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Project Descriptions

Exhibition Layout and Visitor Movement in Science Museums -- A Small Grant for Exploratory Research

October 1, 2000 - May 31, 2002 | Exhibitions
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
  • Discipline: Education and learning science
    Audience: General Public | Museum/ISE Professionals | Evaluators
    Environment Type: Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits

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