School Excursion: Space Centre

Today saw 30 or so of us Multimedia folk departing Nottingham and heading towards Leicester's Space Centre. With the fact this day had educational value behind i decided to pay the fee and for once get up early on a Wednesday...

Upon arrival we were given pieces of paper with a variety of questions [there was me thinking it was a non-educational visit!], these, along with the answers, are as follows;

Choose an interactive display that you found exciting and engaging at the Space Centre.
The Sim: A flight simulator located within the 'Tranquility Base' of the centre. Aimed at providing a real experience (or as real as you can get in a museum!) of a space exploration to Europa.

Descibe the elements (AV, animations, design, interaction etc.) in the display and say why you found it exciting and engaging?
I have always been a big kid when it comes to simulators, I like the fact that you can 'be there' but without the danger that comes with space exploration. This display has no user interaction which could be a downfall but it is quite easily the best part of the centre [for me]. Its uses complex animations which are linked to the module and they both work together to make you think you are actually there!

What interactive elements were used? (touch screen, buttons etc)
There were no interactive elements to this specific display. However there was a pre-flight film shown before you could enter the simulator, which seemed pretty informative, although non of it was actually real, and was purely aimed at children.

How successful were these interactive multimedia elements?
I thought that this display worked very well, and the students I encountered the mission with liked it also. However, this is aimed at children the two children that viewed the video [accompanied by their parents] didn't dare to experience the flight.

Do you think the interactive elements helped you to engage with the information in a new way?
Granted,the video beforehand explained everything that was needed to know, but actually feeling like you're there adds to the effect it has on you.

Now choose an interactive display that you find is not engaging at the Space Centre.
The Weather Report: Yes, it was good way of teaching children how weather reports are made, but, it didn't work.

Why do you think it does not work? How would you improve it?
One minute the blue screen didnt display the image of englad and/or you couldn't hear any audio after you finished 'filming'. Plus when it did come out correctly it was of a poor quality. Yes i think its a good idea, I don't think I could improve it, maybe to use equipment that actually works.


Overall the whole point of visiting the Space Centre was to look at the interactivity of all the elements, but most of them didn't work. I like the fact that there was different zones , which were colour co-ordinated. But I couldn't help but think the children would get rather confused as there seems to be a lot crammed into such a small space, and yes, the centre is aimed towards children. Which brings me to some of the displays, half of them have lots of dialogue and/or text and I found it hard to keep interested. However I really enjoyed the simulator and the film 'Astronaut' especially as it was shown on a 360degree dome.