Fostering Family Engagement at the Morris Arboretum

This project is a web-based Arboretum app for families with children between the ages of 6 and 8 years old. This piece of digital mobile technology is in support of the Arboretum’s interpretive initiative, Awakening the Senses. The main purpose of this project is to encourage families to connect with their natural surroundings and one another through sensory engagement. There are five unique experiences that coordinate with the five senses and five different plant parts. Each experience provides a movement cue, interactive activity, scientific lesson, an open-ended question to answer as a family, and a digital reward for completing the section. The project began by identifying a target audience based on data compiled from the Arboretum Membership and Visitor Education departments. Research began by benchmarking digital interpretation at other museums and arboreta in the Philadelphia area as well as across the country. Select digital experiences from these institutions provided the inspiration for navigation, movement cues, and open-ended questions built into this project. Each of the five experiences referred to the Pennsylvania Department of Education Standards for language and accompanying scientific lesson. A local illustrator, Todd Miyashiro, was selected to create the graphic elements for the digital app. He will be designing illustrated graphics in collaboration with the project author and supervisor. A paper prototype version of the app will be tested among member family groups, and a focus group will be conducted with school teachers of the target age range to assess the comprehension of language used in the project. Finally, the app will be designed and made available via the Arboretum website