1988 Abstract:

First grade children’s drawings of new landscape immersion exhibits at Seattle’s Woodland park Zoo were collected over a three year period. During the final year some children were also asked to draw an old exhibit as well. While these children’s drawings were made from memory the day after their zoo visit, the drawings were remarkably detailed and explicit. Furthermore they seem to reflect the designers’ predetermined design intent and confirm that subjective messages embedded in the exhibit landscapes were clearly communicated to the children during their visit. These examples suggest children’s drawings be used as evaluation tools for other exhibits.