During my time observing the kindergarten class, one device really held the kids attention more than any other activity in the room. The teacher told the kids it was a “Zoomie,” a small digital camera/microscope attached via USB to the computer. Every student who tried it found a different material to examine to the point where kids had to be torn away from this thing. I firmly believe that the only reason that kids left it alone were the instructions of their teachers telling them to move on to the next station. My favorite “wonderful” moment was when one boy called one of his friends over to the device from across the room while holding his hand over the lens so that the screen was black. His friend walks over, asks what’s going on, and the first kid plants the Zoomie firmly on his friend’s chest, revealing the heavily magnified fibers of his shirt. He let out an audible “Whoa,” despite very nearly getting punched in the chest.

This moment is one of the things causing me to start to rethink our project proposal. A single device that can be used in any number of unique ways (even ways never intended by the developer, like examining one kid’s inner nose for snot) but still provides 1:1 feedback for every action the kids perform. The number of things it can examine is only limited by the variety of things they can get within range of the USB tether, which massively increased its appeal again. The goal for a good museum exhibit might be a 1:1 system with a huge variety of inputs and corresponding outputs.

That’s what we’re planning to look into, anyways.