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Ed- i'll bet you a six pack, or a bottle of wine, that you can't show  
me an exhibit that  does appeal to all of the 'intelligences.'

There are two issues I have with the framework, both come from  
practical experience:

1.  First, a good exhibit is a good exhibit.  It's as much about  
context as about anything else.  If you and I go into a library, you  
may go just to browse; i may go to look for a specific book on how to  
create a macrame plant holder.  Be cause the macrame book is only for  
the literal minded, does it make it any less valuable a book?  I know  
you say variety is important;  that's different than saying this kind  
of exhibit is intrinsically better than that kind of exhibit.  My  
question will always be: in what context?

2.  Second, and more important, we do a lousy job (well, most of us)  
of helping our visitors understand how to engage with something that  
is open-ended (which is a term I don't believe is very descriptive).   
We expect them to come into a center that is most like a museum in  
their experience and expect them to know that its ok to play, that  
its ok not to come away with a chunk of information, that is ok to  
not understand everything, that process is reward in itself.  Such  
assumptions assume for too much and are contrary to many visitors'  
experiences.

Yours argumentatively, and playing the devil's advocate, and not  
trying to sway your position,


	




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