Sharing "Uftes" with the Playful Learning Museum Network

At the end of April, I traveled to San Francisco to share new uftes (unfaciliated tinkerable experiences) with a group of museum professionals who have formed a community of practice supported by the LEGO group. It was a great chance to collaborate in-person with the tinkering studio team, get all four '‘uftes’ in shape to be explored by the participants and get helpful ideas for next steps and finishing touches.

On Friday I arrived at the Exploratorium’s Tinkering Studio with two suitcases completely full of pre-built components, parts to be assembled and other inspiring materials. In the middle of the day we got a delivery from Shawn Hibmacronan who I’m working with to build some of the larger museum elements. Then we started putting together the music machines developed in collaboration with Tom Fox and the Shadow Remix station created alongside Amanda Ghassaei.

On Monday, we set up everything for our workshop with the group of museum professionals. Even though the experiences are not 100% finished, we tried to create a similar set-up to how these investigations might look on Exploratorium floor. As we set up, it was really great to see some of my colleagues from the museum having fun and playing with the materials as learners. We prepped kinetic sculptures in the Tinkering Studio, rhythm blocks in a little nook in the prototyping hallway and shadow remix in a space usually reserved for a dark exhibit.

On Tuesday morning we were ready for the big day! About twenty-five participants from different museums across the USA along with a team from the LEGO group traveled to the Exploratorium for the workshop. We started right up with tinkering and divided up into two groups with one half digging into the classic tinkering activity “marble machines” and the other half getting to sample three of the ‘ufte’ experiences. We started out with a short presentation about the goals and process behind designing these unfacilitated tinkering activities. In small groups, we rotated around the space each spending about fifteen minutes trying one of the explorations and then reflecting on a specific aspect of the ufte. I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes from the workshop participants (there were too many good ones to capture them all here)!

In the kinetic sculptures activity, participants commented on the things that made it feel ok to take risks while building. They identified the open-ended starting points, the multiple stations, clearly understandable examples and input from collaborators as key factors.

“Everything can be easily clipped back together so it never felt like breaking the sculpture would be a huge deal.”

“The stations facing each other allowed you to observe others’ process”

“I was allowed time to think about what steps I wanted to take”

In the shadow remix ufte we all reflected on the ways that storytelling took a central role in the experience. The group identified the fact that the shadow object materials could lead investigations, that the stations allowed projects to build over time and that there was a gallery of pre-existing designs in the space as elements that supported engagement with the narrative building.

“I didn’t have to have a narrative prior to starting I could let the materials provide sparks of inspiration”

“It felt like looking at clouds and telling stories. I love how it reminded me of real life events integrated with easy-to-use tech”

“It was hard at times because we were seeing different things in the shadow. So we had to talk to figure out each visualization which was awesome!”

And for the rhythm blocks activity we reflected about the ways that the ufte supported collaboration and teamwork through play. I thought that a very important insight was that as people worked around the table they could focus on their own experiments but the soundscape naturally drew them into connection and combining projects.

“We had more participants than motors so I enjoyed watching others iterate and experiment (and listening to the rhythms)”

“The environment made it comfortable to share and observe others (like being around a dinner table)”

“Organic mentorship! I love the way that I was able to easily integrate into the activity and be mentored by collaborators”

“At first everyone was just trying things then I think everyone realized how the sounds were creating a cohesive rhythm”

Over the next two days of the workshop, we continued to experiment with playful learning activities (some using LEGO and some using everyday materials). The group had deep reflections and conversations about inter-generational learning, building inclusive spaces, collaborating with community partners, training facilitators and engaging with an authentic R&D process. I’m looking forward to seeing the next steps for uftes with this creative and playful network.

For the last two days that I spent in San Francisco, we continued to test uftes with museum visitors in the Tinkering Studio. On Thursday and Friday we brought out the large cross shaped ramp structure for building rollers and the rhythm blocks table and filled the space with playful learning experiences. It was a great chance to refine the materials palette, notice how visitors interacted with the larger elements and see some unexpected ideas along the way.

Sometime during the summer Art of Tinkering exhibition, we’re hoping that all four of the ufte experiences make an appearance in the museum so that we can continue to learn from how visitors interreact with the phenomenon, prompts and each other. The plan will be for them to be able to run without a facilitator constantly present, but we’re also hoping they with explainers or TS staff there, the exploration will be enhanced. Until then we are continuing to test out prototypes with visitors, make changes to increase the robustness and safety of the stations and develop the intuitive and exciting materials, prompts and examples for each of these four uftes.

The LEGO Playful Learning Museum Network initiative is made possible through generous support from the LEGO Group.