Young Visitors Research Articles

To Make A Difference: Interpersonal Meanings in Museum-Texts: A Case-Study of the Children’s Museum in Amman

Systemic Functional Linguistics explicates how texts communicate ideational, interpersonal, and textual meanings. Texts produced by cultural and pedagogic institutions, such as museums, depend on several discursive choices to construct interpersonal meanings communicated through the interaction between the institution, and what it stands for, and the interactant visitors. Museum-texts communicate to/with visitors meanings pertaining to social relationships construed by both the museum and its audience and communicate the mutual relationships between them in relation to role, status, social distance, and feelings of solidarity and affiliation. Meanwhile, children museums have become a widespread phenomenon that promote edifying missions communicated to children through entertaining, interacting, and learning. This study recognises how one exhibition, named ‘I am Change’ in the Children’s Museum in Amman, relies on verbal interpersonal communication to align its young visitors into shared dispositions and perspectives towards environmental concerns related to the importance of conserving electric energy and water resources in Jordan.

Measuring the Rothko experience in school visitors to modern art museums

Recent studies in museum education focus on the quality of visitor experience to help engagement. To understand how it occurs when it comes to dealing with young visitors to modern art museums, the researchers studied the esthetic experience of Mark Rothko’s masterpiece Untitled (1969) with 678 primary and 335 secondary students. Four dimensions—sensory, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual, are taken into consideration for the development and preliminary validation of a specific instrument to evaluate the so-called “Rothko experience.” Based on quantitative data analysis, results suggest that school visitors can experience Mark Rothko’s modern art intensely by perceiving changes in its color and other sensory features while making self-references to time and space vanish. Besides, cultural background makes a difference in intensely experiencing Rothko’s modern art. Suggestions are made for the development of pedagogical strategies that engage young audience in museum experience of modern art.

Conservation Aspects on Developing Geotourism for Young Tourists during the Covid-19 Pandemic in Silalahi Village

Sustainable tourism is a tourism concept that provides sustainability for tourist destinations in the future, where geo-tourism is part of it. Geotourism development in conservation is an action to protect the geo-site from damage. The research area is located in Silalahi Village on the coast of Toba Caldera, rich in geodiversity and historical-cultural suitable for young visitors. The factors of this study, i.e., Environmental Conservation Activities and Cultural Conservation Activities, were investigated using the mixed method. This study shows geotourism development based on the conservation aspect for youth tourists during the COVID-19 pandemic in Silalahi Village. Keywords: Geotourism; conservation aspects; young tourists; COVID-19 eISSN: 2398-4287© 2021. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v6i18.3063

BECOMING OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN ANATOMY AT POLTAVA STATE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY SINCE ITS FOUNDATION AND ITS MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS

In its becoming, Poltava State Medical University has passed a thorny path from the odontology faculty, created on the basis of the Kharkov Medical Academy in 1921, to the leading specialized institution for training medical and healthcare professionals. In 2021 the university has celebrated its 100th anniversary. In 1950, the Department of Human Anatomy moved to a new location and dedicated to the training of medical professionals, research activities. The scope of scientific research conducted at the department covered issues on the structure of glands of the mucous membranes, lymphoid tissue of the initial section of the digestive system, structural peculiarities of autonomic nervous system. The department put a lot of effort to equip microscopic, histological, histochemical and photo laboratories, to create the museum of the department. Scientists developed and manufactured various devices and techniques for conducting morphological studies, which made it possible to publish numerous methodological recommendations, textbooks, and to conduct research for the candidate and doctor degrees. The anatomical museum, refurbished and modernized in 2005 and known even abroad is the subject of honour not only for the department, but for the University as well. The museum is also a matter of utmost interest to young visitors during the Open Days, students from other universities. The Department of Human Anatomy seeks to capitalize on a number of pedagogical experiences and research achievements to transfer knowledge and know-how to young generation of students and scientists.

