Interactive Science Museum Research Articles

The first interactive science museum in Peru: the origin and creation of TECNO-ITINTEC, 1975-1979.

This paper examines the development of the TECNO-ITINTEC museum, the first interactive science museum in Peru, which opened in 1979. The museum functioned under the Institute of Industrial Technology Research and Technical Standards (ITINTEC), a public institution established during the government of Velazco Alvarado. In 1975, Jorge Heraud became the president of ITINTEC's Board of Directors and proposed a science museum to inspire future generations of scientists. José Castro Mendívil joined as the exhibition's director and designer. Their motivation to open a museum coincided with the government's ideals for modernization and nationalization. This article analyzes various sources including newspapers, laws that regulated the institute, reports, and interviews with people involved in the museum to understand how science and politics intersected in TECNO-ITINTEC.

Emotion in Informal Learning as Mediated Action: Cultural, Interpersonal and Personal Lenses

Emotion and affect are important but undertheorized and under researched elements of learning in informal contexts such as science centers, museums, zoos, and aquariums. An interactional and discursive approach to emotions as mediated action was used to develop a three-part framework for documenting and exploring the place of emotional expression among family groups (n = 10 groups; 33 individuals) visiting an ocean exhibit in an interactive science museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Among our results, we observed that the most commonly expressed emotion was surprise, excitement, amusement and curiosity; the most frequently occurring categories of emotional expression among the families in interaction were those associated with being actively engaged in positive emotional interaction. Transcripts of interaction are presented to illustrate the framework and examined in light of emotional expression as a mediator of 1) active, collaborative, meaning making; 2) learner agency and protagonism; and 3) empathy. Results from the entire data set are interpreted using the Core Affect Model of Engagement. We present examples of and discuss how and why a mediated action approach to emotion as a social, distributed, interactional and discursive phenomena may be helpful both for advancing the study of emotion as an aspect of informal learning and exhibit design.

A cognitive approach to the museography of an interactive science museum: a worked example

Exhibits in interactive science museums (science centers) achieve their learning objectives as the interaction of visitors produces the inferences that are expected. We present here a methodology to assess communicational effectiveness of interactive exhibits. The methodology is developed by following Vergnaud’s conceptual fields theory and permits us to determine the cognitive processes that exhibits demand from the visitors. We applied this methodology to a particular exhibit on electromagnetic induction at the Museo Interactivo Mirador (MIM), in Santiago, Chile. The necessary data were obtained from the audiovisually recorded visit of a group of secondary students, whose knowledge on the subject was previously analyzed and contrasted with their behavior during the visit.

Developing Interactive Exhibits with Scientists: Three Example Collaborations from the Life Sciences Collection at the Exploratorium.

Science museums have made a concerted effort to work with researchers to incorporate current scientific findings and practices into informal learning opportunities for museum visitors. Many of these efforts have focused on creating opportunities and support for researchers to interact face-to-face with the public through, for example, speaker series, community forums, and engineering competitions. However, there are other means by which practicing scientists can find a voice on the museum floor-through the design and development of exhibits. Here we describe how researchers and museum professionals have worked together to create innovative exhibit experiences for an interactive science museum. For each example: scientist as (1) data providers, (2) advisors, and (3) co-developers, we highlight essential components for a successful partnership and pitfalls to avoid when collaborating on museum exhibits. Not many museums prototype and build their own exhibits like the Exploratorium. In those cases, there may be similar opportunities in more mediated offerings such as public demonstrations or lectures or in other formats that allow for direct interactions between scientists and visitors. We believe there are many opportunities for researchers to share natural phenomena, to advise on exhibit development and interpretation, to provide much needed materials, and to otherwise incorporate authentic research into the learning experiences at museums, no matter what the format.

Fifteen Years of Talk: Newspaper Discourses on Ireland's Interactive Science Museum

Fifteen Years of Talk: Newspaper Discourses on Ireland's Interactive Science Museum

Efectos sobre el aprendizaje informal de la evolución biológica como resultado de la mediación museal

Interactive science museums have been considered spaces where informal learning can occur especially when the communication between exhibits and visitors is facilitated. A research is presented here, in which the effects on knowledge, problem solving and attitudes towards science in mediated visits to an exhibition about biological evolution (which tends to be a communicative difficult theme) are evaluated. The results show that there is no significant gaining between the two first aspects in the case of guided visits, but instead, the presence of museum guides helps to solve questions and promotes the desire to visit again. So, the guides are an invaluable support to explore visitor’s previous information and to reduce the dislike for a particular topic. Besides, it enhances the attention on the main subject of the exhibition and helps to fulfill the expectances of the visit. All this promotes the desire to have a longer visit, which can increase the time spent in the museum. These findings will have to be taken into account in the guide’s preparation.

