The Second of 14 Exhibits in 14 Weeks

Discovery Diner is the second exhibit as a part of our "14 Exhibits in 14 Weeks" — a little deeper exploration of what you and your children can expect when you arrive at the Oklahoma WONDERtorium. We will continue this series for 14 weeks beginning the week of March 7th and continuing through June 13th!

You can progress through the series with the Next Week and Previous Week buttons at the bottom of the page.

Discovery Diner is a semi-circular table – similar to a "retro" diner – where children will sit along the outer curve on diner stools while a museum volunteer (docent) sits inside the curve to assist.

At Discovery Diner children become inventors testing theories of science through exploration and building using a variety of materials. Provided with authentic scientific equipment, tools and supplies, the children can take apart, investigate and create.

Docents and visiting scientists will conduct tabletop experiments to engage children in the learning experience. Inquiry based activities will allow children to follow their natural curiosity to learn more about the world in which they live.

Debbie Williams, Programs Coordinator for the Oklahoma WONDERtorium, notes that Discovery Diner has many learning objectives including:

• Providing hands-on opportunities to investigate, discover and experiment
• Engaging children in explorations that will help them develop an understanding of the laws of physics
• Allowing children to use investigations to answer their own questions
• Helping children develop an understanding of the way things work through disassembling objects and putting them back together
• Providing a venue for floor demonstrations by visiting guests, scientists and inventors

The Discovery Diner exhibit has been fully funded by Oklahoma ESPCoR, a program of the National Science Foundation designed to benefit states, including Oklahoma, that have historically received lesser amounts of competitive research and developmental funding. OK EPSCoR was established in 1985 by the National Science Foundation to strengthen Oklahoma’s exploration and growth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

OK EPSCoR has been a long-standing supporter of the Oklahoma WONDERtorium's Museum Without Walls (MWW) programming. Plant Virus Exploration, MWW's 5th grade museum to school outreach program received initial funding from Oklahoma EPSCoR for curriculum development and supplies in 2006. Read more about Plant Virus Exploration here. And you can read more about OK EPSCoR's support of Discovery Diner and the Oklahoma WONDERtorium here.

Gever Tulley is one of the foremost experts on "why children should take things apart." Tulley is the founder of Tinkering School, based in California as a summer experience camp but currently on hold as Tulley develops a K-12 school in San Francisco.Tulley believes that kids aged 8 to 17 can pick up real tools and be trusted not to hurt themselves and trusted not to hurt others. The goal of Tinkering School is to ensure that kids leave with a better sense of how to make things than they had when they arrived, with the realization that they can learn by fooling around, and ultimately gain a general sense of competence.

Tulley says, "Children need to spend time making and unmaking things. From a purely clinical standpoint, there are neurological developments that can only happen when children are given the opportunity to use their hands to make things. This is how they develop an intuitive understanding of the physical world."

The 6-minute presentation below outlines Tulley's philosophy and is in keeping with the Oklahoma WONDERtorium's and EPSCoR's philosophy about learning through exploration – essentially research – through taking things apart.

Gever Tulley teaches life lessons through tinkering
Presented at the 2009 TED Conference (Technology, Entertainment and Design)

   
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