Exhibit Brainstorm (Prototype Project)
Snapshot
This brainstorm can be run with students or with teachers to as a tool for brainstorming and fleshing out exhibit ideas for the Prototype Project. In this session, ideas are generated around specific topics, participants choose other people’s
ideas to draw and then pass their drawings to peers to iterate on.
Logistics Format:
Delivery Space:
Brainstorming/ Drawing workshop
Training Room, Prototype Lab, Classroom (must have a large wall)
Audience:
Activity Time:
Set-‐up Time:
Clean-‐Up Time:
1.5 hours
10 minutes
10 minutes
(include grade and age)
Adults (Educators) Junior High, High School Students
Materials Must Have •
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Tables and chairs for each participant, have them all at one table facing each other or in groups of 5 around one table Lots of sticky notes (preferably super sticky) PENTEL Sign pens Coloured Sharpies or Paper Mate Flair markers Drawing boards/ writing surface White 8.5 x 11 paper (3 sheets per participant) Tracing paper 8.5 x 11 size & 11 x 17 size Masking tape White board markers White board Laptop with PowerPoint, projector
Suggested Alternative
Flexible; not necessary
• Newsprint cut into squares • and painters tape (instead of • stickies) • Sharpies and easel with chart paper, if a whiteboard isn’t available. • Role of tracing paper (cheaper, but pre-‐cutting and curling is a hassle)
Standing tables Chart paper-‐sized Post-‐It Note pads (to collect , organize, transport participants’ sticky notes)
Prep & Set – Up Set-‐up each seat with a sign pen, a drawing board with 1 sheet of white paper (put the remaining white paper in the centre of the table in a pile). Put the bin of coloured Sharpies in the centre of the table. Write the three exhibit categories on the whiteboard, e.g. balls / water / energy (note: with energy, shared random things we know about energy before we started brainstorming – might make people less nervous and offer points of entry – this should be tested.) Write list of constraints up on the board. (or prepare a handout)
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Think about: what people do, not what you want them to learn / specific audiences / unfacilitated and facilitated experiences / different lengths of interactions / solo vs. group interaction (competition) / different kinds of challenges (e.g. physical, puzzle) Write brainstorm rules or show them on a PowerPoint slide.
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Overall Timing 10:30-‐10:35 – Intro 10:35-‐10:40 – Brainstorm first category 10:40-‐10:50 – Brainstorm second category 10:50-‐10:55 – Brainstorm third category 10:55-‐11:00 – Read over stickies in first category and choose one to draw 11:00-‐11:05 – Draw your exhibit 11:05-‐11:15 – cover it with a sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the right, then iterate 11:15-‐11:25 – cover it with another sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the right again, then iterate 11:25-‐11:30 – return to original owner and review recommendations – group feedback 11:30-‐11:35 – return to the wall of stickies and choose one out of either two remaining categories 11:35-‐11:40 – Draw your exhibit 11:45-‐11:55 – cover it with a sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the right, then iterate 11:55-‐12:00 – cover it with another sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the right again, then iterate 12:00-‐12:05 – return to original owner and review recommendations – group feedback
Safety & Troubleshooting If mixing TELUS Spark staff in with participants, make sure it’s in an every-‐other-‐person pattern to ensure diverse feedback when passing exhibit ideas to the right/lift. Try experimenting with different materials (e.g. 8.5 x 11 paper one round, then 11 x 17 paper the second round) to see how that affects people’s experience. We tried giving participants pencils first and then sign pens to outline over and it didn’t go well. Participants kept editing their work, erasing a lot. They also felt rushed because they had to draw once in pencil and then go over it in marker.
