ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Hi Joe,
I agree with you. I believe that museums are tools for learning. Mostly, I
believe museums are places of inspiration toward learning. I don't think we
can have expectations for visitors to leave an exhibit with a new "list" of
content they have just "learned" in an exhibit.
I'm just trying to figure out how to make better tools. What happens
sometimes is that we unintentionally reinforce misconceptions or make it too
difficult for a visitor to build new knowledge, rather than helping guide a
visitor to a better understand of some idea.
The brain has preferred ways of learning - of organizing information. My
colleague, Dr. Mike Connell, and I are trying figure out if the way we
physically design exhibits aligns with how the brain wants to learn, of if
our designs are interfering with how the brain learns. Not preventing a
visitor from learning, but unintentionally creating some roadblocks on the
way.
Here's an example that we use - which is not about exhibits. I'm going to
excerpt directly from a paper that Mike and I wrote (not yet published - so
I'd appreciate it if people on the list don't reproduce the following
paragraph):
"Researchers have discovered that children whose first language is English
have more difficulty learning our base-10 system of numbers than children
whose first language is Chinese . This is because the system of English
words for the numbers 1 through 20 encourages the brain to organize the
information as a base-20 system instead of a base-10 system. For example,
the word łeleven˛ gives children no clue that the associated number (11 = 10
+ 1) is łten and one˛ and it is not obvious to children that the word
łtwenty˛ refers to a number (20 = 10 + 10) that is łtwo tens.˛ The Chinese
number word system, in contrast, more closely mirrors the structure of the
Arabic numerals. The Chinese name for łeleven,˛ for example, translates
literally as łten-one˛ and the name for łtwenty˛ translates to łtwo-ten.˛
The base-10 Chinese system enhances learning of the base-10 concept because
it is consistent with it, whereas the base-20 English system interferes with
learning of the base-10 concept because it conflicts with it."
Now, obviously, English speaking children do learn base-10 math. But it
takes them a little longer. Are we sometimes creating the same problems in
the "language" of our exhibit designs?
Mike and I are trying to start a discussion in the museum community as we
start to explore this idea. We're presenting a session about this at ACM
this year and are looking for examples of "failed" or not-quite-successful
exhibits so we can see if revisions to the design might improve how visitors
gain understandings from the exhibit.
Sari Boren
Wondercabinet Interpretive Design, Inc.
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