The perceptions and behaviour of children and their families in child-orientated museum exhibitions

Abstract

This study explores the part that child-orientated exhibitions play in the child and family \nmuseum experience. Such exhibitions are characterised by their distinctive approaches to \nlearning, interpretation, and design, being especially devised for children. The research was \ncarried out in children's galleries from three types of museum (a maritime museum, a science \nmuseum, and a children's museum) in order to compare and contrast similarities and \ndifferences between them. Since most of the research in this area has been carried out in \nscience centres or science museums, there is a need to explore the situation in child-orientated \nexhibitions and compare it to studies carried out in other informal learning settings. \nUnderstanding the qualities of their experience in a child-orientated exhibition which children \nand families value and why and how design and interpretation decisions may affect family \nbehaviour, perceptions, and learning, will enable educators, museum designers and other \nmuseum professionals to plan more responsive and meaningful child-centred exhibitions. \nChildren from seven to eleven years old and their accompanying adults were considered in this \nstudy. The research involves both qualitative and quantitative approaches and the use of \ndifferent methods of investigation, such as face-to-face interviews with children and an adult \nrelative; unobtrusive observation of family group interactions at three exhibits in each gallery; \nand collection of children's drawings about their favourite exhibit in the galleries. The sample \nsizes for each investigation varied: 150 families, totaling 300 individuals, were interviewed (150 \nadults and 150 children); 450 different family groups were observed at the galleries (150 in \neach gallery); and 120 children's drawings were collected. The guiding principle was to adopt \nan holistic approach to the situation under investigation, taking into consideration Falk & \nDierking's interactive museum experience model (Falk & Dierking, 1992), which considers the \npersonal, social, and physical contexts of a museum visit. \nFindings from the observations indicated gender effects in adult splitting behaviour from the \nfamily group at exhibits according to family members joint-activity compositions, and that \ndifferences in exhibit design/tasks affected adult manipulation of hands-on exhibits and the \nlevel of proximity between family members. Nine attributes from attractive child-orientated \nexhibits were drawn from the observed exhibits: element of fun, challenging situation, element \nof surprise, child-sized exhibit design, imaginative design, opportunity for experiencing things, \nopportunity for role play, interactive machine/game, and teamwork. The analysis of the \nchildren's drawings revealed that drawings can be a valuable source of information about \nchildren's interactions with hands-on exhibits and can be used to assess children's \nunderstanding of exhibits through the depiction of the exhibit outcomes. \nThe interview data was analysed qualitatively (inductive content analysis) and statistically (chi-squared \ntests). The analysis of the open-ended interview questions indicated that adult \nrelatives were enthusiastic about the opportunity for the children to interact with exhibits and \nperceived the hands-on gallery approach as motivating to the child with regard to learning. \nChildren perceived the exhibitions as exciting places and reported positive feelings. A few \nchildren mentioned negative feelings, which were related to problematic exhibit design. The \nmajority of children said that they prefer to visit museums in a family context rather than in a \nschool context. The statistical analysis of the closed questions indicated twenty-two significant \nassociations between the adults' and children's interview variables, related to adults' and/or \nchildren's age, gender, education, perceptions, behaviour, preferences, visiting habits, and type \nof museum, supporting the notion that personal, social, and museum aspects affect the child's \nand adult's museum experience, perceptions and learning. Children's perceptions of their \nlearning in the galleries were found to be affected by the time spent in the gallery, the type of \nmuseum, the accompanying relative, and the child's preference for the social context of the \nmuseum visit. \nThis investigation provided new insights into the study of galleries designed for children, and \nhas demonstrated that child-orientated exhibitions have features which positively affect the \nchild and family museum experience, that children do perceive that they are learning in this \nenvironment, and that it is a effective catalyst for family social activity. Therefore, child-orientated \nexhibitions are a valuable museum provision for the child and family audiences.

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