It's the field trip of the future: School kids use iPod touches to scan interactive codes at the Minnesota History Center, then follow prompts on the mobile device to make their way through the exhibit. At day's end, the students can download their adventure into a "digital backpack" so they can follow up on the topics from home or school.

This is the vision for the History Center's unfolding "Our Minnesota" exhibit, slated for a soft launch late next year. Prototypes are currently being tested with students in a secret location within the St. Paul museum.

"I think it's going to completely change how we think about field trips," said Wendy Jones, head of museum and education programs.

With its high-tech emphasis, the exhibit is designed to entice a new generation of "digital-native" learners. The mobile guides create an interactive adventure for the students, asking them questions and introducing them to characters from different periods of Minnesota's history.

The project is funded by $2.5 million from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund created under the state's Legacy Amendment, as well as a $449,000 grant from the Institute for Museum and Library Services.

The History Center conducted focus groups with students and teachers, then used that research to build prototypes of exhibit features: a streetcar, a sod house, a tepee. Currently the "sod house" is made from cardboard boxes and the "streetcar" is framed by plywood. The pieces will be built and rebuilt again as more students come through and offer feedback.

Students from area schools recently began to test the early prototypes. iPod touches in hand, they race back and forth, scanning icons as they make their way through the exhibit.

Instead of the usual placards describing each piece, students find small, square QR, or Quick Response, codes. When the code is scanned, a character pops up on the iPod touch and tells the student his or her story. The software then prompts the student with the next step of the challenge.

On the streetcar, for example, students "meet" three historical Minnesotans. Each character asks the students to match him or her to a "stop" along the line, and the students then learn about the role that location played in state history.

Museum staff members observe, trying to see if the students are able to navigate the exhibit successfully.

In another scenario, students learn about a family who lived in a sod house on the prairie. They can use the iPod touches to interact with the characters, and also can hop on a model of a plow mounted over a treadmill and apply energy by walking or running to "move" the plow. Eventually, museum staff hope to connect physical components like the plow to the mobile experience, so it will record how far a student has "plowed" and add it to the digital backpack.

Takele Thompson-Nelson, 11, was part of a recent group from the Friend School of Minnesota in St. Paul that tried out the history exhibit. "I think the iPod touch is a good idea, because nowadays everybody wants an iPod touch, so it was a fun way of getting kids interested," he said.

Early stages of testing

Testing of the exhibit is still in early stages. Student groups have been visiting about once a month, but that will soon increase to every other week, and then weekly, said Jennifer Sly, the museum's education and technology specialist.

The museum currently owns 40 iPod touch devices for testing. Sly said that number is likely to grow to 100 when the exhibit opens.

The History Center is working with the University of Wisconsin-Madison to develop the software for the exhibit. In the future, Sly said, the center is hoping to offer a multi-platform application that would allow students to use their own hand-held devices to navigate the museum.

"What we're looking at with this exhibit is critical thinking and problem solving," Sly said. "Kids really have to think about, 'What was life like in Minnesota in the past?'"

Emma Carew Grovum • 612-673-4154 Twitter: @CarewGrovum