In this article, Jacksonville State University researcher Stephen Bitgood presents a general overview of the literature on field trips. Bitgood reviews the four phases of school field trip programs: planning of the program, pre-visit preparation, on-site activities, and follow-up activities. Bitgood cites studies that address each of phase and acknowledges gaps in current research.
In this brief article, Jacksonville State University researcher Stephen Bitgood discusses the value of front-end and formative evaluation as part of the exhibit label development process.
In this article, Jacksonville State University researcher Stephen Bitgood presents a review of exhibit label literature and techniques. Bitgood refers to Beverly Serrell's 1983 list of "eight deadly sins" from her manual, "Making Exhibit Labels: A Step by Step Guide," and cites visitor studies that support Serrell's list. Bitgood also explains visitors' reactions to labels in terms of empirical factors.
In this article, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee researcher Don Thompson shares methods and findings from a front-end evaluation of the Plains Indian Exhibit Area at the Milwaukee Public Museum, which was used to inform exhibit renovation plans. Thompson assessed visitor knowledge of key concepts, the role of existing exhibits in fostering knowledge of these concepts, and unforeseen successes or shortcomings of the exhibits.
This is a brief summary of an article by Michael Alt and Steven Griggs (1988) featured in "Curator." The authors review the processes of perception, short and long term memory, discuss "external myths" and "conceptual myths," and the value of "thinking aloud" as formative evaluation.
This is a summary of a publication by Michael Alt and Steven Griggs (1989), distributed by the Royal Ontario Museum, which provides a helpful model for others--both in terms of encouraging exhibit evaluation and in terms of how it might be accomplished. The publication summarizes four studies completed at the Royal Ontario Museum used to assess the "Mankind Discovering" exhibition from different perspectives: staff evaluation, visitor reaction, observational study of visitors, and visitor understanding and reaction to individual sections.
This is a brief summary of Barbara Birney's 1988 article featured in "Environment and Behavior," which discussed key findings from the formative evaluation of Brookfield Zoo's "Flying Walk" exhibit. The exhibit was designed to teach visitors the proper wing movement of birds.
This article summarizes methods and key findings of a study conducted as part of the planning for a proposed museum on The Southeastern Native Americans. Researchers assessed visitor interest in Native American exhibitions, the general public's knowledge, interests, and misconceptions about Native Americans, and potential audiences for the museum.
This document, released in September 2013, grew out of a Joint Committee of the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) that was convened to establish cross-agency guidelines for improving the quality, coherence, and pace of knowledge development in STEM education. In this report, the Joint Committee 1) defines the types of ED- and NSF-funded research that relates to the development and testing of interventions and strategies designed to increase learning, and 2) specifies how the types of research relate to one another, and describe the theoretical and
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This is a brief abstract of Donald Thompson's Master's Thesis at Jacksonville State University. Thompson studied over 5600 visitor groups at the Birmingham Zoo as they passed throu the entrance of the Predator House and studied visitor responses to interpretive signs of varied lengths, type sizes and proximities.
This is a brief abstract of Suzanne Hodges's Master's Thesis at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute. Hodges researched the influence of enlarged signs and less label copy on visitors' behavior at a small children's zoo in Virginia.
This is a brief abstract of Steve R. Hage's Master's Thesis at the University of Minnesota. Hage conducted an ethnographic study of family groups at the Japanese Snow Monkey exhibit in the Minnesota Zoo. Hage confirmed prior research that concluded visitors appear to be more interested in viewing active, attractive animals than learning about the natural history of animals.