Designing an Exhibit

Overview

These activities help students learn about the qualities and techniques of effective exhibits so they may incorporate these elements into their own exhibits. To begin, present examples of effective and ineffective exhibits to help students generate standards for exhibit design. Next, invite students to critique three exhibits at a local museum. If a local museum is not an option, invite students to take a virtual tour of a museum (see References). Based on their evaluation of the museum exhibits, students review the elements of an effective exhibit to create a checklist of qualities they want to include in their own exhibits. Next, students review their individual research to select the most important facts to feature in their exhibits, and then they prepare a mock-up of their design. After learning about constructive feedback, students critique each other’s exhibit designs and suggest specific improvements. Finally, students use the constructive feedback to improve their own exhibits before presenting the finished exhibits to the class.