Autry National Center
Hands-On Museums, Los Angeles ©iStockphoto.com/John Bloor
It’s raining inside the Skirball Cultural Center. Thunder rumbles and lightning flashes, and as both parents and children scurry for cover in the ark they’ve just helped build, a distinct feeling that the storm will pass washes over them. Eventually, the tumult dies down and a rainbow appears in front of their eyes.
This is what happens almost every day at the Noah’s Ark exhibition, where hands-on activities have helped redefine the way museums approach learning. In actuality, the children have just learned how to meet stormy challenges, find shelter and community, and help create a more peaceful world.
Many of LA’s top museums are taking the same interactive approach. Not satisfied with still life behind a glass, these museums develop exhibitions that engage visitors on several different levels.
“We really looked at people’s different learning styles, different ages and different developmental periods,” says Sheri Bernstein, Project Director of Noah’s Ark. “I think what you’re seeing in the past decade is an incorporation of different techniques and modalities…to make museums more engaging.”
Translation for your kids: museums in LA rule. Translation for you: your children will learn more without realizing it.
These days, LA museums are putting visitors into an experience where they can touch, see, hear and feel. Gold Rush at the Autry National Center, for example, gives children a first-hand opportunity to pan for gold. It’s an exciting way to go through the feelings the original 49ers experienced: hope at finding a nugget of gold, discomfort of the chilly water, realization of how difficult it actually is, and perhaps — if they’re lucky — the joy at discovering treasure.
Donna Tuggle, Director of Education and Programs for the Autry National Center, says it’s a way for visitors to really understand through the experience: “They can see it was boom or bust.”
Interestingly, the concept of hands-on interactivity isn’t entirely a new trend, especially for science museums like the California Science Center. It’s one of LA’s top destinations for hands-on learning because of its focus on technology as a way to get visitors excited. (Children go wild at the thought of playing hide-and-seek with a robot or playing a virtual reality volleyball game.)
“The concept really blossomed with the computer era,” says Diane C. Perlov, Ph.D. and Senior Vice President for Exhibits at the California Science Center. “Computers allow you to create a personal experience for each visitor as well as engage a whole group of visitors at one time.”
Since these hands-on exhibits target a wide range of audiences, parents are getting pulled into the excitement, too. Perlov says that exhibits at the California Science Center offer chances for families to learn together, and at Noah’s Ark, specific aspects of the exhibit are geared solely for adults. “You really see the adults as captivated as the children,” says Bernstein.
Not surprisingly, family participation leads to family bonding, one of the main goals of any family vacation. As parents and children share in the same experience, they learn far more than just the content of the exhibits. In many cases, they learn about each other, pointing to what hands-on museums in LA really have to offer: a perfect way to spend time with your family.
