NORWICH — Children and adults alike are bound to love the new exhibit at the Montshire Museum of Science in Norwich.
Called “Mindbender Mansion,” the exhibit is on loan from the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry in Portland and will be on display from now until Sept. 2. It is recommended for children ages 7 and older.
Marcos Stafne, executive director of the museum, described Mindbender Mansion as a “playful take on the STEM experience.”
The mansion features various “rooms” with puzzles that visitors solve for clues that will lead to their membership in the esteemed Mindbender Society. Stafne describes it like the game “Clue, except with no murders.” The activities at each station are filled with STEM skills. There is no sequence to the stations: Visitors can visit each one in whatever order they wish to.
“We know that our visitors love solving puzzles,” Stafne said. The exhibit, “takes the STEM interests of our visitors and blows them up.”
Some activities involve teamwork. One, called Feeding Frenzy, involves matching dishes of a TV dinner in their proper spot on trays while they roll by on a conveyor built. It proved challenging for three adults (myself, Stafne and Katie Kalata Rusch, exhibits developer and project coordinator) to complete and we did not get enough points in the allotted time to receive the clue.
“Collaboration is key,” Stafne said. “How do we refine a process for the most effective form of delivery?”
So is the ability to brainstorm to solve a problem and communicate effectively during a timed activity.
“It forces you to think outside the box and of different solutions,” Kalata Rusch said.
Another station involves putting blocks through differently shaped holes, stacking blocks in a box and lines.
“How do we get a number of these blocks in a box?” Stafne said. The “mindbending” is considering different ways to solve the same problem.
Another part of the exhibit, demonstrated by Trish Palao, marketing and communications manager, is called “Spelling Fever.” It resembles a light-up disco floor with a letter on each block. Questions appear on a screen and visitors respond to them by stepping on each letter to spell out the answer.
Stafne described it as “learning with your whole body.”
“It’s contextualized in a really fun atmosphere,” he said.
One that adults and children will surely enjoy — together.
Editor’s note: For more information and admission prices, visit montshire.org or call 802-649-2200. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com.
