Engagement with an interactive museum exhibit

Abstract

Learning and engagement have been recognised as very important in defining the effectiveness of interactive museum exhibits. However the relationship between these two notions is not fully understood. In particular, little is known about engagement with interactive exhibits and how it relates to learning. This paper describes a hypothesis seeking approach to find out how children engage with an interactive exhibit at the Science Museum. Engagement is found to be described in terms of the three categories: participation, narration and co-presence of others. These aspects of engagement can be seen to arise from specific aspects of the interaction design of the exhibit. Moreover, they also overlap with features required for a positive learning experience. These findings suggest many fruitful directions for future research in this area.