Meets the following requirements: AD

From ''cabinet of curiosity" to "exploratorium", this studio course surveys contemporary museum activities and methods of communication through visual display, space, and interaction.  Students will engage in a project development process to refine "big ideas", determine educational goals, and learn techniques to design and build their projects. Class participants will gain an understanding of factors that influence learning, media and modes that may be utilized to communicate complex content, and how meaning is constructed by the selection, organization and layering of intellectual material through the use of object, text, image, and experiential devices.

Projects and hands-on workshops will provide an opportunity to gain skills and techniques in visualizing ideas by developing concepts in the form of plans, sketches, models, and narrative description. Students will have an opportunity to evaluate and create interpretive material for the George B. Dorr Natural History Museum at the College of the Atlantic. Students will be evaluated through participation in class discussion and critiques, attendance, and for completion and quality of assigned projects.  This course is appropriate for all students interested in informal education in the museum environment, design, and visual communication.

Level: Introductory/intermediate. Class size limit: 15.  Lab Fee: $75  *AD*