Find this session's presentations here.

Many museums now have spaces for tinkering. Once these environments are built, how do you develop activities for them? This process includes borrowing activities and tweaking them to fit the specific needs of different settings. Often a single exploration of a phenomenon can lead to a wide range of approaches.

While environment and culture may influence the process of design, it’s important to identify the learning values and make sure not to lose the essence of the activity and what makes it a tinkerable experience. Prototyping, reflecting and sharing activities can help us keep track of the changes, successes and challenges.

In this workshop we’ll take a deep dive into an established tinkering activity and use the experience as a learner to reflect on its value. Session leaders will share expertise on sustainable and familiar materials choices ; ways of organising the design process ; and strategies for testing and evaluation. We’ll share several takes on a common theme and allow participants to try out these explorations. We’ll leave time to reflect together on how we can take these ideas back to our museums.

A detailed programme is available here.