Designing for embodied proximity

This paper draws on notions of embodied learning to inform exhibit design that fosters children’s meaningful embodied engagement to successfully unveil science ideas. While children’s interaction in the museum is often hands-on and speaks to the physical emphasis that embodiment brings, observation of children’s spontaneous engagement at a museum’s Water Zone revealed opportunities and barriers to engagement with, and access to, science ideas in terms of what we call ‘embodied proximity’ and ‘embodied dislocation’. Drawing on design considerations from these findings a set of purpose-built prototype exhibits were developed and deployed to examine how they supported children’s embodied exploration of science. The findings highlight key design dimensions that support children’s accessing and making meaning about science through fostering embodied proximity: considering palette of embodied features; applying direct multisensorial experience; developing temporal-positional contiguity; and designing opportunities for communicating experiences through the body.