Engineering Interest In How Things Work

A group of children stands fascinated beside a stringless harp that produces sound through the use of mirrors and laser lights at one end of an unassuming room. Across the way, another cluster is focused on a zipper larger than they are tall, learning the intricacies of how the teeth pull themselves together. Welcome to , a hands-on engineering museum for young people. 

The idea for a museum that could inspire creativity and innovation came from Rebecca Schatz, The Works' president and founder.

"I thought engineering was too important to just be left to engineers," Schatz said. "I spent some time in Japan, a country that just 25 years ago was developing technologically really fast and exceeding the United States. I figured what we need to do is start young and do what we do best, which is create, design and innovate."

As great of an idea as the discovery center may have been, Schatz somewhat struggled initially to find the right location for The Works. It started in the mid-90s at Ridgedale Mall, moved after a couple of years to the Eden Prairie Center, moved after a couple more years to Southdale until finally positioning itself in the in 2003.

"We got big enough to where we thought, 'OK, we can't really move every two years anymore,'" Heidi Eschenbach, The Works' director of operations said. "We had generated enough interest that we needed to find a space where it didn't seem so much like we're bursting at the seams."

Their leased out rooms on the third floor of the Edina Community Center suit The Works well. The main room features exhibits on pulleys, transmissions, robotics, electricity and computer generated images. A classroom in the back is packed with 500 styrofoam blocks, allowing young ones to learn primitive architecture. Across the hall is a classroom where both groups and public visitors are able to study more engineering facts.

Those groups typically range from age 5-12 years, with the occasional teenager or adult interspersed.

"We have around 15,000 kids from school groups come in each year," Eschenbach said, proudly. "On top of that is visitors from the public, which brings the annual total up to 40,000."

Not all of those 40,000 will become engineers per se, but they will have taken something away from their visit to The Works.

"I think it's important for kids to know that engineering is an option as a career and also to understand how much it plays into their life," Eschenbach said. "I mean, the chair you're sitting on, the clothes you're wearing, someone designed that. Our goal is to simply get the kids to appreciate engineering, and to sort of demystify it."

Schatz agrees, and adds that "children are learning everything from how to solve problems, issues and how to think outside of the box."

"It's an important thing, regardless of what their profession ends up being," she said.

The Works has limited hours during the school year, but the summer months keep the museum open to the public Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Head on over to the third floor of the Edina Community Center to check it out. Also, stop by their official website to answer any other questions you might have.