Interest is building across Northwest Arkansas in "making" and "tinkering," activities that will be promoted by the Scott Family Amazeum opening in Bentonville next month.
Making and tinkering are at the heart of the museum's philosophy, spokeswoman Dana Engelbert said.
New museum
The Scott Family Amazeum will open at 10 a.m. July 15 at 1009 Museum Way in Bentonville. The nearly 50,000-squarefoot facility is next door to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and across the street from Orchards Park.
"Tinkering is about taking things apart," Engelbert said. "It's about a process, actively engaging the mind, about seeing materials in new and unusual ways."
The museum has discussed the idea with educators in Northwest Arkansas and is connecting with community groups sharing interests.
"We're excited this community is coming together to help support these kinds of efforts," said Sam Dean, executive director of the museum. "We haven't even opened the building yet."
The 50,000-square-foot museum will feature about a dozen indoor exhibits, including the 3M Tinkering Hub.
Material and activities will change in the Tinkering Hub, but visitors one week might use paper towel rolls, masking tape, cups and straws to build objects to fly in a wind tube, Dean said. On another visit, they might use plastic caution tape and garbage bags to make plastic fabric to shape into clothing or bags.
"It's about inviting people who like to make things themselves," Dean said.
The museum has convened a council of educators to provide input for programming.
The museum introduced Carrie Beach, an eighth-grade science teacher at Washington Junior High School in Bentonville, to tinkering a little more than a year ago, she said. She began incorporating projects into her class this school year, particularly with lessons on waves and electricity, she said.
Beach challenged students to come up with a way to teach people about waves. The project inspired one student to create a musical instrument out of PVC pipe and to explain how changes in pitch relate to sound waves.
She also gave students time twice a month on Friday to work on projects of their choice, she said. Some students spent the time learning to crochet and knit, but one student sought to make a heated snow shovel.
She hopes the projects help them learn about science while they learn new skills, she said.
"Hopefully they can make something useful," she said.
The New School will open a tinkering studio on what was a stage for drama productions, said Dennis Chapman, the president and head of the Fayetteville school. The New School is a private school with 360 children ages 1 through eighth grade. Tuition varies from $10,000 to $11,000 per year.
Chapman envisioned converting the 544-square-foot space into a tinkering studio and asked for guidance from the Amazeum, he said.
The New School emphasizes integrating lessons with projects and activities that tie in science, technology, engineering, the arts and math, with teachers learning alongside their students, Chapman said. The studio takes that focus to another level.
The studio will be equipped with hand tools, such as hammers, screw drivers, needle-nose pliers, wire cutters and battery holders, said Melissa Campbell, who will oversee the tinkering studio. She also will collect "happy trash," such as paper towel rolls and cardboard.
"The idea is to play around with things and experiment with things and to create things to build your knowledge base and to problem-solve -- play with the goal of gaining skills," she said.
Campbell is planning some workshops for students on motors, light circuits and possibly sewing, and giving them a challenge that encourages them to solve problems and learn from mistakes, she said.
Advances in technology and the ability to buy devices, such as 3D printers, has interested people in making objects that once required access to a factory, Dean said. A proponent of the movement is San Francisco-based Maker Media company, which publishes Make: magazine and was founded by Dale Dougherty, who is credited with coining the phrase "maker movement," according to the company website.
The San Francisco Exploratorium has interested museums across the country in exhibits for tinkering, Dean said. The Exploratorium has worked for three years with museums in the Arkansas Discovery Network to develop tinkering studios.
The network includes the Museum of Discovery in Little Rock, Mid-America Science Museum in Hot Springs, Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover, Arkansas State University Museum in Jonesboro, Arts & Science Center for Southeast Arkansas in Pine Bluff, the Texarkana Museums System and the Amazeum.
The Take3.NWA Makerspace group organizes community events focused on tinkering and has connected with museum officials. Makerspaces are places people gather to share ideas, said Scott Kammerzell, a Bella Vista resident who founded the group and works in information security for Sam's Club. Many ideas for technology used today came from people working together and sharing ideas in clubs or their garages.
The next event is a "Create It Con" event set for 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. July 11 at the Rogers Public Library. Community members will have access to 3D printers and can learn about photography, videography and hear from published authors.
The group involves many associates from Sam's Club and Wal-Mart who have taken an interest in making things and promoting science, technology, engineering and math, he said.
"It's playing with technology to spark insight in your brain, to spark invention," he said.
Kammerzell thinks the Amazeum will serve as an idea incubator for young entrepreneurs.
The movement will strengthen in Northwest Arkansas as more people come together to share tools and ideas, Dean said.
"You meet other people who like to make," Dean said. "Ideas spread. You learn how to use new tools."
NW News on 06/19/2015