The Works is an interactive

children's museum Children's museums are institutions that provide exhibits and programs to stimulate informal learning experiences for children. In contrast with traditional museums that typically have a hands-off policy regarding exhibits, children's museums fea ...

in Bloomington, Minnesota that focuses on technology and engineering. The museum was conceived b
Rebecca Schatz
a software engineer who was inspired by a visit to the Exploratorium in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, and by the hands-on technical education for children that she observed during a year as a Luce Scholar in Japan in 1984. The Works first opened as a gallery exhibition within the

Bell Museum of Natural History The Bell Museum, formerly known as the James Ford Bell Museum of Natural History, is located at the University of Minnesota. The museum's new location on the St. Paul campus opened July 13–15, 2018. The world-renowned Minnesota wildlife dioram ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

in 1995, then moved to a series of temporary locations in shopping centers and to the community center in

Edina EDINA is a centre for digital expertise, based at the University of Edinburgh as a division of the Information Services Group. Services EDINA front-end services (those accessed directly by the user) are available free at the point of use for ...

(Ridgedale - 1995–1997, Eden Prairie Center 1997–1999, Southdale 1999–2002, and Edina Cmty. Center 2003–2011), before finding a larger, permanent home with 40,000 square feet of space in Bloomington in 2011.Richard Chin
"Twin Cities kids can tinker as techies, thanks to her"
'' St. Paul Pioneer Press'', October 21, 2015. In 2011 the museum reported annual attendance of 50,000 visitors. Since 2003, The Works has sponsored an annual "Tech Fest".Sarah Thamer
"Bloomington’s Works Museum hosts 13th annual Tech Fest"
Murphy News Service of the

University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication The Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication is a journalism school at the University of Minnesota that offers programs in journalism, strategic communication and mass communication. It is located on the Minneapolis campus. It houses ...

in ''The Sun Current'', March 15, 2016.

References

External links

Official website
*Rebecca Schatz, "Focus and Balance for the Small Museum", in *http://www.inventingtheworks.org/2015/02/welcome-to-history-of-works.html Museums established in 1995 Science museums in Minnesota Buildings and structures in Bloomington, Minnesota Museums in Hennepin County, Minnesota {{Minnesota-museum-stub