Scientific principles and other exhibit content are not always easy to present to a visitor. Many ideas and phenomena are dangerous, invisible, complicated or difficult to reproduce.

At the Science Museum of Minnesota, we develop and design interactive exhibits through an iterative process of protoyping and audience testing.

The prototyping process involves experimentation and testing to create experiences that allow visitors to interact with exhibit content in safe and reliable ways.

Prototyping involves:

• Conceptualizing the scientific phenomenon
• Researching existing knowledge
• Developing a presentation or interactive strategy
• Building a working interactive exhibit models to test the feasibility and effectiveness of the presentation.
• Testing the model with visitors to gauge its feasibility and effectiveness.

Exhibits developed through a prototyping process are consistently safer, more reliable and more educationally effective than exhibits developed by other means.