Project and Blog Introduction

Welcome to the Brain Building Blog! This blog will collect the pictures and stories documenting the processes, prototypes, successes, failures, meetings, ideas, and inspirations that go along with creating a brand new exhibit focused on early brain development. Tentatively titled “Brain Building Zone,” the goals of this project are as follows:

• Plan, prototype, design, evaluate, build an approximately 1000ft gallery based upon early brain research
• Create a space specifically for children from birth to 36 month and their parents and caregivers
• Target parents and caregivers as main audience in messaging and interactives

This three year project generously supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and the Sudbury Foundation is scheduled to take place October 2014 through September 2017. The primary audience for this blog is other museum professionals, particularly those from small and midsized organizations which typically lack the resources of larger organizations to plan, prototype, build, and evaluate gallery spaces and exhibits. To this end there will be a focus on cost effective components and a flexibility to tailor components without duplicating efforts.

We are incredible passionate about this project and excited for many reasons. First, the amount of research that now exists on the importance on the first three years of life is undeniable (30 Million Word Gap, Center on the Developing Child,Brain Building in Progress). If we are truly focused on lifelong learning, we must focus on the crucial period in which the foundation for future learning is established. Additionally, this is a great opportunity to reevaluate how we welcome our youngest visitors. The hard truth is that there is much more we could be doing for infants and toddlers; much of the museum experience is less accessible to non-walkers. These parents of young children are an audience we believe is looking for resources, to connect with other families, and is deeply invested in the future of their children; and we are well situated to help meet this need as a trusted source for information specific to education and children within the community.

Although this blog is managed by The Discovery Museums, the hope is that it will be as open as possible. Other views - whether in agreement or disagreement - will be presented. Other projects outside of the Museums will be discussed that relate to the topic. Writers and content contributors will not come entirely from The Discovery Museums. In gauging the success and usefulness of this blog we will look at number of comments, page views, contributions from outside the Museums, etc. The goal is not to document the success of the project, but to provide a method of ongoing dissemination that is accessible to interested professionals.

We hope that you will follow along on this journey, will participate in the conversation, and will ultimately find the information discussed informative and useful.

Questions to the Community

What are examples you have seen of successful ongoing dissemination?

What parts of the planning and design process are you most interested in seeing documented?