Preferencias y necesidades del profesorado o acompañante de grupo que visita un Museo Interactivo de Ciencias

The considerations of teachers or groups leaders that visit an Interactive Science Museum are an important factor to improve the non-formal learning in science. To do this, a questionnaire was developed and it was supplied to 218 teachers or group leaders to obtain outstanding information about objectives, pre-visit and post-visit activities, contents of the curriculum contemplated, positive aspects and that they would like to make in the next visit. It’s remarkable the inclusion of school groups of compulsory education, formal education groups such as High School, Vocational Training, Special Education, Adult Education and University as well as social groups like NGOs promoting a research for everyone in an interactive learning space.

Aplicación del diseño centrado en usuarios en juegos educativos interactivos de museo

El estudio examina el desarrollo de una serie de juegos interactivos educativos multimedia creados para enseñar conceptos de física a niños en el Museo Interactivo de Ciencias de Quito. La investigación resalta el uso de una metodología centrada en el usuario (jugador) y en el desarrollo de los juegos. Se destaca el trabajo realizado con modelos mentales, que permitieron alcanzar altos índices de satisfacción y de interpretación por parte del público. Se demuestran los beneficios de generar productos locales, creados desde y para sus propios usuarios, y se dan recomendaciones para futuras investigaciones que otorguen importancia al contexto local.

From bench to museum—an unlikely journey

Deciding to “leave the bench” and basic research after committing many, many years to graduate school is not an easy thing to do. There is real pressure from peers, principal investigators (PIs), even parents, to stick it out and follow a more established career path, either to academia or the biotech industry. In my case, I realized fairly early on in graduate school that the traditional options were not areas I was interested in pursuing. I also felt strongly about how science was frequently misrepresented in popular culture and the media. The epiphany—that I was “okay” leaving basic research, despite not really knowing what else was out there—came late one night, in the cold room of all places. I trotted down the hall of our building and announced this to my friend and classmate (also working in a cold room) who was having similar thoughts herself. We highfived. We would support each other. We would be okay. Fast-forward 15 years. I now work at the Exploratorium, an interactive science museum in San Francisco, directing the museum’s Living Systems Department. In this essay, I discuss how I wound up at the Exploratorium and what it is like to work in a museum environment, creating science experiences for the general public.

Exposições sobre Comunicação Humana em museus interativos de ciências

OBJETIVOS: Investigar a existência de exposições ou exibições sobre temas relacionados à Comunicação Humana em museus interativos de ciências nacionais e internacionais e analisar o conteúdo para verificar quais são os assuntos, relacionados à área de Fonoaudiologia, abordados nos museus. MÉTODOS: Análise dos sites de 40 museus de ciência e/ou tecnologia internacionais e 20 nacionais para identificação de exposições ou exibições relacionadas ao tema "Comunicação Humana". RESULTADOS: A maioria dos museus pesquisados possui exposições ou exibições relacionadas ao tema Comunicação Humana. Dentre os nacionais apenas quatro possuem uma exposição inteira relacionada ao tema e dentre os internacionais treze possuem exposições inteiras. A quantidade de exibições internacionais é maior que a encontrada nos nacionais, e a qualidade do material também diverge. A maioria dos museus trata da acústica e em segundo lugar da recepção da mensagem pela audição e fala menos sobre produção da mensagem, linguagem, e anatomia e fisiologia da voz. CONCLUSÃO: Os museus de ciência abordam as ciências básicas e por esse motivo a acústica é muito explorada. Foram encontradas muitas exibições sobre temas relacionadas à Comunicação Humana que possibilitam aos indivíduos conhecer o funcionamento do corpo humano, despertando a curiosidade em relação ao tema abordado. Como os museus são instituições de divulgação científica e educação informal que colaboram para a alfabetização científica da população a Fonoaudiologia pode aproveitar seus espaços para divulgação de suas pesquisas e de seu conhecimento sobre a Comunicação Humana.

