After my recent posting on the Wild Music exhibit, I was reminded how central Howard Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences has been to many exhibits. In fact, by their nature, many children's museums have appealed to a wide range of "intelligences" even before Gardner's work. (See this quick summary from the Strong Museum for a review of the intelligences). But other, less child-centered museums have focused on broadening their appeal as well, for example in this project at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Most of the time we don't design literally to appeal to each of the intelligences. But it can be a very helpful step in the design process to review the intelligences and see if this might spur thinking about using music or tracking body movement with the technology, for example. In a 1997 article I wrote for the Association of Children's Museums, I suggested that we can ask these these questions during exhibit design:
- Does the program complement the variety of experiences available in the exhibit (or website)?
- Can the program be shaped to appeal to a form of intelligence underrepresented in the exhibit, such as musical, kinesthetic, or interpersonal?
- Is the program accessible to a wide range of people?
Comments