Edutainment

I took the kids to a traveling Cyberchase exhibit at a local museum today.  They had been seeing ads for it on "non-commercial" PBS since before it opened.  It was neat, I guess; they had a good time and want to go back again before the end of its run (Labor Day). 

I have the same issue with it as with all "interactive" children's museum exhibits (witness last year's Egypt exhibit): they're all full of buttons to push and fancy screens and video games to play, but the vast majority of children who attend, particularly all the school field trips, don't learn a thing.  They run through, pushing buttons at random and going away again before listening to or watching whatever pushing the button triggered: "I'm going to push this button, and then I'm going to push that button, and then I'm going to push that button, and then I'm going to the gift shop!  Done!"  And all the videos and puzzles and games the curators have put so much money and effort into to "engage" the younger generation are utterly wasted.  For all the enjoyment and education that result, they could just install button-shaped LED push lights on the walls under and around their usual collection and save their money and time.

Faith actually went through and read the directions and completed most of the puzzles and games involved, but honestly, if your child wants to do and understand all the activities included in one of these exhibits, you will be there for hours.  (We were there for 2 hours, and there were still at least 5 or 6 activities Faith didn't do, not to mention the video games, which she's shy of.)  And there's nowhere for parents to sit and stare into space when the whole thing gets a bit old .. which is pretty quick, if you're me.