Creativity Workshop Stage I Prototyping

Creativity Workshop (working title) is planned to be an approximately 4,000 square foot permanent exhibit that is part of the Museum of Science's Technology Initiative. The exhibit aims to have visitors participate in interactive activities, allowing them to experience for themselves the engineering design process and creative problem solving techniques. The exhibit will be organized into three main areas: Inventors' Tools, which will introduce visitors to creative thinking tools that can be used to design new technologies and solve technological problems; Engineering Design which features Engineering Design Labs (EDLs) that give visitors the opportunity to engage in engineering design to solve a given problem and Art and Technology, which will feature a large multi-media installation that incorporates technological aspects. Stage I (proof of concept) prototyping, and consequently this report, focused on the Inventors' Tools and Engineering Design areas of the exhibit. An Inventors' Tool component typically includes a description of the Tool itself, a hands-on activity that illustrates the Tool, and a real-life inventor's story of how the Tool has been used in the real world. An Engineering Design Lab aims to engage visitors in the engineering design process in order to solve the problem posed at the EDL. Since engineering design is an iterative process, the EDLs are intended to engage visitors in multiple rounds of the design process at any one EDL.