Multimedia Gallery
PIE Institute
PIE Institute
A "Playful Invention and Exploration (PIE) Institute" Mindfest visitor constructs automata using gears, LEGOS, found materials, and a Cricket computer.
The PIE Institute is a three-year project designed to increase the capacity of museum educators and exhibitors to design and implement technology-integrated inquiry activities for the public. The collaborators include the San Francisco Exploratorium, the MIT Media Lab, the Science Museum of Minnesota, the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, and the Explora Science Center and the Children's Museum of Albuquerque. Participating centers and museums will receive technology-rich activities, professional development institutes, online educator resources and a handbook of pedagogical design principles for museum educators.
The project builds upon prior NSF-supported work that developed the PIE Network, which among other things developed the "cricket," an inexpensive computer that makes informal learning inquiry activities more compelling. This research was supported by National Science Foundation grant ESI 04-52567. (Date of Image: Fall 2002)
Credit: Karen Wilkinson, Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA
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