For the Children’s Museum Visit, I chose to observe the Color Bouncer, which is located in the Attic. The Color Bouncer features groups of red, green, and blue balls in a large sorting contraption that ends in three lanes. Visitors can calibrate the contraption to sort a particular color of ball into a particular lane. After calibration, the contraption would sort the balls by adjusting the angle of the bottom surface when the ball falls to change its trajectory to sort it into the appropriate chute that would allow the ball to travel to its appropriately calibrated lane. Visitors ranged from 3-year-olds to around 5-year-olds accompanied by a parent. The most common group of people that visited the exhibit was a pair of child and parent, with even multiple pairs taking turns interacting with and observing the exhibit.

Most of the time, the children seemed to intuitively know to place the balls into the contraption (whether that is based on previous experience or the intuitive design of the contraption is unknown). However, the actual calibration of the balls seemed to require a bit more explanation by an adult. Adult visitors either took a passive role and allowed the child to discover and interact with the exhibit by themselves or took a more active role in showing and explaining how the contraption could be calibrated.

Children were sparked by the largeness of the contraption and the lights resulting from the calibration section of the exhibit. How the ball traveled held the children’s attention as they watched the ball go up the wheel to fall down, bounce against an adjustable surface, and sort itself into the appropriately calibrated lane. The actual calibration was not the center of attention, although it plays a major part in the mechanism of the exhibit. Children seemed more delighted with the visual effect of the calibration section more than its actual function. The mechanism of sorting (how the surface rotated to change the trajectory of the ball when it bounced on it) engaged children’s curiosity as they sought to figure out how the surface “knew” where each color ball had to go. Initiative is the objective that is related to this engagement as children realize they can control the outcome of the exhibit and apply their ideas for controlling the sorting of the ball through the calibration section.

There is no facilitator present for this exhibit; however, there is text that ensures that visitors know where to place the ball and figure out how to calibrate the contraption, although children seem to already intuit where the ball needs to be placed. The aesthetic of the space ensures that the focus of the exhibit is on the sorting mechanism of the ball, with the calibration section off to the side. Because the exhibit is in the corner of the Attic, it is a bit difficult to really notice the calibration section. But the hole where the ball needs to be placed is the first thing that is seen upon approaching the exhibit. This leads wandering eyes to follow the path of the ball, which leads to the sorting mechanism and, with a bit more careful observation, the calibration mechanism that is a bit off to the side. This sort of path aesthetic leads children to focus on an object from start to end in hopes of bringing to their attention their ability to actually control the exhibit with the calibration mechanism. Other exhibits in the Attic feature a similar enclosed-space aesthetic (such as the ‘Gravity Room’), which suggests visitors to explore that enclosed space to search and discover new ways to manipulate themselves and the environment.