ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. ***************************************************************************** Well, having seen the Crime Scene Insects exhibit, it is kinda text heavy and I can see why some might not want to look too closely! But in any case, we did some measuring of dwell time (far from as thoroughly as many other institutions, but we did it), and 'human delivered experiences' had a far higher dwell time that unmanned ones. For example, mean time people spent looking at a plexiglass case containing bones/fossils: 21 seconds. Mean time they spent checking out bones fossils on a table with a staff member: 205 seconds. And to cite the intuitive rather than quantitative... it's no surprise that visitors dig the HDE. Many people enjoy social interactions, and signage or written/computer instructions/info may not have the particular answer/info that the visitor wants. Plus, HDE can provide things that unstaffed exhibits just can't (be it live animals, liquid nitrogen or the Mentos n Soda demo). Jonah Cohen Outreach & Public Programs Manager The Children's Museum (formerly the Science Center of Connecticut) "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." -Albert Einstein -----Original Message----- From: Eric Siegel [mailto:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 9:45 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Human delivered experiences ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions. **************************************************************************** * Hello, all: We have been noticing something anecdotally, and I am wondering if others have similar experience. Visitors to the Hall seem increasingly to be interested in our scheduled demo's, cart based programs, and interactive theater programs (programs involving human facilitation). Similarly, visitors always rate our Explainers as the high point of the visitor experience here. In a traveling exhibition we are hosting, Crime Scene Insects, I have been noticing that almost all the visitors crowd around the live bug cart, facilitated by an Explainer, that we bring in. I am wondering whether anecdotal evidence or systematic research is available to assess the importance of these "human delivered experiences" (demos, cart programs, science lunch counters, facilitated labs, theater programs) vis a vis their counterparts of unfacilitated experiences such as exhibitions, media kiosks, etc. I am not including formal workshops and classes in my thinking about these experiences, as they seem to be less "free choice" from the visitors pov. I will be glad for any pointers in that direction from the ASTC List swarm mind. Eric Siegel Executive VP Programs and Planning NY Hall of Science 47-01 111th Street Queens, NY 11368 [log in to unmask] 718 699 0005 x 317 www.nyscience.org *********************************************************************** More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org. To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to [log in to unmask] *********************************************************************** More information about the Informal Science Education Network and the Association of Science-Technology Centers may be found at http://www.astc.org. To remove your e-mail address from the ISEN-ASTC-L list, send the message SIGNOFF ISEN-ASTC-L in the BODY of a message to [log in to unmask]