Chapter 28;The Relationship Among Interest, Attention And Learning In A Natural History Museum

Abstract

Abstract Research on visitor behavior in museums and other informal settings frequently reports “attracting” and “holding power” of exhibits. From these data researchers have inferred interest, attention and learning. Although psychological studies have explored the effect of interest on attention and learning, similar data have not been reported in museum literature. Conventional wisdom suggests that if an individual is interested in a topic, he/she will pay more attention to the topic and learn more about the topic. Research with both narrative prose and unrelated sentences suggests that this relationship does indeed exist. In these studies, increased attention is devoted to elements of a text in proportion to their interest. Because of the extra attention and processing activities supported by the extra attention, elements of interest are learned better than other elements. However, these results have not always been consistent. In this study, 47 College of Education undergraduates observed a sequence ...

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