A Study on Youth Behavior towards the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve in Latvia

This paper reports the results of a study of young visitors’ intentions to visit the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve in Latvia (target audience Generation Z and Generation Y, 15–25-year-old youth—the oldest part of the Generation Z and the younger part of Generation Y have been studied). The integrated research method was used: an online survey was conducted for data collection (n=317) and focus group discussions and observations (three groups—two from Latvia and one from Estonia) were held to study youth traveling behaviour in the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve. Findings showed that most youth are highly motivated to visit biosphere reserve by push and pull factors and agreed that visiting the biosphere reserve relieves stress, helps them to socialize, and allows them to escape from their daily routine. Almost all respondents agreed that there was a lack of advertisements, information in foreign languages and visibility of the area, but they also stated that they would be more motivated to visit and revisit the biosphere reserve if they could see their friends visiting it and posting about it on social media. Research pointed out that there is significant difference between Generation Z and Generation Y in platforms used for searching for information, as well as required tourism infrastructure elements.

Inventing the New Art World: On Art Institutions and Their Audience

Howard S. Becker (2005 [1982]) and Vera L. Zolberg (1990) suggested the advent of new audiences to be one of the main common motors of change in artistic practice, where art institutions play an important role in delivering both aesthetic and educational experiences, but can also be criticized for persistent exclusivity and for how they create a participatory environment.
 The aim of this article is to examine the present-day relationship of art museums and galleries with their audiences while taking into account the role played by the advent of a new sociology of art, museum sociology, and the audience development, with all of them questioning the role of museums as socio-cultural institutions focused on the democratization of culture. By employing empirical research conducted in selected art institutions in the Czech Republic and Poland, I will examine how young visitors view art institutions in light of their recent quest for becoming the inclusive platforms of gaining knowledge about art, which promote and facilitate active participation rather than passive consumption.

Methodological development of children's interactive classes in the museum

The article describes the features of developing interactive programs for primary school students in the context of a literary museum and the successful experience of involving colleagues in this process. Speaking about such a form of museum work as a children's interactive lesson, the author draws attention to the specifics of both the preparation process and the conduct of the children's lesson itself. Working on such projects requires non-standard approaches, which are mostly not typical for classical museum studies. The very idea of a children's lesson arises from the desire of museum staff to tell about a particular topic in a language that is understandable and close to the children's audience. Every museum employee who has experience in conducting children's excursions knows that for young visitors, tactile sensations play an important role in cognition, as well as knowledge of the specifics of its functioning. Thus, an important task of the museum worker is to maintain a balance between attracting the children's audience and storing memorial exhibits.

Psychometric Assessment of Young Visitors at the National Museum Of Malaysia

Abstract: Museums have become an important institution for learning activities especially for young visitors as it provides significant function towards educational benefits and knowledge enrichment. The actual outcomes from learning experience need to be encountered in order to indicate satisfying experience level from museum visiting. However, the assessment of satisfying experience on museum visit is entirely lacking in the existing literatures. Therefore, this study proposes a set of assessment for young visitors in order to evaluate their satisfying experiences in museum. The items were adapted and developed from the concept of satisfying experiences established by museum practitioners. This paper aims to present evidence in order to show the validity of the survey data and the instrument meets the requirements of specific measurements as determined by Rasch model. It is hoped that the assessment of satisfying experience will benefit researchers as well as practitioners and educators in managing the quality of young visitors experience in museum. The literature also intends to add to the body of knowledge in museum context.
 
 Keywords: Learning, Museum, Rasch model, Satisfying experiences, Young visitors

Benefit segmentation of a summer destination in Uruguay: a clustering and classification approach


 Purpose
 
 This study aims to perform a benefit segmentation and then a classification of visitors that travel to the Rocha Department in Uruguay from the capital city of Montevideo during the summer months.
 
 
 
 Design/methodology/approach
 
 A convenience sample was obtained with an online survey. A total of 290 cases were usable for subsequent data analysis. The following statistical techniques were used: hierarchical cluster analysis, K-means cluster analysis, machine learning, support vector machines, random forest and logistic regression.
 
 
 
 Findings
 
 Visitors that travel to the Rocha Department from Montevideo can be classified into four distinct clusters. Clusters are labelled as “entertainment seekers”, “Rocha followers”, “relax and activities seekers” and “active tourists”. The support vector machine model achieved the best classification results.
 
