Tampere English Playschool and Discovery Museum

More than a decade ago, Shawn Rizzo started an English Playschool in Tampere when there were none.  She was the pioneer in introducing English education to 3+yr olds with "playing" as the main motive behind teaching.  Her International Early Education Center is a fun place for children while getting exposed to not just English language but different cultures and stories and innovative play techniques. 

I had the opportunity to meet her earlier this year and it so happens she is also from California but settled here for a while:).  Later since I mentioned to her about the museum, she has been giving not just moral support but also practical advice when it comes to business and share contacts. 

Last week while we were talking about the progress of the museum and sponsorships, she gracefully offered to sponsor a great exhibit for the children.  The exhibit's main audience is 1-6yr old children and suits our mutual belief of mixing "play and learn".  Thank you Shawn for your generosity. 

Ofcourse we will post more details as the exhibit gets designed and built....stay tuned...

Discovery Museum of Tampere, ihan suomeksi

Museon valmistelu on kovassa vauhdissa. Laitteiden rakentelu vaatii yllättävän paljon aikaa, koska ensimmäistä prototyyppiä täytyy lähes aina muuttaa. Näin käy varsinkin isompien välineiden kanssa.

Toinen ongelma näiden kanssa on materiaalien hankkiminen. Rautakaupan hyllyjen välissä on tallattu polkua jo jonkin verran. Ja monen vierailun jälkeen on huomannut että jotain jäi tuomatta. Melkein olisi helpompaa jos muuttaisi rautakaupan viereen asumaan!

Olemme liikkeellä rajoitetulla budjetilla, joten isoihin kömmähdyksiin ei ole varaa. Yritämme valita suunnitelmista sellaiset näytteille laitettavat vekottimet jotka voi rakentaa yksinkertaisemmista osista. Ja avuksi rahoitukseen haemme sponsoreita.

Onneksi emme ole aivan yksin liikkeellä. Olemme saaneet rakenteluohjeita ja vinkkejä muilta museoilta. Paikallinen tuki on rakentanut isoja osia laitteista. Kiitokset tästä.

Varsin mielenkiintoista on kuitenkin näitä suunnitella ja rakennella. Toivottavasti nämä ovat yhtä viihdyttäviä museon vierailijoille kuin ne ovat rakentajille :)

picking up pace

wow! its been more than a month since I blogged!.  its amazing how time flies.  We had a good and useful trip to California.  It was good to visit a couple of museums, one of them is a brand new that started earlier this year in good old Napa valley.  Scientopia is started by a local couple as a business providing the local children and visitors a place to take their children to.  Their Dino dig was a big hit with Manu.  Owners Marcy and Jonathan spent some time with us inspite of their busy schedules and juggling between taking care of kids and running the business to give us some pointers, tips and ideas.  Thank you Marcy and Jonathan:)

Back in Tampere, we re-started looking for a location.  Ofcourse, the place(s) we really like are the ones we can't afford (isn't it the case always!!).  We started discussions with a couple of them and continue our search as well. 

We started building exhibits in our garage and others.  We tested the bubble exhibit last weekend and it works!  The bubble solution might need a bit more tweaking but it works!.

I will try to post more often from now and keep it updated.  I hope to work on website soon as well.

-Sheela
ps:  we will also start blogging a bit in Finnish too from now

Tampere University of Technology and Us

For the past few weeks I have been talking to different professors in the Tampere university of Technology.  The professors I met so far are all very supportive of the museum and helping in designing/creating exhibits.  Starting with Prof. Adam Foster in Physics department we now have professors from atleast 4 different departments who are helping with exhibits and further contacts.  Its awesome to work with the brightest minds in coming up with ideas to share information about the research they are currently doing in form of different types of exhibits.  I am hoping we continue the trend and build "classical" exhibits and complement them with "latest" research exhibits to spark interest in science.

CEB conference yesterday

I was at the CEB conference in Helsinki yesterday.  Presented my paper titled "Play and Learn" (ofcourse following our tagline) and talks about early age exploration and getting children interested in science fields through exploration and a little about how technology should be used as a tool rather than a way of life (for children ofcourse).  I think the paper is going to be published online on their website soon and as proceedings in a couple of months.

Didn't realize I will be the first presenter for the morning session:)  The time got shortened 17 minutes with questions at the end of all presentations.  I talked for the first 10 minutes about early age exploration and why its important and got little time left to talk about Discovery Museum.  I missed most of School age children (middle school and high school) part of the presentation but overall it went good. 

And its the first public statement about opening a discovery museum in Tampere. Yay!!!

Playtime everyday

I was reading an article this morning that was posted a couple of days ago in NYtimes.   http://happydays.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/02/let-the-children-play-some-more/?th&emc=th .  The title of the article is "let the children play (some more).  this article is based on US schools ofcourse and talks about how recess and play times have been cut down in most schools to give way to more intense education.  The article mentions how more children are getting into depression and having obesity and behavioral disorder problems.  

Coming from India, I am familiar with no downtime in school problem.  We had one recess i.e. lunch time and once a week PT (physical training).  But atleast once the school is done, however much stressful it was, we were free to go out and play (ofcourse once homework is done too..) but these days with so many electronic media all around us, favorite pasttime is not playing games outside but rather watch tv or play video games or chat on internet.  Its not just India and US...more and more countries are facing the problem..balancing between the higher demands of education and childrens well being.

In that aspect, Finland seems to be very consistent and insistent on having breaks between classes, give enough downtime for kids to rejuvenate their brains and have more playtime outside (even in the middle of winter).  They start school late but catch up with their peers around the world pretty fast.  In surveys done with children around the world, Finnish children often come in the top5 in math, science and reading abilities.  They attribute this to giving more time for children to be children, uniform core curriculum and high standard of teachers. 

When I talk about "play and learn", people here immediately get it.  They understand it very well.  Recently I was talking to the headmaster of one of the schools in Tampere about the museum and she said they believe and try to get their children especially lower than sixth grade to play and "invent" rather than just teach them theories behind everything.  Wow! what else can we ask for:)

--sheela

you know you like a museum when..

you catch yourself talking about a particular museum to 3 different people in the same day:)  Today, in different meetings, I mentioned the Tom Tits Experiment (http://www.tomtit.se/) thrice and how great it is...It does have a great collection of experiments for kids of all ages.  And the great thing is  they give you a book with all the great experiments with a picture and description not only to guide you through them during the visit but also to take home and remember. I haven't seen any other museum do that and I think that's the coolest thing.

while I talked about Tom Tits thrice, the only other museum I talk about (apart from Discovery Museum of Tampere ofcourse) is The Exploratorium in San Francisco.  Lot of science museums around the world including ours used/will use their proven recipes for exhibit building.  And they have the most amazing online presence including great resources for teachers. 

With such great museums to inspire, I am sure Discovery Museum of Tampere will become childrens favorite place locally..