Children as young as three seem already to possess amazing knowledge about what practice in a certain context is appropriate and what is not. This study investigated very young children’s literacy practices in an artifact-rich environment, a children’s museum. It focused on young children’s experience of enculturation such as how they respond to the symbolic qualities of cultural artifacts as well as their experience of socialization with teachers and peers. The research methodology involved photography and semiotic analysis based on a post-discourse perspective derived from post-modernism, post-structuralism, and critical theory. Specifically, the works of Bourdieu, Foucault, and Baudrillard were the theoretical basis of this dissertation. The findings indicate that children's literacy practices were context contingent and power laden, and that photography, as a means to study embodied literacy experiences, froze the moment of habitus and capital and revealed children’s sociohistorical backgrounds and traces from the broader society. The implications for early school education and critical pedagogy are also discussed. / text

For the most part learning in museums was by inert looking and listening and not by doing. For a long time traditional ideas of museums were conceptualized on an adult audience and children were expected to enjoy the museum going experience like they were adults. Museum architecture and planning responded more to grown-ups whilst children's needs and their engagement at a museum experience were never considered (see Macdonald, 1996: 2; Fyfe, 2006:5). Museums are at a very exciting juncture in their history and this study has examined these intricate relationships both internationally and locally. The findings is that museums, especially in some developing nations like South Africa have been rather slow to keep abreast with new emerging trends which focus on child education and how children learn in and from museums. This study puts forward the notion of a new museum archetype for Durban, a Children's Museum, re-interpreting conventional ideas of museums to one which places children and the community at the centre instead of the artifacts. In other words "museums are about somebody rather than about something" (Cleaver, 1992:21). Without a doubt children learn through play (Harris et al, 2003). Children view their spatial and social environments as a playground of knowledge, a place to see, touch, feel, taste, listen to, socialize with and learn from. They see the big world very differently as compared to adults and attach and take different meanings and experiences from and to people, to forms, places, spaces and things. Very important is the symbiotic relationship between children and the natural environment. Nature provides children with countless of natural toys interesting textures in the form of stones, leaves and twigs and sensory stimuli in sounds and sensations. This means that the way children learn through play the methods of facilitating this process and the built and natural environments where learning may take place needs to be interconnected. The position taken in responding through design is that there needs to be a holistic approach in responding to the social, cognitive and multi-intelligences in the development of children. This then suggests that the architecture and the landscape need to be integrated. Considering the close knit relationship children have with nature, the concept for the design of the museum draws from traditional African culture and spatial planning. The concept is based on the idea of PALAVER which in African culture is a traditional place of gathering in the shade of a prominent tree canopy somewhere in the village where villagers get to be heard, where they are able to express themselves freely without prejudice on life and on village problems. The design concept builds on this idea drawing from context interpreting this idea of a Palaver Tree to mean a roof of a building under which freedom of expression and exchange of ideas can take place. Hence the form of the building draws on clues from the majestic baobab of Africa, the elegance of the tenere tree and the qualities of a forest canopy. Considering the close link between children and nature and the ways in which children learn from the environment, teaching children about saving the planet, the symbolic imagery and qualities of a tree is an appropriate response in creating a place meant for kids. Moreover, the changing qualities of light through the leaves of trees are a subtle but most effective sensory experience which the design of the new children's museum tries to emulate. In parts of Africa, unlike western ideologies the museum is richly connected to the people and to the communities in which they exist. In fact it’s safe to say that the museum experience was part of everyday life. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

The project is located in West Plam Beach, Florida. The Design Process Involved with the urban Plan included these structures: an aquarium, outdoor theater, re-designed library, urban park, landscape plan for the Exploratorium, and the designing of the Exploratorium. A model was completed to show the Exploratrium and its relationship to the urban plan. The design for The Bauhaus For Children is the result of doing research on art/ architectural education and the role of the architect. I feel, the architect needs to play the role of an educator.The majority of society have little teaching in the field of art or architecture. This means the architect, responsible to everyone for what he does, should motivate society to learn. This project is located on a site with civic concerns The site was used as the ferry boat landing and now houses the Public Library. With the new design and functions for the site, it fullfills the need for being civic. My design was created from a series of diagramatic models and images. This series of diagrams dealt wth the reading of the city in order to create a design language. I feel, the project has addressed the civic concern through the marriage of science and art. Architecture is more understandable to the public when it tries to blend the language of its setting with that of the image. My project is a result of this marriage. The Bauhaus For Children evolved into a Center within the City Center that educates society about art, architecture, and science. / Department of Architecture

The following qualitative study sought to answer three questions: (1) What are the high priority design values used by expert exhibit developers to create meaningful exhibits at children's museums? (2) How do exhibit developers prioritize these design values? (3) What are the desirable outcomes that exhibit developers seek to achieve with the guests who interact with the exhibits? These questions were answered through interviews with children's museum exhibit developers, personal observations, and artifact analysis. The data collected was organized into four cases, each representing a different children's museum and corresponding exhibit developer. The cases were then compared against each other using multiple case study analysis as described by Stake (2006). The data revealed that most of the developers designed exhibits which promoted family learning by encouraging meaningful interactions between parents and children. Other high priority design values used by exhibit developers included physical engagement, multiple entry points, simplicity, durability, multisensory engagement, staff and volunteer facilitation, safety, and immersive environments. Successful museum exhibits empowered guests and were always created using multiple design values. This thesis may be downloaded for free at http://etd.byu.edu.

The fresh new approach taken by today's children's museums offers great potential for an equally fresh approach to the architecture which houses these special places. Just as the "exhibits" at the children's museums invite a new relationship between the visitor and the museum collection, so too should the architecture encourage a new interaction between the individual and the built structure, between the institution and the urban environment. The new Children's Discovery Museum proposed for Washington, D.C. takes the theme of interaction as its basis. The design aims to promote a new level of participation between the people, the building, and the city. In this way, the attitude which is central in making children's museums so special was adapted to form an architectural framework: that all children -- regardless of age -- might discover a more meaningful connectedness to the built world around them. / Master of Architecture