ABSTRACT

Previous research from in and outside museums suggests that the haptic exploration of surfaces and objects have various educational benefits and can positively influence the museum visit experience. However, there is still a need for more research on the potential effects of object handling on museum learning, especially in science museums. The present study attempts to fill this research gap by investigating differences in museum visitors’ science learning when presenting them with photos of objects, real objects, or objects that can be handled. We used a multi-criteria approach in which we examined both cognitive and motivational-affective aspects. We found that the participants who were allowed to haptically explore the exhibition's objects showed a higher recollection of the objects and accompanying text topics and reported a higher perceived autonomy compared to the participants in the other two experimental conditions. Unexpectedly, for situational interest as well as for positive and negative affect, the participants in the photo-condition reported higher values than the participants in the other two conditions. Implications for instructional uses of tangible objects and further directions for research are discussed.

摘要

博物馆内外的先前研究表明，对表面和物体的触觉探索具有各种教育意义，并且可以对博物馆的参观体验产生积极影响。但是，仍然需要对对象处理对博物馆学习的潜在影响进行更多研究，尤其是在科学博物馆中。本研究试图通过向博物馆参观者展示物体，真实物体或可以处理的物体的照片时调查他们在科学学习方面的差异来填补这一研究空白。我们使用了一种多准则方法，在该方法中我们同时考察了认知和动机情感方面。我们发现被允许以触觉方式探索展览的参与者” 与其他两个实验条件下的参与者相比，的对象表现出对对象和附带的文本主题的更高的记忆力，并报告了更高的感知自主性。出乎意料的是，出于对情境的兴趣以及正面和负面的影响，光条件下的参与者报告的值高于其他两种情况下的参与者。讨论了有形物体的教学用途的含义和进一步的研究方向。