With a Small Grant for Exploratory Research, we will identify and measure the properties of spatial layout that affect visitors' exploration and exposure to information in science museum exhibitions. It is the nature of museum learning that it is associated with movement in space. The ways in which displays are arranged in spatial sequences, the ability to simultaneously view different objects, the grouping of objects in space, the rate of change in directions, the relative distance between one display and another, all become powerful aspects of the presentation of knowledge that are far more important in the museum than they are in any other learning environment. This study will apply new techniques for spatial analysis to provide rigorous, quantitative descriptions of spatial layout. These descriptors will then be used to understand how layout affects visitor movement patterns in exhibitions.
Funders
NSF
Funding Program:
ISE/AISL
Award Number:
0196453
Funding Amount:
95334
TEAM MEMBERS
Jean Wineman
Principal Investigator
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
John Peponis
Co-Principal Investigator
Georgia Tech
If you would like to edit a resource, please email us to submit your request.