A must for exhibit developers, researchers, educators, and other museum professionals looking for ways to engage visitors more deeply with interactive science exhibits, this book documents the exploration and findings of the Exploratorium’s Active Prolonged Engagement project, funded by the National Science Foundation. Both a significant contribution to visitor research and a nuts-and-bolts guide to exhibit development, Fostering Active Prolonged Engagement includes 15 APE Tales (exhibit recipes with photos, drawings, and detailed construction specifications); discussions of setting explicit goals for visitors’ exhibit experiences; research and evaluation methods and results; and lessons learned for building constructivist-style exhibits.

"A must for exhibit developers, researchers, educators, and other museum professionals looking for ways to engage visitors more deeply with interactive science exhibits, this book documents the exploration and findings of the Exploratorium’s Active Prolonged Engagement project, funded by the National Science Foundation. Both a significant contribution to visitor research and a nuts-and-bolts guide to exhibit development, Fostering Active Prolonged Engagement includes 15 APE Tales (exhibit recipes with photos, drawings, and detailed construction specifications); discussions of setting explicit goals for visitors’ exhibit experiences; research and evaluation methods and results; and lessons learned for building constructivist-style exhibits."--Provided by publisher.

A New Role for Museum Educators shows how learning happens in communities, how volunteers and professionals approach their work, the underlying principles and philosophies that guide the work of museum education, and how these practices are always evolving to remain relevant. Museum education in its most expansive definition is about communicating messages, creating learning experiences, and, at its most aspirational, promoting human development for people of all backgrounds, abilities, and circumstances. This edited volume revisits the legacy of museum education practices, reflecting on the changing context of community and the role of cultural institutions, and provides insights into new directions that museums can take with a visitor-centered mindset. It provides foundational concepts around educational philosophies that guide practice, applied methods and approaches for implementation, and the ethos of an educational institution intended to support community learning and engagement that are essential to provide for the wide-ranging needs of all audiences. International perspectives from a variety of museums are considered, including art museums, children’s museums, history museums and historic sites, science museums, botanical gardens, zoos, and aquariums. Chapters include thought-provoking reflections on contemporary practices, concrete examples from across the globe, and useful tools for anyone working with public audiences. Grounded in practice and informed by research, this volume will be a go-to resource for arts and cultural organization practitioners, particularly those working in Museum Education. It will also be essential reading for students of Museum Studies, Education, and related fields

Researchers in cognitive development are gaining new insights into the ways in which children learn about the world. At the same time, there has been increased recognition of the important role that visits to informal learning institutions plays in supporting learning. Research and practice pursuits typically unfold independently and often with different goals and methods, making it difficult to make meaningful connections between laboratory research in cognitive development and practices in informal education. Recently, groundbreaking partnerships between researchers and practitioners have resulted in innovative strategies for linking findings in cognitive development together with goals critical to museum practitioners, such as exhibit evaluation and design. Cognitive Development in Museum Settings offers an account of ways in which researchers in cognitive development partner with museum practitioners. Each chapter describes a partnership between academic researchers and museum practitioners and details their collaboration, the important research that has resulted from their partnership, and the benefits and challenges of maintaining their relationship. This approach illustrates cutting-edge developmental science, but also considers how researcher-practitioner interactions affect research outcomes and provide insight to questions common to practitioners. In addition, each set of researchers and practitioners discusses issues brought up by the partnership by posing questions concerning research-practice partnerships and research evidence, considering whether and how cognitive development research conducted in museum settings aligns with larger disciplinary interests in that field, and examining to what extent museum practitioners benefit from applying research on the development of cognitive processes to their educational practices.

The Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) Conference 2013 proceedings, Volume 1

This is the third edition of the first ever book to explore the exciting field of augmented reality art and its enabling technologies. The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, with 9 new chapters included. As well as investigating augmented reality as a novel artistic medium, the book covers cultural, social, spatial and cognitive facets of augmented reality art. It has been written by a virtual team of 33 researchers and artists from 11 countries who are pioneering in the new form of art, and contains numerous colour illustrations showing both classic and recent augmented reality artworks. Intended as a starting point for exploring this new fascinating area of research and creative practice, it will be essential reading not only for artists, researchers and technology developers, but also for students (graduates and undergraduates) and all those interested in emerging augmented reality technology and its current and future applications in art.

Beverly Serrell and Katherine Whitney cover the essentials of the processes of exhibit label planning, writing, design, and production. In this third edition, Serrell’s classic guide to writing interpretive exhibit labels is updated to include new voices, current scholarship and the unique issues the museum field is grappling with in the 21st century. With high quality photographs and new sections, this edition is more accessible and easier to use for all museum professionals, from label writers to museum directors to exhibit designers.