What are the goals of hands on learning? How do museum educators come up with activity ideas? How do they test ideas to make sure things work, and what happens when something fails?

Visitors will see prototypes and finished "products" of activities used successfully in Spark!Lab, and then will have the opportunity to prototype and give feedback on a new activity under development.

This month's prototyping activity is on electrical history. This is being developed to allow visitors to explore electrical science via the works of inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla (1856–1943). Tesla is best known for his many revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of many modern technologies now taken for granted, including fluorescent and neon lighting, automation, radio-controlled toys and guided missiles, and wireless transmissions that earned him the name "father of radio."

"An NCHE team of Steven Watts, Kathy Steeves, and JoAnn Fox will explore the topic of the Extraordinary and Ordinary Americans whose Inventiveness and Ingenuity Impacted United States History: Inventors and their Inventions at this Teaching American History colloquium."

This workshop will "provide an interdisciplinary approach to the various dimensions of Franklin’s career as an inventor, which ranged over fields as diverse as science, civic institutions, diplomacy, citizenship, self-government, music, and mathematics." The workshop will include lectures, discussions, a performance of 18th-century music, visits to historic sites, examination of teaching resources, lesson plan creation, and readings.

This workshop will "provide an interdisciplinary approach to the various dimensions of Franklin’s career as an inventor, which ranged over fields as diverse as science, civic institutions, diplomacy, citizenship, self-government, music, and mathematics." The workshop will include lectures, discussions, a performance of 18th-century music, visits to historic sites, examination of teaching resources, lesson plan creation, and readings.