Abstract In natural history museums, a large part of the educational mission is to facilitate family learning with and about objects. Questions on object labels can play a role in this learning process. In the current study, we investigated the effect that different types of questions on object labels can have on the reasoning conversations among family members. We audio-recorded family conversations at an exhibit that included a fossilized dinosaur egg and a text label containing a question. Sixty-six families participated in three conditions differing in the level of complexity of the question on the label. We found that a question of moderate complexity facilitated the longest conversations, with the largest number of complex inferences, compared to the simpler and the more complex question. When reasoning, families most often used evidence from prior knowledge and other parts of the exhibition, but did not often relate to personal experiences. During the longer and more complex conversations, parents took up a larger role in the conversation, facilitating their family’s reasoning process. We suggest that open-ended, moderately complex questions on labels can facilitate family reasoning conversations. Providing enough context within the surrounding exhibits and connecting to prior knowledge may help the reasoning process.

中文翻译：

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对自然历史博物馆中的物品进行推理：问题的复杂性对物品标签的影响

摘要 在自然历史博物馆中，很大一部分教育使命是促进家庭对物品的学习。关于对象标签的问题可以在这个学习过程中发挥作用。在当前的研究中，我们调查了不同类型的对象标签问题对家庭成员之间推理对话的影响。我们在一个展览中录制了家庭对话，其中包括一个恐龙蛋化石和一个包含问题的文本标签。66 个家庭参与了三个条件，这些条件在标签上问题的复杂程度方面有所不同。我们发现，与更简单和更复杂的问题相比，中等复杂度的问题促进了最长的对话，并具有最多的复杂推理。推理时，家庭最常使用来自先前知识和展览其他部分的证据，但通常不涉及个人经历。在更长、更复杂的对话中，父母在对话中扮演了更大的角色，促进了家人的推理过程。我们建议标签上的开放式、适度复杂的问题可以促进家庭推理对话。在周围展品中提供足够的上下文并连接到先前的知识可能有助于推理过程。标签上适度复杂的问题可以促进家庭推理对话。在周围展品中提供足够的上下文并连接到先前的知识可能有助于推理过程。标签上适度复杂的问题可以促进家庭推理对话。在周围展品中提供足够的上下文并连接到先前的知识可能有助于推理过程。