The Mountain: Designing an Interpretive Plan for the Seattle Children's Museum

Abstract

This thesis project provides recommendations to the Seattle Children's Museum to update the Mountain, a prominent interactive exhibit at the center of the museum. The recommendations in the interpretive plan are grounded in the museum's Educational Framework for the exhibit, survey results from a front-end visitor study, and literature on play-based learning in informal learning environments. The result is a proposal for a place-based exhibit that encourages child visitors to learn about plants and wildlife in the Pacific Northwest's mountainous landscapes.