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Cindy
I think you are correct (I actually had some inside knowledge of the work
because John Gilbert was in discussion with us over some complementary work
we were doing on the psychology of interaction around the same time). The
main paper I have is actually one written for a symposium at Questacon.
To throw another idea into the pot, when we were producing an exhibition on
a controversial topic for a commercial client we developed a shorthand
version of our editorial argument (you can see the full policy here:
http://www.sparkingreaction.info/editorial_policy.shtml). Essentially our
argument is that an individual's opinions on a given subject are a product
of (among other things) their innermost beliefs and values which they use to
process the information they have to hand. To influence someone's opinions
(which we don't wish to do, but some of the views we presented did) then you
have very little chance of altering their value system, but you can change
the amount and nature of the information they have. However, because you
don't know the detail of their value system, it is very difficult to predict
how their opinions will develop. I don't have a body of research to back me
up on this, but from the perspective of the exhibition which was paid for by
one party in a complex subject, the result has been that our visitors engage
in a meaningful debate with more confidence than before (this replaced a
previous exhibition) and from a better-informed starting point, but the
balance of views is relatively unchanged from the national average.
Sorry, this is a bit of a tangent from the original question. I think the
point I'm getting to is that we can only do so much to influence outcomes,
so the quality of the experience (e.g. the debate in our example) becomes
more important, as Bob Russell said.
Regards
Andy
Andy Lloyd tel. +44 (0) 20 7942
4377
Interaction & Technology Specialist fax +44 (0) 20 7942 4383
Science Museum Solutions www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
NMSI Trading Limited, Exhibition Road, London, SW7 2DD, United Kingdom
-----Original Message-----
From: Cindy Chambers [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Monday, May 31, 2004 5:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Evaluation Suggestions Wanted
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*
Hi Andy and David,
Andy, I am guessing that you are referring to
"The Design of Interactive Exhibits to Promote the Making of Meaning"
Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 41-50, 2001
John K. Gilbert and Susan Stocklmayer
Or
"New experiences and old knowledge: towards a model for the personal
awareness of science and
technology"
Susan Stocklmayer, and John K. Gilbert,
International Journal of Science Education, 2002, VOL. 24, NO. 8, 835-858
Due to copyright, I cannot forward these articles to you, but I recommend
them if you are able to access them through a University library, or
purchase them through a commercial company such as www.infotrieve.com
I believe that Sue (who works at the National Centre for Public Awareness at
the Australian National University) is undertaking ongoing research into
interactive exhibits and personal meaning mapping of visitors. Other
articles written by Sue can be viewed at
http://info.anu.edu.au/CPAS/Publications/Journals.asp
Robin Garnett/Lendon no longer works for Questacon, but freelances from
Melbourne, Australia.
Leonie J Rennie (Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia) has
also published articles that may be of interest to you.
http://www.curtin.edu.au/curtin/dept/smec/staff/rennie.html
Falk and Dierking will be publishing an article on the long term impact of
interactive exhibits in a mid-year edition of Curator.
Cheers
Cindy Chambers
Questacon Exhibition Services
Canberra, Australia
Email [log in to unmask]
-----Original Message-----
From: Informal Science Education Network
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Lloyd Andy
Sent: Saturday, 29 May 2004 1:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Evaluation Suggestions Wanted
ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
institutions.
****************************************************************************
*
David
are you familiar with the work carried out by John Gilbert (The University
of Reading, UK), Susan Stocklmayer (Australian National University) and
Robin Garnett (Questacon) looking into the use of mental modelling in
visitors to the Questacon science centre and how their mental models are
shaped by their interaction with specific exhibits and, crucially, how these
are maintained after the visit. Part of the study involved phone interviews
with visitors several months later. The evidence seemed to be that visitors
were in many cases subconsciously using their science centre experience to
build mental models that they then used in later situations. This was
several years ago, and maybe someone from Questacon will know more about
whether this work continued, but it was the first hard evidence I
encountered of measurable long-term effects of science centre visits.
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