Donna Farland-Smith, founder and executive director of the Little Buckeye’s Children Museum in downtown Mansfield, will present at the Hubei Science and Technology Museum Research Association’s 2013 International Conference in Xianning City, Hubei Province, China. The local educator and operator of the fast-growing children’s museum will speak as one of the conference’s keynote speakers.
The conference will be held August 21-24 and will focus on “The Future of Science and Technology Museum Construction and Development.” In her presentation, Farland-Smith will highlight the Three P’s of Successful Exhibit Environment: Play, Purpose, and Developmental Appropriateness. She will discuss how exhibits should engage children’s imaginations and promote learning among children of various ages and developmental stages.
Farland-Smith’s expertise comes from knowledge gained from both operating the Little Buckeye Children’s Museum, and from her experience as an associate professor of science education at The Ohio State University at Mansfield.
The Chinese government maintains a partnership with The Ohio State University through Global Gateway. Farland-Smith stated that the Ohio State Department of International Affairs was contacted through this project (Global Gateway) and was informed about the conference.
She also noted that the conference is a kickoff to a year-long program tailored to helping 12 Chinese visitors learn about the process of designing and programming successful museum exhibits. The group of 12 will come to Ohio’s COSI and Little Buckeye Children’s Museum where they will observe and explore the facilities. The purpose of the group’s stay is to learn from the centers in order to create similar facilities in their home country.
The Little Buckeye Children’s Museum at 44 W. Fourth St. was established in April of 2011 and has since welcomed over 50,000 visitors. It houses two-stories of interactive exhibits designed to engage children and promote learning.
During the year-long program, Farland-Smith intends to teach the visitors about developing exhibits, choosing which exhibits to display, enhancing the children’s learning outcomes, among other subjects.
Farland-Smith , “I previously spent a month in China doing research and wrote a paper from that experience. I foresee a lot of papers and partnerships coming out of this conference. I think that anytime you go to a new country, you learn things that can help broaden perceptions by working with others.”