 
 
 Research limitations/implications
 
 Implications for destination marketers who cater to young visitors are discussed. Destination marketers should determine an optimal level of resource allocation and destination management activities that compare both present costs and discounted potential future income of the different target markets. Surveying non-residents was not possible. Future work should sample tourists from abroad.
 
 
 
 Originality/value
 
 The combination of market segmentation of Rocha Department’s visitors from the city of Montevideo and classification of sampled individuals training various machine learning classifiers would allow Rocha’s destination marketers determine the belonging of an unsampled individual into one of the already obtained four clusters, enhancing marketing promotion for targeted offers.
 

미국 국립공원 주니어레인저 워크북 특성 및 국내 지형교육에의 시사점

Junior Ranger is a self-directed interpretation program for young visitors at national parks in the United States. The success of this program can be largely attributed to the role of an activity book which is given an applicant free of charge at a visitor center. This study aims to analyze the main characteristics of activity books for 14 national parks’ Junior Ranger and to draw some implications for Korean geomorphological education. Although the activity books are varied in size, volume and printing, all of them offer diverse activities which are composed of different contents related to park resources in four fields and are performed in different ways such as Q&A, picture and word game, and creative activity. The timeconsuming activities including attendance at a ranger-led program prevent the participant from making a superficial visit to be a junior ranger. The implications of the study are as follows: Firstly, the geomorphological education for children is needed to be strongly based on field experience learning and to be more carried out using a way of game rather than conventional Q&A, suggesting that it encourages students not to lose their interest for learning. Secondly, it is also necessary for the learning contents to be focused on various resources related to landform as well as landform itself. In addition, a creative activity such as writing verse or drawing feeling should be more applied to the geomorphological education in order to enhance their effects on affective domain beyond cognitive one. It is likely to be an alternative approach to understand landform by internalizing a sense of landform.

Informal science educators engaging preschool-age audiences in science practices

ABSTRACT Informal science educators’ goals for preschool-age audiences (ages 3–5 years) shape how they design opportunities for children and families to learn science. However, little research has explored the opportunities provided by informal science educators for preschool-age children to engage in science practices. We invited 12 informal science educators across multiple informal science venues (including nature parks, planetaria, and science centers) in the U.S. to be interviewed and observed facilitating programs with a preschool-age audience at their venue. Using thematic analysis, we found that while four out of twelve educators in our study provided opportunities for young children to engage in science practices, the remaining programs provide only intermittent (four educators) or no opportunities (four educators) for young visitors to do science as an active, social engagement with science phenomena in the natural world. The extent to which educators designed and engaged preschool-age children in science practices was reflected in their own beliefs about how young children do science. These findings can help researchers and practitioners develop professional development to support the informal science education community to build capacity towards deepening young visitors’ engagement with science as an evidence-based enterprise.

A young audience’s expectations of a contemporary museum of art

The aim of the article is a sociological analysis of the way young visitors (post-millennials) perceive art museums in the context of their expectations in a mobile communications era. This problem is very interesting because young visitors, members of the post-millennial generation, participate in social and cultural life in a quite different way than previous generations. This problem is also very important because just post-millennials will decide the fate of this kind of institution in the not too distant future. The analysis of the perception of museum institutions is based on the results of an empirical study carried out among high school students (16–20 years old). The main areas of interest in this study were their preferences in the style of visiting museum exhibitions, their opinions about the exhibition being visited, and their expectations regarding changes in the formula of presenting art in the museum space.

The “living history” format as one of the most promising areas of museum development

What is the attraction of the “living history” format in the development of a modern museum? This article is devoted to this issue and an attempt is made to clarify the specific differences between living history museums and classical ones, focusing on the possibility of the former to “immerse” the visitor in the recreated cultural and historical space of a certain era. The experience of Russian living history museums shows that by implementing new programs aimed at interacting with visitors, museums perform not only their main function of collecting and preserving, but also contribute to the popularization and comprehensive study of historical and cultural heritage as well as solving educational tasks. The author of the article aims to acquaint the reader with the most effective and popular projects to activate museum activities in the Krasnodar territory and the Southern Urals. Master classes on various topics, traveling exhibitions, costumed performances, quests, and, finally, festivals of historical reconstruction are just some of the modern forms of interaction with visitors, which can serve as a basis for developing interactive educational programs. The relevance and prospects of the immersive format in museum activities are provided by the need to solve the problems of fostering the cultural and historical memory among young visitors, the most popular museum audience, and the younger generation’s interest in living history. The implementation of new forms of interaction with the audience will help museums not only attract a wide range of visitors, but also increase financial opportunities for development and become more competitive.

