At the museum, I spent a long time wandering around the museum and observing different exhibits before settling in front of the unicycle merry-go-round in the left side of the Garage area. This device was a circle of unicycles connected by a circular metal frame. Getting on one seat and pedaling would move the entire device around in a circle. Adding another person to another seat would help the device move faster.

Throughout the museum, I noticed that the presence of a distinct or intense physical experience would immediately attract and retain the attention of children. In the water room, I was surprised to notice that instead of investigating what I would think of as the more “interesting” exhibits several children were sitting at the table with the ice. One of the things that I believe drew them to this was the intense physical experience of cold. That coupled with the freedom to play with the ice and make it their own experience rather than having their experience shaped by the exhibit made this an effective experience.

Additionally, I noticed that experiences that weren’t as immersive had trouble keeping the attention of their young audience. At the Rube Goldberg machine with the rubber balls in the Attic area, there was a young girl who was very excited about putting the balls into the machine. Once the machine started she tried to follow the balls and walked into the fence keeping her out of the machine. I think if the machine was designed in such a way that it allowed the participants to walk along the path with the balls, it would have held the children’s attention longer.

The unicycle machine offered the intense physical experience of speed and acceleration. Those sensations were only multiplied when another child joined in. That brings me to the other major strength of the unicycle machine, which was that it encouraged the children to work together. I observed that when children would ride on the machine alone they would only stay for a little while before moving on to other things. However, when more than one child was riding it at a time they would stay for longer and have a more engaging time. At some of the other exhibits, I observed parents cutting their children’s exploration of an exhibit short to give a different child a turn. But the unicycle merry-go-round encouraged the children to share the experience and made it better for each of them the more people were collaborating.