Fostering creative confidence and multimodal literacy in practice at the Children’s Creativity Museum

Abstract

This manuscript examines how the Children’s Creativity Museum (CCM) in San Francisco supports the development of multimodal literacy and creative confidence through the Build the Change exhibit. Multimodal literacy emphasizes children’s ability to communicate across visual, spatial, tactile, oral, and digital modes, while creative confidence reflects dispositions of risk-taking, persistence, and valuing one’s ideas. The manuscript uses a vignette-based qualitative design to analyze children’s engagement during self-directed drop-in visits and structured field trips (N = 709 students across 30 visits). Data sources included archival artifacts, participation records, and educator interviews. Four illustrative vignettes show how CCM’s open-ended environment fosters multimodal expression and creative confidence through hands-on building, collaborative design, sustained focus, and cross-exhibit integration. Findings suggest that children’s museums uniquely support meaning-making and creative risk-taking by combining engaging spaces, manipulable materials, open-ended facilitation, and autonomy in movement and choice. Within its defined scope, this manuscript contributes to scholarship on how informal learning environments cultivate the skills and dispositions children need to navigate and shape their futures.