Perennial Prototypes: Designing Science Exhibits with John Dewey

Abstract

This chapter evokes the writings of John Dewey to investigate his pragmatist design philosophy through a study on exhibit development at the Exploratorium science museum in San Francisco. The chapter begins by describing the main features of Dewey’s thinking, concentrating specifically on two notions: experience and experiment. It then transposes these into the area of exhibit development to explore their potential for contemporary design practice and their largely unexamined implications for design theory.