Week Two of Design for America Summer Studio and the students have synthesized their observations and insights from last week's research phase. With the help of Gravity Tank phase coaches, they impressively got to the bottom of what, exactly, "tinkering" involves. It's thrilling to see them come to a similar conclusion as our favorite learning experts: we need to identify what is enticing about learning and then craft an experience around that that teaches learners not specific subjects, but the fundamental process of learning. They identified a goal learning process that includes the attitudes, activities and outcomes to this learning approach: play + wonder, exploring, and learning how to learn. They then went on to specify the steps of the "exploring" experience - a cyclical experience accelerated by intuitive activities and the "crazy wow" feeling of discovering something unexpected. This element of surprise and unexpected outcome that powers their learning goals is a wonderful expression of open-outcome learning and introducing learners to ill-structured problems.

After hearing their updates, we spent the morning identifying what additional areas deserve some exploration: new questions to explore during tomorrow's observation session, potential roles for parents in this learning experience, types of activities that the exhibit can offer besides building, and possible cross-generational hooks (tap into parent nostalgia or identify current fads like Angry Birds).

And so, with plenty of critical thinking under their belt, we all decided it was time to leave the studio and head out for fun field trips - places that are both related and unrelated to their topic - to provide inspiration. Unfortunately by that time I had to head back to the office, but then again, spending the morning with them is my own inspiration field trip...cheesy, but true. As I think about what we can achieve in this exhibit, it causes me to reflect on what an exhibit will do differently than Cannon's learning spaces. Exhibits focus on the experience as much as, if not more so, than the physical environment. They are in fact one and the same: the exhibit (the space and the objects within it) is the primary facilitator of that experience. While we certainly are beginning to see our own designs at Cannon in this way, how can we apply this design objective even more so? How can we deliver an experience for every school child as thrilling and enveloping as what the Chicago Children's Museum affords?

-Sarah Malin