This article reviews how group variables (social interactions) play a role in museum learning as well as how exhibit variables influence group learning. Exhibit developers are encouraged to incorporate these findings into label development.
This article discusses memory processes: concepts for enhancing memory and types of memory. Studies cited relate to how memory processes influence visitor interaction with exhibit labels.
This paper discusses attention labels and differentiates between sensory orientation and motivational attention. Studies related to each aspect of attention are included to demonstrate how different variables influence each type of attention.
In this article, Carol Scott, Evaluation and Visitor Research Coordinator at the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, provides a brief overview of evaluation and visitor research efforts in Australia. Scott establishes the context for the practice of evaluation and visitor research in Australia and identifies the indicators that point to an emerging field with important significance for museums in the area.
In this article, Gillian Savage of Environmetrics (Sydney) discusses exhibit planning and research efforts for the development of the Visitor Center at the Australian Institute of Sport.
In this article, Leonie J. Rennie and Terence P. McClafferty, researchers at Curtin University of Technology in Western Austalia, discuss their efforts to study how young children use interactive exhibits designed from 3 to 7 year olds. The authors analyze play and its relationship with learning.
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Leonie J. RennieTerence P. McClafferty
In this article, Lynda Kelly, Evaluation Coordinator at the Australian Museum, discusses the importance of titles in developing exhibitions in museums. Kelly cites evaluation studies at the Australian Museum for five exhibitions and key findings from these efforts.
In this article, Lynda Kelly, Evaluation Coordinator at the Australian Museum, discusses the challenges of exhibit evaluation and visitor research for audiences of and exhibits about indigenous peoples. In particular, Kelly discusses the evaluation work associated with the "Indigenous Australians: Australia's First Peoples" exhibit.
In this article, Ilze Groves of Questacon, Australia's national interactive science and technology centre, discusses the museum's efforts in 1996 to evaluate a group of sixteen prototype hands-on exhibits. This study involved visitor observations and interviews.
In this article, Judith Gleeson, of the Communication and Language Studies Department at Victoria University of Technology in Melbourne, discusses the role of narrative discourse in the museum experience and evaluation. Gleeson sites a study through the Australian Woman's Weekly that analyzed letters from people featuring narratives of why they visited museums.