I went to go see the new Science Storms exhibit at The Museum of Science and Industry last Thursday at a special preview. (full disclosure: It was free to attend, but I did have a hefty cab ride to pay for both ways) I was excited to see that a few hundred people had shown up to see the new exhibit and explore the Museum of Science & Industry with their kids and families. It was also nice to see that the revamped areas around the exhibit were more modern and kicked it up a notch with what a Museum display can be. Here are some of my thoughts on the Science Storms Experience:
The Good Stuff :
The overall design of the space was better than I remember most museums having. There are some seats, since people do need to let their feet rest from time to time. There is space between the activities so kids can gather around and see. There were people with lab coats on explaining how the interactive features worked to the kids, I am not sure if they are there every day but if so, good job. Kids like to ask questions and parents don’t always know the answer. I liked the overall use of projection screens on walls for video rather than tiny tvs and the use of touch screen tvs for interactive features like the electricity coil rocket. I also really liked the table with the un-related periodic table of the elements. The ability to identify the elements based on the marker from a camera above your hand and the table was cool. Also the 
projection of the reaction that was happening was cool too. This feature was completely intuitive and easy to figure out without reading any instructions. Big displays like the tornado and the avalanche disk are going to attract initial attention and others will allow kids to interact for a longer period of time and discover more about science. All the exhibit functions looked cool. The dramatic lighting, the safety railings and even the way they rigged up the electricity ball thing in the ceiling all looked cool without compromising safety or science.
The Not So Good Stuff:
The name of the exhibit is confusing, I thought Science Storms was going to be about the science of weather. The promo email they sent me also had an artist image of Chicago with a thunderstorm/tsunami heading in off the lake (not possible but dramatic none the less) and it wasn’t about that at all. Yes there were a few exhibits about tidal waves, tornadoes and thunderstorms and even avalanches which are in the whole natural phenomena category, but there was a lot of space devoted to the basic laws of physics and science. Electricity? Periodic table of Elements? Fire ? Not really storms. I thought the name should have been something like Explore Science or divide the exhibit into 2 areas separately. It looks like a project that had serious scope creep and they just tossed things in because they were interesting and not necessarily related to the concept.
The exhibit was sponsored by AllState. How weird is that? Yes learn about tornadoes with your kids and then insure your house. Ugh. It would have been different if AllState really used some of their data to present something we could learn from, but just standing there smiling at us with a giant logo was a bit creepy.
The Bad Stuff:
This list is short, basically the bathrooms were gross. Having someone there cleaning constantly may be needed on busy days like Saturdays. Kids are messy. Yuck. ALSO, The Networld Exhibit that shows the Megabyte & Terabyte as the largest data storage quantities needs to go away quickly. It was closed for the evening but I have a sneaking suspicion it is still open during the day. It was originally sponsored by ComEd, but now it looks like it was sponsored by AOL/Compuserve in 1993. Please take this out or close this up as quickly as possible it offers no value and shows how dated a museum can become if it strays too far from the established science principles into trendy stuff. If they want to do a new exhibit on technology, great, but this is not it. I also could not find the car exhibit, but if it is still there with a half empty corridor and a 1985 Pontiac Fiero as the modern car of the future ditto on that one too!
Regular General Admission tickets to the Museum of Science and Industry are $ 15 for Adults, $10 for kids. Its Extra for other special exhibits like the Green Home.
Address:
5700 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 684-1414
MSIChicago.org
Science Storms @ Museum of Science & Industry
The overall design of the space was better than I remember most museums having. There are some seats, since people do need to let their feet rest from time to time. There is space between the activities so kids can gather around and see. There were people with lab coats on explaining how the interactive features worked to the kids, I am not sure if they are there every day but if so, good job. Kids like to ask questions and parents don’t always know the answer. I liked the overall use of projection screens on walls for video rather than tiny tvs and the use of touch screen tvs for interactive features like the electricity coil rocket. I also really liked the table with the un-related periodic table of the elements. The ability to identify the elements based on the marker from a camera above your hand and the table was cool. Also the
projection of the reaction that was happening was cool too. This feature was completely intuitive and easy to figure out without reading any instructions. Big displays like the tornado and the avalanche disk are going to attract initial attention and others will allow kids to interact for a longer period of time and discover more about science. All the exhibit functions looked cool. The dramatic lighting, the safety railings and even the way they rigged up the electricity ball thing in the ceiling all looked cool without compromising safety or science.
The Not So Good Stuff:
The name of the exhibit is confusing, I thought Science Storms was going to be about the science of weather. The promo email they sent me also had an artist image of Chicago with a thunderstorm/tsunami heading in off the lake (not possible but dramatic none the less) and it wasn’t about that at all. Yes there were a few exhibits about tidal waves, tornadoes and thunderstorms and even avalanches which are in the whole natural phenomena category, but there was a lot of space devoted to the basic laws of physics and science. Electricity? Periodic table of Elements? Fire ? Not really storms. I thought the name should have been something like Explore Science or divide the exhibit into 2 areas separately. It looks like a project that had serious scope creep and they just tossed things in because they were interesting and not necessarily related to the concept.
The exhibit was sponsored by AllState. How weird is that? Yes learn about tornadoes with your kids and then insure your house. Ugh. It would have been different if AllState really used some of their data to present something we could learn from, but just standing there smiling at us with a giant logo was a bit creepy.
The Bad Stuff:
This list is short, basically the bathrooms were gross. Having someone there cleaning constantly may be needed on busy days like Saturdays. Kids are messy. Yuck. ALSO, The Networld Exhibit that shows the Megabyte & Terabyte as the largest data storage quantities needs to go away quickly. It was closed for the evening but I have a sneaking suspicion it is still open during the day. It was originally sponsored by ComEd, but now it looks like it was sponsored by AOL/Compuserve in 1993. Please take this out or close this up as quickly as possible it offers no value and shows how dated a museum can become if it strays too far from the established science principles into trendy stuff. If they want to do a new exhibit on technology, great, but this is not it. I also could not find the car exhibit, but if it is still there with a half empty corridor and a 1985 Pontiac Fiero as the modern car of the future ditto on that one too!
Regular General Admission tickets to the Museum of Science and Industry are $ 15 for Adults, $10 for kids. Its Extra for other special exhibits like the Green Home.
Address:
5700 South Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, IL 60637
(773) 684-1414
MSIChicago.org