Assessing learning in museum environment: A practical guide for museum evaluators - Ben Gammon - Head of Learning & Audience Development Science Museum, London, November 2003
Background: To answer the question “are visitors learning in museums?” requires complex and lengthy longitudinal studies lasting months or even years. Such studies are invaluable for museum professionals in planning and developing new exhibitions, events etc but are nearly always beyond the means of most institutions. Most museum projects are run over much shorter periods of time and require data on visitors’ learning far more quickly than can be provided by academic research.
The aim of this paper is to provide a practical guide to quickly but reliably assessing the educational value of an exhibit, exhibition, event, web-based resources etc within the constraints of time, money and staff faced by most museums. Rather than trying to assess learning we focus upon the process of learning. In other words rather than asking, “Has learning taken place?” we ask “Is learning taking place?” Or more specifically:
- Is there a potential for visitors to have learnt from this experience?
- What barriers are there to visitors’ learning?
The objectives of this paper are to define:
- what we mean by ‘learning in museums’
- indicators that learning is taking place and how they would be assessed
- indicators that barriers to learning are present and how these would be identified
To put it another way:
- What should we hear and see if visitors are having a learning experience?
- What would we hear and see if visitors are experiencing a barrier to learning?
These experiences do not, of course, encompass all of the possible outcomes of a museum visit. Other cultural and social outcomes exist and are just as valid (see appendix 1). However, the aim of this system is specifically to address the question of whether the educational outcomes of an exhibition have been met.
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