Discovering Johnny Appleseed

This paper describes the design and fabrication processes of a service-based project, Discovering Johnny Appleseed, designed and completed by students from the University of Cincinnati. The project focused on an interactive and spatial exhibit for children to learn about the life and times of John Chapman (b. 1774). John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, was a barefoot wanderer who planted apple seeds in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana. The paper describes a pedagogical design-view in the pursuit of enhancing the learning experience of children, influenced by the poetics of spatial order and discovery. Over a time-span of two semesters, students worked to research and identify the program brief, then designed and fabricated a spatial “Interactive Learning Experience”.