Deepening Students' Scientific Inquiry Skills During a Science Museum Field Trip

Field trips to science museums can provide students with educational experiences, particularly when museum programs emphasize scientific inquiry skill building over content knowledge acquisition. We describe the creation and study of 2 programs designed to significantly enhance students' inquiry skills at any interactive science museum exhibit without the need for advanced preparation by teachers or chaperones. The programs, called Inquiry Games, utilized educational principles from the learning sciences and from visitor studies of museum field trips. A randomized experimental design compared 2 versions of the games to 2 control conditions. Results indicate that the groups that learned the Inquiry Games significantly outperformed the control groups in the duration and quality of several inquiry skills when using a novel exhibit, with effect sizes ranging from 0.3σ to 0.8σ. The highest gains came from an Inquiry Game that was structured and collaborative rather than spontaneous and individualized. Students and chaperones in all conditions reported enjoying the experience. These results mirror those found in a previous study in which family groups learned the Inquiry Games.

Mapping the web relations of science centres and museums from Latin America

In Latin America, interactive science centres and museums are key institutions for science communication. In order to map their relationship over the Internet, a Web co-link analysis was applied to 18 websites of science centres and museums affiliated to the Network for the Popularization of Science and Technology in Latin America and the Caribbean - RedPOP. Clustering analysis, multidimensional scaling (MDS) and an analysis of all pages with links to at least two websites were performed. Results showed that language barriers played a prominent role in clustering, with external recognition by the target public representing a secondary issue.

Incorporating Handheld Computers into a Public Science Center: A Design Research Study

ABSTRACT The feasibility of using handheld computers to customize learning opportunities was explored using a design research process with 68 visitor groups to a small interactive science museum and aquarium. The authors discuss the iterations of the research process, reasons given for both using and not using the handheld computers, and findings related to participants' prior use of handheld computers and their perception of the effects of using the device on their visit. The authors discuss the findings in light of current research on visitor motivations and identities, as well as models of customization. Recommendations for practitioners interested in implementing similar programs, and suggestions for further research are included.

Science is not for me. Visitors’ attitudes to learning in an Italian science centre

Following the example of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, interactive science museums are meant to be informal and enjoyable places where visitors, regardless of their age and background, are stimulated to practice their abilities to explore the world from a scientific point of view or to reacquire it in the case of adults who are far from science for professional reasons. Our study, which belongs to a relatively recent, but increasingly richer and complex tradition of researches on this topic, aims at contributing to answering the question whether, within the context of hands-on museums, this desired reacquisition of scientific exploration actually occurs for all visitors; more precisely, it aims at contributing to the discussion resulting from this question with reference to both possible answers and methods to find them. The study described below was carried out for a Science Communication Master thesis in Trieste (student: Monia Cardella, supervisor: Paola Rodari) and, therefore, it is inevitably limited: in fact, in order to deal with such a complex issue and to perform more detailed investigations on the field longer time and more resources would have been necessary. However, both methods used and results obtained from it, although provisional, are significant enough to deserve our attention.

Birth of a science centre. Italian phenomenology

In May 2004 the Balì Museum, Planetarium and interactive science museum, was opened to the public in Italy: 35 hands-on exhibits designed according to the interactive tradition of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, an astronomic observatory for educational activities, a Planetarium with 70 places. With a total investment of about three million euros, about two thirds of which were spent on restructuring the splendid eighteenth-century villa in which it is housed, the undertaking may be considered a small one in comparison with other European science centres. Three million euros: perhaps enough to cover the cost of only the splendid circular access ramp to the brand-new Cosmocaixa in Barcelona, an investment of one hundred million euros. But the interesting aspect of the story of the Balì Museum (but also of other Italian stories, as we shall see) lies in the fact that this lively and advanced science centre stands in the bucolic region of the Marches, next to a small town of only 800 inhabitants (Saltara, in the Province of Pesaro and Urbino), in a municipal territory that has a total of 5000. Whereas in Italy the projects for science centres comparable with the Catalan one, for example projects for Rome and Turin, never get off the ground, smaller ones are opening in small and medium-sized towns: why is this? And what does the unusual location of the centres entail for science communication in Italy? This Focus does not claim to tell the whole truth about Italian interactive museums, but it does offer some phenomenological cues to open a debate on the cultural, economic and political premises that favour their lives.

