Creativity, Innovation, and Design

The Star War Event at Lancaster Science Factory Finally, the Start War event came up! After meeting at the library and gathering the materials we need, we headed out to the Science Factory. The event was at 12:30-4:30 PM on Saturday (Nov. 11), and at 12:00-2:30 PM on Sunday (Nov. 12). We set up our materials at the Science Cafe. We positioned the Battlefront Exhibit (Ballista) and It's a Trap (Dreamcatcher) at one side, and Maglev at the opposite end. Rachel Cahill has other back-up materials for us too. So, we also set up Magnetic Pudding. Apparently, the kids enjoyed our exhibits. After two hours, the rubber bands could not stand anymore. They kept breaking; the coins also fell all over the place. As it was challenging to control, we decided to switch to the Pressure Chambers (Bubbles), a backup plan of Rachel. Also, a visitor asked about the China Bowl (the water bowl that sings and dance in response to the given pressure). Thus, we decided to include this exhibit too....

This week we found out that our associate at the North Museum, Becki, was terminated. This was a fairly major setback as we had scheduled a meeting to pitch Becki our ideas from the last few weeks as well as finally get our results back for the survey. We are currently trying to schedule a meeting with Terri who is our new liaison with the museum. In the meantime, we will try to refine our pitch to the North Museum and try to roll with the punches. This was a large blow, so we will have to reevaluate our strategy after our meeting.

Last Friday, we put all of our ideas up on the board and narrowed down our choices to our two best ones: Space Yoga and a Mascot for the North Museum. When we discussed the Museum we realized the problem is not that people do not know about it, it is that people are not excited about it. The value offering has gotten stale. With this in mind, we took a trip to the North Museum's planetarium to scout out the space for Space Yoga.  All of the chairs are moveable and the room is more than big enough for plenty of mats. After our visit, we put a quick pitch together for the event. What is Space Yoga? How does it connect to the Museum and the Lancaster community? Why is it a good idea? What is needed to pull of the event? We also continued to discuss a mascot to spice up the Museum for children. We have not reached a final product but it will most likely be a cartoon T-Rex or a pterodactyl. This week we have prototyped both ideas. Le'an put together a poster for space yoga on P...

We finally managed to meet with Bruce and Mike this weekend. This meeting was really productive in that we got the green light to proceed with helping their outreach through a sustainable newsletter, a progressive curriculum and workshops, and a gallery of their projects.

In order to try and make the space become a self sufficient community center, we came up with different ideas that might be feasible for the space. We have appointments planned with CAP and the local high school in the area to see if they have any interest in the space. By gauging their interest, we can start to move forward and make a more concrete plan for the space with it. We have also found out that self-sufficiency  in terms of community centers usually cover only about a little more than half the total cost. In order to offset the amount that the community center would have to pay out of pocket we can host things like soliciting donations as well as trying to turn it into another space meanwhile as well. An example would be making the space into a parttime baby sitting area and part time community center. Another idea we came up with was having the space advertise businesses in places such as windows and probably inside the bar as well. This can try and keep a stream of adve...

This week the North Museum began a two-week period in which the museum will begin to give guests our survey. In this survey, we ask the guests questions such as how did they learn about the North Museum, if they are local to Lancaster or tourists, and if they are repeat visitors or not. This is a big step in our project as this survey will help us determine which ads and marketing strategies that the North Museum are currently using are actually working. In addition to this, we have been ideating new strategies to try to increase repeat customers for the museum. One new idea we had was space yoga. Space yoga would consist of yoga practiced inside of the planetarium underneath a changing sky taking you throughout the universe. Coupled with relaxing music and a willing instructor, we think space yoga could become an event that draws people back week after week. While this is going on, activities for children throughout the museum could take place allowing parents to ...