ABSTRACT
This essay presents the rationale and research-based benefits of week-long workshops for science teachers who engage in the design of prototype exhibits, during week-long workshops at the Copernicus Science Centre in Warsaw. During these workshops, the teachers are challenged to design exhibit prototypes on topics of their choice, as long as these prototypes fulfill one basic condition: they will allow a student-user to independently discover a phenomenon or process occurring in nature. Research about the experiences of the participating teachers, through their structured diary entries and survey responses, has revealed a four-stage model of the prototyping process: attempted transposition (typically unsuccessful), deeper exploration of the phenomena itself (inspired by this lack of success), re-transposition, and re-exploration. This research supports the conclusion that the most important outcome of the prototyping process is a profound experience of personal development, which provides the teachers with a stronger basis for working with their science students in the spirit of “exhibit pedagogy”. The key principle of this method is that the teachers learn through active interaction with a material object (i.e., an interactive science exhibit) that acts as a mediator to guide the learning process.