Workshop Details 10:30-‐10:35 – Intro Tell participants we’re about to brainstorm pilot exhibits on different topics. 2-‐minute discussion to connect to prior knowledge: How do you use Brainstorming in your practice? At TELUS Spark, we invite people from different teams to get different perspectives and as many ideas as possible. Elicit some Brainstorm Rules, then go over our rules of a brainstorm. Remind everyone of TELUS Spark’s exhibit definition – single, built, interactive in a gallery (i.e. not an entire exhibit hall). Write as many ideas as you can for interactive experiences on that topic. One idea per sticky note (switch sticky note pads after each round – less personal association with ideas)
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Go over list of exhibit constraints to think about. 10:35-‐10:40 – Brainstorm first category – Balls (Sports) Ask participants to brainstorm as many ideas as possible about balls. (Reassure them that we did this 240 high school students and it was fine.) At the end of the five minutes, as everyone to release their stickies onto the wall under the category. When posting stickies onto the board, look at other people’s ideas to gather more inspiration. (encourages idea sharing) Switch color of your sticky note pad – supports anonymity. 10:40-‐10:50 – Brainstorm second category -‐ Water Ask participants to brainstorm as many ideas as possible about water. At the end of the five minutes, as everyone to release their stickies onto the wall under the category. Switch color of your sticky note pad. 10:50-‐10:55 – Brainstorm third category -‐ Energy Ask participants to brainstorm as many ideas as possible about energy. At the end of the five minutes, as everyone to release their stickies onto the wall under the category. Emphasize the number of ideas the group produced and the diversity. So creative! 10:55-‐11:00 – Read over stickies in first category and choose one to draw Ask participants to focus on whichever category has the most number of stickies (e.g. Balls) read over the stickies and choose one that you want to develop into an exhibit. You have to choose someone else’s idea. 11:00-‐11:05 – Draw your exhibit Draw an exhibit on that idea and people interacting with them. Give your exhibits titles. Write your name on the sheet. Keep the original sticky with the exhibit idea on the board. If necessary, remind participants of the definition of an exhibit: a built interactive where people do something to learn something. -‐Two minutes before they finish, add the prompts: – add descriptors, instructions, prompts 11:05-‐11:15 – cover it with a sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the right, then iterate Grab a sheet of tracing paper and tape it to the base sheet on one side (so people can lift it up and see the original easily). When iterating, you can draw, write, whatever you’d like, keep in mind: different audiences, and increasing engagement. 11:15-‐11:25 – cover it with another sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the right again, then iterate Grab a sheet of tracing paper and tape it to the base sheet on one side (so people can lift it up and see the original easily). Again, when iterating, you can draw, write, whatever you’d like, keep in mind: instructions and material 11:25-‐11:30 – return to original owner and review recommendations – group feedback Feedback: Who has an iteration that they really like? Re-‐set the drawing boards with 11 x 17 white paper. 11:30-‐11:35 – return to the wall of stickies and choose one out of either two remaining categories Read over the stickies and choose one that you want to develop into an exhibit. You have to choose someone else’s idea. 11:35-‐11:40 – Draw your exhibit Draw 2 different exhibits and people interacting with it. Give your exhibit a title. Write your name on the sheet. 11:45-‐11:55 – cover it with a sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the left, then iterate. Grab a sheet of tracing paper and tape it to the base sheet on one side (so people can lift it up and see the original easily). When iterating, remember you can draw, write, whatever you’d like, keep in mind: different audiences, and increasing engagement.
