MOTAL Earns High Visitor Praise: Loving Your Baby's Amazing Brain

MOTAL is proud to announce that visitor survey results have been tabulated and the responses have been superb. Evaluations from our first three host venues for Your Baby’s Amazing Brain (YBAB, pronounced Why-bab) have shared high compliments.

"This partial list of the words that guests have used in their comments includes superlatives (Column 1 below), words related to the educational focus of the exhibition (Column 2 below), and words describing the innovative aspects of the exhibition (Column 3 below):"
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Important comments confirm that our exhibition’s fifteen activities have the capacity to make a difference in the perspectives and the interpersonal relationships of our visitors. Many said that it is very helpful to support children’s brains before it is too late (before synapse pruning takes place). Young couples were engaged in comparing their responses to the situations presented in the interactives. Young singles said they now understand the parenting styles of their own parents, while older adults said they could use the information in interacting with their grandchildren. A mother-daughter pair went through each station comparing their responses to each question. A psychology student was thrilled to see how the concepts she was learning in the classroom were represented in the exhibition. And a seasoned professional confirmed that the exhibition is “perfectly in line with parenting class information.”

The initial venues for YBAB were very different from one another, providing an array of visitor styles to engage.

At Santiago Canyon College, we collected data from five days, starting with a family-oriented, campus-wide Science Night held on a Friday evening. The following week’s visitors were mostly students for a couple days, and then an Earth Day celebration brought other community members back to campus.
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At The Muckenthaler Cultural Center, data came from three days of curious guests who came from near and far. The Center featured family-friendly arts activities in colorful tents near YBAB. Many young parents were able to visit the exhibition and engage their children in the Center’s activities.
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The YBAB visit at Fullerton’s "Day of Music" was a special one-day event, keeping us busy from ten in the morning ‘til ten at night. Attendance was similar to the mix of people who visited the exhibition at Santiago Canyon College for their Science Night families.

We understand that visitors are individuals with unique characteristics. When some say, “It’s fabulous!” others say, “Very interesting.” If some love the handouts, others want MORE information. If some people think the touchscreen activities move too fast, others aren’t bothered. If some think the noise from generators is too loud, others don’t mind. We have learned from the various responses and made some important changes to improve visitor experiences, especially after the first visit to Santiago Canyon College. We too can learn from the observations of visitors!

Visiting our mobile exhibition marks the beginning of a learning journey for people who care to preserve and protect babies’ brains. We will continue to focus on the parents, relatives, caregivers, and teachers of society’s youngest children when brain development is so critical for future learning. The brain, after all, is at the heart of every baby’s trajectory through life.