Museum Boxes -- This is SO cool!

One of the benefits of working with teachers is that I get to learn, too.

Most recently, I learned about an interactive website called Museum Boxes.

This virtual box is basically a portable cabinet of curiosities which allows the creator to display representations of key objects and ideas. It is based on an actual portable box of representative items which an abolitionist speaker used in the course of his lecture tour.

Inside the box are "drawers" into which one can play virtual "cubes" which have sides on which these representations may be places. These representations could be images, video, weblinks, Word documents, or other items that are digitally attachable. The six sides of the cubes will be displayed as the visitor clicks on them. It is possible to have up to three layers of cubes in the box.

The display of the cubes is somewhat kinetic. It doesn't replace actually turning over the cube while gazing in wonder, but it's a start.

The box, like most museum exhibits, seems to be more focused on maker-centered display rather than visitor use, however.

It would be great if the cubes could be rearranged by the user/viewer into an order that makes sense to them. This would be a way to have the cubes be building blocks of an argument/synthesize of the information presented on the cubes. This also raises the question of whether multiple sides of a cube should be duplicated or if each cube should be assigned a major concept so that the user would have to make a forced choice when arranging the cubes for herself.

When I taught United States History I did something similar to the Museum Boxes but with brown paper bags and note cards. Students had to select cards, put them into the bags (grouping), and then take out the cards to synthesize further when writing an essay. They liked the process of physically sorting, and there was audience participation. For another activity, I used a brown paper bag into which I have placed representative items, had students withdraw the items, and puzzle over the significance of each and connection between all.

Museum Boxes is intriguing in that is digital -- this makes for new and additional media possibilities, and for portability. I wish it had more kinesethetic functionality, but it's a great start!