[3][4] In addition to serving the MIT community, the museum offers numerous outreach programs to school-age children and adults in the public at large.

[8][9] Former director John Durant (2005-2023) continues to teach courses on the development of science exhibits and communication among scientists, engineers, and the general public.

Larger items are displayed in freestanding floor-level exhibits, including the mechanical maze-solving mouse built by Claude Shannon, said to be one of the earliest experiments in machine learning.

[1] Other historical exhibits include relics from notable hacks (student pranks), and documentation of the history of minorities at MIT.

[1] The MIT Museum conducts a number of activities for middle and high school students, including group tours and individual events such as workshops, art studios, contests, and performances.

[14] In addition, the museum has regular outreach programs for the college-age and adult community, including discussion panels and guest appearances by MIT researchers, plus invited artists, historians, scholars, and authors from the world at large.

In 2007, John Durant (then the newly appointed Director of the MIT Museum) initiated the annual Cambridge Science Festival.

chain reaction, which was emceed by kinetic artists Arthur Ganson and Jeff Lieberman,[22] who also constructed the last contraption in the giant event.

Teams of contestants constructed elaborate Rube Goldberg style chain-reaction machines on tables arranged around MIT's gymnasium.

[22] The initial string would be ceremonially pulled, and the ensuing events were videotaped in closeup, and simultaneously projected on large screens for viewing by the live audience.

[25] The Mark Epstein Innovation Gallery occupied 5,000 square feet (460 m2) on the ground floor of Building N52, and showcased recent research at MIT.

[27] The Keuffel and Esser Company collection, from the slide rule manufacturer formerly located in Hoboken, New Jersey, was donated to MIT in 2004, substantially expanding the existing holdings.

In November 2013, the museum opened 5000 Moving Parts, an expanded year-long exhibition of kinetic art, featuring the work of Ganson, Anne Lilly, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, John Douglas Powers, and Takis.

[31][32] Ganson's kinetic artworks have been very popular over the years, and had occupied a semi-permanent gallery in the new Kendall Square museum building.

At that time an anonymous buyer bought the entire collection and donated it to the MIT Museum, which continues to preserve, expand, and display it for researchers and the general public.

[35] For a number of years, the museum housed a Hall of Hacks showcasing some of the famous MIT student pranks, but the section was closed in 2001.

A few selected larger relics of past hacks are now on semi-permanent display inside the MIT Stata Center, including a "fire hose" drinking fountain, and full-size replicas of a cow and a police car which had been placed atop the Great Dome (but not at the same time); see the MIT hacks article for details.

In the ground floor elevator lobby of the Dreyfoos Tower are located a large time capsule box plus informational panels describing MIT's historic Building 20, which was sited where the Stata Center is now.

The special exhibit consisted of 150 objects, documents, and other artifacts showing the history of people, places, and ideas related to MIT.

[39] The MIT Museum Studio also includes a glass-enclosed display space used to showcase student projects in art, perception, and technology.