This study investigated the effect of different scientific inquiry activities on visitors’ understanding of the science underlying an interactive exhibit. The exhibit, “colored shadows,” creates a pattern of colored shadows on a white wall, due to a person’s body blocking the light from colored lamps. The subjects were 392 museum visitors, aged 7 to adult. They were individually guided through a structured interview, during which they did one of seven inquiry activities, randomly assigned. The activities were: generate an explanation; interpret an explanation; troubleshoot an explanation
Constructivist education theory postulates (Fosnot, 1996; Hein, 1998) that visitors learn actively and create their own meanings as they interact with the world. This raises challenges for visitor studies, since it may be difficult to plan a reasonable evaluation strategy for exhibitions if visitors’ actions and outcomes cannot be determined in advance. Constructivist theory also requires an appropriate evaluation approach (Hein, 1997). This paper illustrates the use of a combination of methodologies that allow visitors’ meanings and activities to emerge as they visit an interactive, non
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Elsa BaileyKerry BronnenkantJudith KelleyGeorge HeinMuseum of Science, Boston
Earth & Sky is a 90 second radio science series about environmental sciences, earth sciences and astronomy. Multimedia Research implemented a summative evaluation of the series, utilizing a survey mailed to respondents to a radio contest held just prior to the broadcast of Earth & Sky in eight commercial radio markets. A total of 152 surveys were returned (43% return rate). The survey is in the report Appendix. The series makes science accessible and interesting to the listening audience and generates excitement about science. The programs were perceived as affecting listeners'
Science education reform documents call for science to be taught in the manner that students learn best, by conducting hands-on, engaging investigations using simple everyday materials. Often overlooked in the redesign of science education, informal science learning environments such as science centers, museums, and zoos provide students with captivating science experiences that can be related closely to curricular objectives. In this article I examine a cross-section of craft knowledge and research-based literature on sciencelearning beyond the classrom, describe informal science education
This paper describes the IMLS-sponsored Museum Learning Collaborative (MLC), a partnership which strives to develop and pursue a research agenda that can support the development of a cumulative body of knowledge on museum learning.
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Leona SchaubleGaea LeinhardtLaura Martin
This report offers an account of the evidence we have found of social impacts arising from participation in the arts, and of some of the methods used in the research. It is the first large-scale attempt, in the UK at least, to come to grips with these issues, and our intention has not been to give definitive answers but, as Brian Eno put it in a similar context, to ask the questions more clearly (Eno 1996: 14). If others, and especially those who work in the field, are encouraged to take forward this general study into more specific areas, it will have succeeded in its purpose. The study is
Suitable for planners, educationalists and environmentalists, this book introduces the theory and the practice of children's participation, and its importance for developing democracy and sustainable communities.
Although schools traditionally take their pupils to Natural History Museums, little has been elicited about either the overall content of the conversations generated by such groups or of the effect on content in the presence of an adult. Transcripts were coded using a systemic network which had been designed based on pilot studies. A range of variables was created from the coded data. The number of conversations that contained at least one reference to the designated categories were ascertained overall and those of the three sub-groups, pupils and teacher, pupils and chaperone and pupils alone
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Sue Tunnicliffe
resourceresearchProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
Features the Science Learning Network (SLN) project, an alliance of science center, K-8 schools and Unisys Corp. providing communication capabilities and collaboration opportunities for K-8 teachers in the United States. Partner schools of the science centers; Mission; Distinction from other computer networks; Significance of networked technology; Benefits of the participants.
This handbook provides a generic package for the formative evaluation of exhibits. The book covers three major concerns in evaluation: flexibility, efficiency, and validity. The authors note that this evaluation package has been developed on the assumption that the "front- end" evaluation relating to exhibit development has already occurred, and that the "summative" evaluation phase is beyond the scope of the project.
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Curtin University of TechnologyLeonie RennieTerry McClafferty
This book addresses controversial changes in a major cultural organization through the lens of a vital need for a shift in thinking as museums enter the 21st century. Robert Janes is a leading voice in the changes taking place in Canada's cultural institutions. In this case study, the author candidly discusses layoffs, union/management relations, and the urgency of sustainability. Contributions from museum staff highlight the human side of change, and essays by Canadian and international museum directors present thoughtful perspectives.
In this paper, Robert C. Webb of Suffolk University analyzes the role of cognitive and affective interaction in museums. Webb explains how a person alternates between high and low modes of cognition. Topics include central and peripheral routes of processing, levels of processing theory, and techniques for reaching low-involved visitors. Webb argues that more exploration and measurement is needed to study the affective nature of the museum experience.