Getty Museum Family Room – Educational Issues on Scaffolding and Transfer of Learning

AbstractIn order better to support children’s learning experiences, art museums have begun to establish interactive art exhibitions designed for family visitors. However, as more of these interactive exhibitions are established, some museum professionals are raising concerns about whether these exhibitions actually facilitate young visitors’ learning or impede them from engaging further with the art objects exhibited. Using the Family Room (FR) of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angles as a case study, this research examines the educational principles considered and the challenges encountered when conceptualising and implementing its interactive exhibition. My research shows that the FR project team emphasised three educational principles to be integrated into the exhibition design: (1) interactive learning, (2) family as a learning unit, and (3) enhance the learning of basic artistic elements. The FR’s overarching educational objective is to encourage transfer of learning between the FR to the Getty traditional art galleries. My research concludes with three suggestions to be considered in future practices of art museum education (1) the limits and potentials of interactives, (2) the interactive exhibition design and scaffolding, and (3) transfer of learning between galleries.

A forest experience does not always evoke positive emotion: A pilot study on unconscious facial expressions using the face reading technology

Studies have demonstrated that a forest experience can improve the mental state of visitors. The questionnaire methodology accounts for most of current findings, but subjective bias in self-reported scores cannot be eliminated. In this study, FireFACE V3.0 software was used to evaluate facial expressions of visitors unconsciously entering (urban experiencer) or leaving an urban forest park (forest experiencer) from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. A total of 458 photos were tested for the hit-rate of machine-recognized facial expression scores to those identified by experts. Neutral, happy, sad, and scared expressions passed the validation test and were used for further analysis. The positive response index (PRI) was calculated as the difference between happy and sad scores. All five variables were analyzed by a mixed-model analysis of variance of walking direction (into the park vs. out of the park), gender (male vs. female), and age (senior, middle-aged, and young) on repeated records every 30 min in a daytime except noon. In the morning, pedestrians walking out of the forest park did not show more positive expressions than those leaving the park. Young visitors walking through the exit averaged a higher sadness score but a lower PRI than middle-aged visitors. In the afternoon, middle-aged visitors walking through the entrance averaged a higher PRI relative to young visitors leaving the park in the morning. Compared to urban experiencers, forest experiencers averaged lower scores for neutral and scared expressions, but forest experiencers unlikely revealed more positive expressions. Therefore, a forest experience does not always evoke positive expression on unconscious faces which was a responsive variable to go with time. Middle-aged people are encouraged to walk in forests with a longer time than youths in the morning. Male visitors, especially those in senior ages, are suggested to spend more time in forests than females.

Nature-based solutions and their potential to attract the young generations

This study aims to explore how Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) are perceived by the young generations, and to see if NBS are capable of attracting young visitors to a specific area. Young generations are generally considered as being more sensitive towards nature and sustainability issues. In this context, planning and developing NBS may prove to be a powerful instrument to raise the interest of young people towards formerly degraded urban and peri-urban areas and ecosystems. The results of a survey focused on a specific NBS site and involving 1543 university students demonstrate that gender is the factor that most influences the perception of NBS. Females tend to have a good knowledge and a positive perception of NBS, and they are keen to visit sites where NBS are present; in contrast, males emerge as a very heterogeneous group, with different levels of knowledge and perception of NBS among them, as well as different attitudes towards visiting NBS sites. The results of this study are expected to help decision-makers plan the development of NBS sites and target potential visitors. Further research on the topic is finally recommended.

A Combined Strategy of Additive Manufacturing to Support Multidisciplinary Education in Arts, Biology, and Engineering.

