Job Sheet:
The Maryland Science Center
Baltimore, MD
Development Team Members: Peter Shrope, Stephanie Ratcliff, D.D. Hilke.

Exhibit: “Beyond Numbers”:

Nine Firestation Problem: The challenge is to position nine blocks on squares in a six by six grid such that all the squares (except one) are either covered by or are directly next to one of the blocks.  When a block is placed, magnets in the blocks turn on bulbs under the playing surface to indicate “covered” squares. When all the squares are lit, the lights flash and the whole table top tilts up just enough to cause all the blocks to slide off the playing surface, thus resetting the unit.

Exhibit: “Structures”:

What Style is it?: This was an automatically resetting matching game similar to”Light to Heavy” and “Seeing Patterns”. The blocks are laminated with photos of architectural details and The Visitor is asked to match them to one of three classic styles: Greek, Roman or Gothic. When the “check” button is pressed, the wrong ones are ejected back into the bin and when all are correct, the lights flash for a few seconds and then all the blocks are reset back into the bin.

Exhibit: “The Hubble Space Telescope”:

Charged Coupled Device Model: When the visitor pushes a button, fiber optic “photons” chase in from one side, strike LED “electrons” in one area, and they are counted as they are “knocked” into another area. This number is then translated into a binary number. This model illustrates how the CCD cameras on the telescope work, and how the information is digitized and sent back down to Earth as data.

All images Copyright 2000 Jan Spoerri, All rights reserved