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11:55-‐12:00 – cover it with another sheet of tracing paper and pass one to the left again, then iterate Grab a sheet of tracing paper and tape it to the base sheet on one side (so people can lift it up and see the original easily). Again, when iterating, you can draw, write, whatever you’d like, keep in mind: instructions and material 12:00-‐12:05 – return to original owner and review recommendations – group feedback Feedback: Who has an iteration that they really like? Discuss the process and how the materials for the brainstorm affected their experience. -‐How would you use this in your classroom? What was challenging about this? What did you enjoy? -‐ emphasize “Real Tools Build Real Skills” – highlight the use of sticky notes (Did people avoid the pale yellow ones? Of course, they’re the boring office ones. People are subconsciously primed to notice your investment in materials and will match their response accordingly. E.g. Museum research shows you will get higher quality engagement from visitors if you give them a blue circle to write/draw on instead of a white square. -‐ the use of tracing paper allows people to iterate without permanence – take or leave feedback Emphasize we do this mostly with adults, only done it in the classroom context a few times –they know what works best with their students. You’ve got the word document of this – please iterate on it and let us know what you tried. We’re always looking to evolve our resources and understanding. Clean-‐up: Give participants the option of taking a category of sticky notes back to school to use as reference/exemplars for themselves or their students. If this workshop happens at school, leave the sticky note wall up as long as possible. It reminds them of their creativity, to share ideas, and gives other options when an exhibit they try falls through. EXTENSION: If you have time, post all of the iterated exhibit ideas to the walls and do a Gallery Walk. Give each participant a different colour pen (or pad of sticky notes) and encourage them to write questions and ideas on the final trace paper copy. Classroom/School Connections: When we’ve done this work with students before, confidence greatly affects their level of participation. Try to work in some confidence building work before doing this work with students. The giant wall of sticky notes is an important visual for students – emphasize the impressive number of ideas and the diversity of ideas. It really boosted their creative confidence. (i.e. One grade 11 student told us, “I didn’t think of myself as a creative person before, but look at that wall with all those ideas. I put 10 ideas up there!”) Students might feel blocked by trying to brainstorm interactive exhibit ideas, emphasize interactive experiences where you learn something – many activities or programs can easily transfer into exhibits.
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Pilot Observations / Things we want to try next time
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Other exhibit categories to try brainstorming: Ideas using machines or real world examples Ideas using gears Ideas the engage your entire body If you had a camera that could see heat
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If you want to categorize the sticky notes the participants produced to show different types of exhibits: -‐Good for a four year old -‐Quiet or introverted -‐Social exhibit -‐Full body exhibit -‐Teaches you a fact -‐Observe a phenomenon -‐Tells you a story -‐Build something with your hands Watch out for participants getting stuck under the “weight of prior knowledge” and “it’s been done” thought process; remind them that they don’t have to think of an entire new concept but can also build off of existing ideas. Note the varying ways people process instructions after each round; we had teachers who had vocalized “Oh I did it this way instead and just focused on…”; or told us that there was too much information to keep in mind on each round and they ignored our suggestions, just doing their own thing. This is something to encourage as it offers varying perspectives and feedback to the process.
Resources TELUS Spark ‘zine: How to Build an Exhibit TELUS Spark ‘zine: How to Pilot Test an Exhibit TELUS Spark exhibit developer videos (Telling the story of exhibits from idea, through testing, iteration, and final result) Office supplies purchased for this brainstorm with 240 grade 11/12 students EWay 5 pkgs of these super sticky notes http://www.eway.ca/Eway/Product/MMM6753SSUCC.aspx?R=MMM6753SSUCCEN&No=0&N=21206567&Ne=1000000 +2000000&filterby=CF_ALL AND 5 pkgs of these super sticky notes http://www.eway.ca/Eway/Product/MMM6753SSNRP.aspx?R=MMM6753SSNRPEN&No=0&N=21206567&Ne=1000000 +2000000&filterby=CF_ALL 2 packs -‐ plain white paper http://www.eway.ca/Eway/Product/RLA5101.aspx?R=RLA5101EN&No=0&N=1188740&Ne=1000000+2000000 Office Max / Grand & Toy – 20 boxes of Pentel Sign pens: https://www.officemaxcanada.com/en/product/S520-‐A_Pentel_Original_Sign_Pen.aspx 1 x 2-‐pack Post-‐it® Self-‐Stick Wall Pads, 20" x 23", 2-‐Pack https://www.officemaxcanada.com/en/product/566-‐S_Post-‐it_Super_Sticky_Self-‐Stick_Wall_Pads.aspx Mona Lisa Artist Supplies: 10 rolls of tracing paper (18”) – 1 roll per table
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ULINE: 12 rolls of ¼” orange Masking tape: http://www.uline.ca/Product/Detail/S-‐7161-‐O/Masking-‐Tapes/1-‐4-‐x-‐60-‐yards-‐Orange-‐Masking-‐Tape?model=S-‐7161-‐ O&RootChecked=yes
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