Afonso, Ana S.; Gilbert, John K. "Educational Value of Different Types
of Exhibits in an Interactive Science and Technology Center" in Science
Education, v91 n6 p967-987 Nov 2007
In the study of exhibitions in a science and technology centers, exhibits are often given typologies based on their function to the experience, instead of their educative effect. Stocklmayer and Gilbert have created a new typology that divides exhibits into: "exemplars of phenomena," and "analogy-based exhibits"
Exhibits which are "exemplars of phenomena" are divided into two sub categories: exhibits that allow visitors to use the senses to experience phenomena ("exemplars of phenomena discerned by the senses") and exhibits that require a tool to help interpret phenomenological data ("exemplars of phenomena disclosed by detecting instruments"). Analogy-based exhibits indicate similarities between entities (subjects) and relationships (structures), and may be divided into three different categories: "exhibits showing similarities between entities and relationships" "exhibits showing similarities between both entities and relationships," and "exhibits only showing similarities between relationships." Entertainment is also linked to learning from exhibits. If an exhibit is "enjoyable," then than the concepts or "target" of the exhibit may live in the "memory" of the visitor for a longer duration of time.
Using these factors, Afonso and Gilbert designed a study of five interactive exhibits at the Pavilhao do Conhecimento in Portugal. Each of the exhibits were related to the concept of sound, and provided different opportunities for visitor engagement based on the above sub-categories. None of the exhibit experiences were facilitated, and evaluation of the exhibits was completed through interviews after visitors completed the exhibit experience.
In exploring both phenomena and analogy-based exhibits, visitors missed the target provided by exhibit designers, and instead constructed their own meanings (this was not always the case with visitors who worked in scientific fields). Many of the visitors evaluated the exhibits based on their entertainment value vs. their educational value.
The researchers concluded that an educational value could be reached if the exhibits showed a relation to "every-day life." Also, simplifying the in initial concept may be necessary to achieve a learning experience.
This study does not surprise me. The educational "target" of the exhibit is often misinterpreted. The museum must look to the exhibit as a platform for the visitor experience. When facilitated, and used correctly, exhibits may reach the intended target. In this aspect, when exhibits are being developed, they should be examined with an eye for personal and dialogical interpretation through facilitation.
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1 comment:
It often seems to me that museums maintain their mission's integrity by creating exhibits that must be experienced as they intend them to be experienced. If visitors miss the point, they have approached the exhibit incorrectly. Sometimes this appears to me as if the museum hasn't considered the visitor at all, but, instead, chose to serve the content. As a teacher, when I take or send my students to any type of exhibit, I help them structure the visit to fulfill my or their purposes. I always tell them that the museum may have a vary different agenda than they do (as teachers or as visitors). I ask them to try to figure out what experience the museum is trying to provide them with. I also ask them to think about(a) how they can structure learning experiences for their students within the museum's structure, and (b) what change or changes would make th exhibit most useful to them (as teachers, parents, etc.)
A question your memorandum leaves me with is: (How) can museums create exhibits that address the needs of their various constituents simultaneously? The main groups that come to mind are: teachers, students, civilians (who are experts in the content of the exhibit), civilians (who are not experts in the content of the exhibit), parents (or parentoids), casual visitors.
For example, I often overhear parents at AMNH lying to their children about the content of the exhibits because they don't want to say they don't know the answers to their questions or they don't know that they dont know the answers. I've always thought that the cases can have the "normal" text that they usually include, kid text that can be accessed by young children, and parental text (maybe on top of the case) that can have a few important ideas, facts or, better yet, questions to consider. [It might be interesting if the different constituencies could be given different kinds of glasses so they could differentially see the different texts.]
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