages and tactics that Crowley with his Pitt researchers and Maureen Callanan with her UCSC team will implement over a three-year period.
The first stage is chronicling parent-child interactions. On certain days, researchers ask permission of parents to videotape them and their child. Once the parents sign a release, the researcher puts a sticker on the child to code him or her for the data. From then on, there is no interaction between the parents, child or researchers. The researchers merely observe through the videotape, which records through a hidden camera with a zoom lens.
"It's helpful for us to see where people might be having a hard time [explaining and understanding the exhibit]," says Amity Sandage, the museum's associate director of education and programs.
In the next phase, researchers will code the data, and by July, all data will be finalized and complete. The final phase is to circulate those findings, which will allow other museums a chance to incorporate the Discovery Museum's fruitful and instructive methods. Overall, the museum staff and Crowley hope that the exhibit will pique girls' curiosity and fight the common perception that girls just don't dig science. The Power Girl graphic was designed by Silicon Valley Community Newspapers production artist Cindy Couling.
"We get some serious people [in museums] who tell you that the exhibits [should be painted] pink," Crowley says. "It's not a crazy suggestion; they're [toy makers] selling pink Legos, and pink Barbies."
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