This research presents results for the design and creation of supporting teaching materials using additive manufacturing. The materials are inspired by selected artwork of four animal species, which belong to a collection from the museum of the University of Antioquia. The topic selected was fauna in Colombia, and the animals in question were chosen based on important roles they have in areas like health, the environment, and food. These animals will complement science education given to several age groups visiting the museum. In addition to the 3D-manufactured objects, a study was conducted using several age groups that are very relevant to the museum: children, teenagers, and first year undergraduate students. A video showing technical information cards about the manufacturing process was also developed. This project was multidisciplinary, involving collaboration between the engineering school, the museum, and a local high school. The results showed that young visitors want complete information on the animals and to have interaction with the animal models, which is not always possible. This project serves as a local strategy not only for taking arts and knowledge out of the museum but also for planning first year courses in the university and thus reducing problems like school dropout, low motivation, and poor performance in national exams.

Influence of Cognitive and Emotional Advertisements on Biosphere Reserve Image and Visitation Intention for Youth

The purpose of this study is to explore the role of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve’s image (functional, symbolic and experiential) in building young visitors’ intentions to visit biosphere reserves. Integrated research methods were used. An online survey was conducted for data collection (n=295), and focus group discussions and observations (three groups - two from Latvia and one from Estonia) were conducted about youth traveling behavior in the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve. Descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling were used to analyze data. Findings showed that the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve has a weak image in the perception of young people. Most respondents agreed that visiting biosphere reserves relieves stress, helps them to socialize, and allows them to escape from daily routine; additionally, they noted that they would visit protected areas more often if they would see their friends visiting them. Youth 15–19 was more excited, pleasureful, and excited about visiting biosphere reserves, but youth 20–25 was more neutral about it. Both groups agreed that there was a lack of advertisements and visibility of these areas on social media platforms. Research results showed that improving functional, symbolic, and emotional images of the North Vidzeme Biosphere Reserve will have a positive effect on youth visiting and revisiting intentions.

Foreigners, fakes and flycatchers: stereotypes, social encounters and the problem of discomfort on the street in Arusha, Tanzania

PurposeThis paper aims to contribute to research on the interrelations between urban tourism, travelling and landscapes. It shows how young visitors to the tourism-reliant city of Arusha, northern Tanzania, experience and interpret discomfiting encounters with street sellers by drawing on stereotypes circulating in guidebooks, online forums and in the tourism industry. In turn, such re-interpreted encounters are increasingly seen as problematic for the city’s development of urban tourism.Design/methodology/approachThe author draws on extensive ethnographic fieldwork with tourist-product street sellers in Arusha and Moshi, Tanzania in 2015–2017. With detail-oriented focus on social interaction and communication, the author has used participant observation and interviews to understand the perspectives and actions involved. Complementing this, the author draws on interviews with tour companies and local authorities to connect everyday occurrences with broader political, economic and urban transformations.FindingsThis paper explores the interrelation between changing urban landscapes, gentrification and burgeoning urban tourism by highlighting not only how streets are created and sought to be re-created but how also re-interpreted stories and stereotypes fundamentally influence how it is understood by local authorities. As the consumption of place, shopping and foreigners’ experiences take centre stage in Arusha’s urban development project, practices and people that are re-interpreted as causes of discomfort, become objects of ordering and discipline.Originality/valueThis paper emphasizes that the social encounters beyond dichotomies of host–guest relationships are a fruitful and important means of investigating how “encounters” connect space to power, the street to urban planning and mundane on-the-street interactions to processes of transformation and gentrification. This paper presents a reading of “landscapes” not as a text, but as a series of encounters that catch our attention when and where they break our norms, or the norms of others.

The Potency of Design in Holocaust Exhibitions. A Case Study of The Imperial War Museum’s Holocaust Exhibition (2000)

Holocaust exhibitions are known for their unique iconography, often constructed by means of exhibition design. This article focuses on how visitors construct meaning based on display choices made by exhibitions designers. It presents insights from an audience research study which was conducted with young visitors of The Holocaust Exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London. It addresses how design choices impact on the visitor’s engagement and understanding of the Holocaust Exhibition. By drawing on visitor comments, this article shows that design plays a significant role in shaping visitors’ understanding of the Holocaust, as well as their level of engagement, focus and emotional response. It further makes several practical suggestions, informed by visitor feedback, regarding the development of new Holocaust exhibition designs.