Madewell is interpretive exhibits coordinator for the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. He runs the Lemelson Center for the Study of Invention and Innovation’s Spark!Lab — a hands-on invention center for kids of all ages that seeks to encourage creativity in science.
What’s the purpose behind Spark!Lab?
The purpose really is to get kids to think creatively and to expose them to new things and experiments. We want to show them that science doesn’t just take place in a science lab but everywhere. When you’re cooking something, that’s a science experiment. When at home and you cobble together something to scratch your back, that’s inventing.
Do you get to blow stuff up?
We do on occasion get to blow stuff up. That’s the biggest request from middle school boys. We have a number of small controlled explosions, but you just never know.
What’s the weirdest experiment you’ve performed?
Talking about surface area and taking a big object– pieces of a type of fungus — and trying to light them on fire. They burn a little bit but if you crush them into fine powder and blow through a straw into a flame, it makes a fireball. We tried a couple times and fireball was not really big, but this particular time the fireball was pretty dramatic and timing was just right. The kids were a mixture of, “Wow, really cool'” and “Oh my gosh, I don’t think that was supposed to happen.” It’s all part of the show — exploding fungi as a means of teaching nanotechnology.
What do you look forward to in your work day?
What I’m looking for is to try something new and get that surprised look from the visitors — both kids and adults — with the mouth open. A couple of those a day and I’m like, ‘Oh yes that’s a good day’.
— Kaitlin Schluter
