Skip to main content
  • Main menu
Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation
  • Home
  • Try
    • Explore
    • Study
    • About
    • Multimedia
  • Spark!Lab
    • DO Try This at Home!
    • Spark!Lab Network
    • Encouraging Innovative Thinking
  • A Spark!Lab for Grownups

A Spark!Lab for Grownups

June 2, 2016 by Tricia Edwards

Recently, I got to visit TechShop in nearby Arlington, VA. What I realized following our visit is that TechShop is basically the grownup version of Spark!Lab.

Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print

blog_edwards-tricia-2016-06-02_Invention is a process.jpg

Invention "It" Phrase graphic

 

A few weeks ago, I took a field trip to TechShop in Arlington, VA with several of my Lemelson Center colleagues. We had hosted some of TechShop’s staff at the museum the month before and we were anxious to visit. Described as a “playground for creativity,” TechShop provides access to tools, equipment, and space where members are encouraged to learn, create, prototype, collaborate, and “build your dreams.”

Our visit was fun and inspiring, and I think we all left wanting to learn a new skill, tackle a new project, or work with new tools. But what I realized later is that TechShop is basically the grownup version of the Draper Spark!Lab, our hands-on invention space for kids and families. Like Spark!Lab, TechShop offers opportunities for its members to work through the invention process—from the Think it step, when they identify a challenge to tackle, to the Create it or prototyping step, through the Try it and Tweak it steps, when they test and refine their ideas.  

Like Spark!Lab, TechShop is open and flexible.

blog_edwards-tricia-2016-06-02_techshop-1.jpg

Draper Spark!Lab at the National Museum of American History (left); TechShop Arlington

Draper Spark!Lab at the National Museum of American History (left); TechShop Arlington.

A wide range of tools and materials is available. Materials are visible and easily accessible, offering inspiration for inventions and creations of all kinds.

blog_edwards-tricia-2016-06-02_techshop-2.jpg

Open storage in both Spark!Lab (left) and TechShop makes tolls and materials accessible

Open storage in both Spark!Lab (left) and TechShop makes tolls and materials accessible.

Inventions connect to diverse disciplines, from technology and engineering to art and music.

blog_edwards-tricia-2016-06-02_techshop-3.jpg

A family in Spark!Lab learns how to use the force of a gyroscope to make an object move (left); a TechShop member works on his guitar project.

A family in Spark!Lab learns how to use the force of a gyroscope to make an object move (left); a TechShop member works on his guitar project.

Skilled staff support inventors and facilitate learning and making.

blog_edwards-tricia-2016-06-02_techshop-4.jpg

A Spark!Lab facilitator gives a visitor a thumbs up to encourage him (left); a staff member in TechShop guides a group through using a new tool (photo courtesy of Washington Project for the Arts).

A Spark!Lab facilitator gives a visitor a thumbs up to encourage him (left); a staff member in TechShop guides a group through using a new tool (photo courtesy of Washington Project for the Arts).

In Spark!Lab, we believe everyone is inventive, and hope that our visitors continue to create and innovate long after they’ve outgrown us. It’s reassuring to know there are places that will welcome them.

Tags

  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 30%)
  • Invention process (Relevance: 13%)

Related Stories

Spark!Lab

Inventing to Fuel the Inventive Thinking of Spark!Lab Visitors

Follow along as our new Interpretive Exhibit Coordinator goes through the invention process to solve a problem in Spark!Lab.

The three Smithsonian staffers who creatively rescued a lost cell phone.
Blog

Creative Problem Solving at Work

A visitor's "lost" cell phone leads to inventive problem solving at the Lemelson Center.

Encouraging Innovative Thinking

What do you want to make today?

I held a soldering iron for the first time in my life a few weeks ago. It was exciting and frustrating at the same time. So why was I soldering?

An adult man is working with a young girl on an activity in SparkLab
Spark!Lab

About Spark!Lab

Draper Spark!Lab is where museum visitors become inventors.

What do you think about the story ?

VIEW 2682 Matching Results

Found 2682 Stories

  • Agriculture and horticulture (Relevance: 5.1081282624907%)
  • Air and space (Relevance: 6.5995525727069%)
  • Chemistry (Relevance: 2.9828486204325%)
  • Food and drink (Relevance: 3.0574198359433%)
  • Industry and manufacturing (Relevance: 7.2706935123043%)
  • Medicine, health, and life sciences (Relevance: 4.586129753915%)
  • Military technology (Relevance: 3.2438478747204%)
  • Mining and drilling (Relevance: 3.4675615212528%)
  • Patents and trademarks (Relevance: 11.409395973154%)
  • Photography, film, television, and video (Relevance: 3.579418344519%)
  • Power generation, motors, and engines (Relevance: 3.4675615212528%)
  • Spark!Lab (Relevance: 3.3557046979866%)
  • Telegraph, telephone, and telecommunications (Relevance: 3.0574198359433%)
  • Textiles and clothing (Relevance: 3.2811334824758%)
  • Transportation (Relevance: 5.8538404175988%)
  • Women inventors (Relevance: 3.0201342281879%)
❯
Go to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History website

About Menu

▼
Open menu
▲
Close menu
  • Explore
    • Women Inventors
    • Blog
    • Invention Stories
    • Places of Invention
    • Beyond Words
  • Study
    • Research Opportunities
    • Archives
    • Lemelson Center Books
    • Lemelson Center Research
    • Symposia & Conferences
  • Try
    • DO Try This at Home!
    • Spark!Lab
    • Spark!Lab Network
    • Encouraging Innovative Thinking
  • About
    • Events
    • Exhibitions
    • News
    • Who We Are
    • FAQ
    • Donate
  • Multimedia
  • Tags
  • Surprise Me
  • Search
  • Open Drawer
Copyright 2021, Smithsonian Institution, All Rights Reserved
  • DONATE
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
Twitter Facebook Tumblr Email Print