The Model (week 28)

Due to circumstances outside of my control I have had to get an extension on the essay writing portion of this unit, which may in turn change how I will have to go about making my model.

Currently I have two ideas for my model. I know that I want to make an interactive museum model, something tactile that involves play or a puzzle or game of some kind.

The first idea is an interactive display with 1:1 scale replicas of animal teeth, claws, and footprints. These will be used in a sorting puzzle, requiring museum visitors to match the animal parts to each animal. This sort of model could be used in the natural history museum, for example, to teach visitors about how animals evolve to best suit their environmental niche.

The second idea would be to create a replica of a toy or game from history. My essay features exploration into how replicas are useful teaching tools for museums, and help connect visitors to the past. Many ancient toys and games might even be familiar to visitors, such an animals on wheels carved out of stone, or toy chariots from ancient Rome. Many ancient board games are still played in some form today, such as Nine Men's Morris, a board game from Ancient Rome. Unfortunately many ancient board games also have no known rules, and the knowledge of how they are played is lost to time, so finding a game that is not currently popular and still played, but which has known rules, may be a challenge. Despite that, I think I would prefer to make an ancient game, as many animal claws and teeth look quite similar, or may be hard to find good reference images of.

It is difficult at this time to be able to make a Gantt chart or schedule as I still need to finish the essay, which is taking up most of my time and focus. My goal for the week is to decide which of my two model ideas I want to commit to, and make some sketches and plans of my model idea.