Project Details

Project Overview

The Science Museum of Minnesota (SMM), in partnership with the Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) at the University of Minnesota, and Public Agenda, a non partisan civic engagement organization, seeks funding for BRIGHTER FUTURES: PUBLIC DELIBERATION ABOUT THE SCIENCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT. Through programs (including small group conversations, citizen conferences, and public forums) a highly interactive 1,600 square-foot, exhibition, and two research studies that address issues that are fundamental to establishing museums as places of public dialogue and deliberation, this project will engage the general public, policymakers, and caregivers in deliberations around the latest early childhood development (ECD) research. It will also build on an increased understanding of the importance of ECD to expand civic engagement around this urgent social issue.

The overall goal of the project is to help its audiences understand child development, how environment and experiences impact development, and what we as a society can do to support our youngest citizens. Specifically, audiences will explore: How the brain develops from birth until kindergarten (or age five); how a child’s environment and experiences sculpt the brain, with some experiences enhancing the child's self-control and learning, and other experiences that actually impede development; and what the project audiences can do to ensure that all children have a strong foundation to learn and thrive.

In addition to reaching the general public, BRIGHTER FUTURES will specifically address the needs of caregivers in the region who are supporting the young children of a rapidly growing Hmong, Somali, and Liberian immigrant communities. The project will collaborate with Minnesota Head Start and the Minnesota Brain Conference led by the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, to enable us to extend our impact to greater numbers of under-served populations in our region.

Beyond its impact in Minnesota, the project’s research studies will shed light on how exhibit-based feedback approaches can engage museum visitors in dialogue and deliberation on science-related issues, and how, and the extent to which, legislators apply the exhibit and programming experiences to policy decision-making. Both studies are driven by an underlying commitment to expanding the civic engagement role of museums.

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