A study of user experiences mediated by nomadic web content in a museum

Abstract How should nomadic web content be designed to improve and transform user experiences in a hands‐on museum? In this study, 15 users were studied while using an electronic guidebook designed to augment user experiences via wireless technologies at the Exploratorium, an interactive science museum. Several recurring themes emerged from the analysis, such as users' sense of isolation and users' attempts to make a seamless transition between real‐place and virtual contexts. This paper shares a preliminary framework for organising user interactions with handheld devices, user experiences based on interviews and insights regarding the role of nomadic web content.

Conceptual understandings resulting from interactive science exhibits

This study is an investigation of relationships among students’ free exploration of interactive science museum exhibits, conceptual understandings, and cognitive developmental levels. Forty-five subjects, ages 5 to 13, were classified as preoperational, concrete operational (empirical-inductive), or formal operational (hypothetical-deductive). Subjects interacted with science exhibits requiring empirical-deductive (EI) or hypothetical-deductive (HD) reasoning to understand the inherent science concepts. Ninety-five percent of the subjects demonstrated complete or partial understanding of the exhibits’ concepts that necessitated EI, or concrete reasoning. In contrast, 94% of the subjects that interacted with exhibits requiring HD, or formal, reasoning demonstrated misconceptions or no understanding of the associated concepts. Students within each developmental level demonstrated significantly greater understanding of the concepts from exhibits requiring EI reasoning than from exhibits requiring HD reasoning.

Development of knowledge about electricity and magnetism during a visit to a science museum and related post-visit activities

This article reports on part of a larger study of how 11- and 12-year-old students construct knowledge about electricity and magnetism by drawing on aspects of their experiences during the course of a school visit to an interactive science museum and subsequent classroom activities linked to the science museum exhibits. The significance of this study is that it focuses on an aspect of school visits to informal learning centers that has been neglected by researchers in the past, namely the influence of post-visit activities in the classroom on subsequent learning and knowledge construction. This study provides evidence that the integrated series of post-visit activities resulted in students constructing and reconstructing their personal knowledge of science concepts and principles represented in the science museum exhibits, sometimes toward the accepted scientific understanding and sometimes in different and surprising ways. A descriptive interpretive approach was adopted, with principal data sources comprising student-generated concept maps and semistructured interviews at three stages of the study. Findings demonstrate the interrelationships between learning that occurs at school, home, and in informal learning settings. The study also underscores for classroom teachers and staff of science museums and similar centers the importance of planning pre- and post-visit activities. The importance of this planning is not only to support the development of scientific conceptions, but also to detect and respond to alternative conceptions that may be produced or strengthened during a visit to an informal learning center. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed84:658–679, 2000.

The effectiveness of orienting students to the physical features of a science museum prior to visitation

This paper reports on a study in the area of informal science education in the contexts of science museums. The research focused upon two areas: first, perceived novelty and its effect on cognitive learning in year eight students visiting an interactive science museum; second, the links between exhibits which were most frequently recalled and exhibits which students later recalled as being interesting and puzzling. Results on a post-test of cognitive learning of concepts and principles associated with the exhibits suggested that students who underwent novelty reducing pre-orientation to the physical environment and had prior visitation experience learned more than their counterparts. Gender did not influence learning when perceived novelty level and prior exposure were considered. Furthermore, the most frequently recalled exhibits shared a combination of characteristics such as large physical size, prominence in the exhibit galleries, and the diversity of sensory modes that they employed. Finally, it appears that cognitive learning is likely to occur for exhibits which are most memorable.

Time-based behaviors at an interactive science museum: Exploring the differences between weekday/weekend and family/nonfamily visitors

The purpose of this study was to determine if time-based learning-associated visitor behaviors at interactive science museums differ across weekend/weekday groups and family/nonfamily groups. Forty-seven visitors were tracked through two interactive, thematic exhibitions at the Reuben Fleet Science Center. Statistical analysis of five separate dependent measures showed that: (a) regardless of the day of the visit, families spent more time than nonfamilies in individual exhibitions and in the science museum as a whole; (b) there was a separation of weekday visitors into two distinct groups: family visitors who spent, on average, almost 2 minutes per exhibit, and nonfamily visitors who spent, on average, less than 1 minute per exhibit; and (c) weekend family and nonfamily visitors did not differ in their average time spent per exhibit. These results are explained by a difference in visitor agendas and the crowded nature of weekend visits. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Sci Ed 81:689 - 701, 1997.