Enhancing children's learning in museums: A Design-Based Research Approach

Abstract

This paper reports research, conducted in collaboration with the Hunt Museum, Limerick, Ireland, which explored the design and deployment of novel ubiquitous computing to augment children's learning in museums. The paper summarises a Design- Based Research process. The poster will display the final results of the research. The authors have presented the initial and interim findings at the previous two ICLS conferences (e.g. Hall et al, 2004).

Full text

Enhancing children’s learning in museums: A Design-Based
Research Approach
Tony Hall, Learning Sciences Research Institute, University of Nottingham, UK,
tony.hall@nottingham.ac.uk
Liam Bannon, Luigina Ciolfi, Paul Gallagher, Kieran Ferris, Interaction Design Centre, University of
Limerick, Ireland,
Email: liam.bannon@ul.ie, luigina.ciolfi@ul.ie, paul.gallagher@ul.ie, kieran.ferris@ul.ie
Ruth Mulhern, The Hunt Museum, Limerick, Ireland, ruth@huntmuseum.com
Nora Hickey, Lewis Glucksman Gallery, University College Cork, Ireland, nora.hickey@ucc.ie
Abstract: This paper reports research, conducted in collaboration with the Hunt Museum,
Limerick, Ireland, which explored the design and deployment of novel ubiquitous
computing to augment children’s learning in museums. The paper summarises a Design-
Based Research process. The poster will display the final results of the research. The
authors have presented the initial and interim findings at the previous two ICLS conferences
(e.g. Hall et al, 2004).
The Design-Based Research Process in the Hunt Museum
The aim of the research described here was to make a difference in the way children experience
artefacts and museums. Thus, it was of paramount importance that the design process was sensitive to the
museum’s many important stakeholders. Previous research (Rogers & Edwards, 2002) had identified lack
of consultation with educational and curatorial stakeholders as a major barrier impeding the design of
successful exhibitions in museums. Furthermore, it was decided to adopt a Design-Based Research (DBR)
approach because there is a commitment within DBR both to improve design practice and also to enhance
scientific understanding of how design affects learning (Barab & Squire, 2004) In all, the Hunt Museum
DBR process encompassed six main design activities or consultations:
1. Technical experimentation (six probes, where the interactive capabilities of a number of innovative
computer technologies (e.g. RFID, WebCam tracking) were tested, both in lab settings and in the Hunt
Museum);
2. Consultation of children’s history and museum education policy (as outlined in the Irish Primary
School History Curriculum and the ICOM (International Council of Museums) charter);
3. Design, development and evaluation of a large-scale interactive museum exhibition, Exploring Digital
History at Nottingham Castle and Museum, which preceded and significantly informed the
development work for the exhibition in the Hunt Museum;
4. Observational studies (of schoolchildren’s interactions in two interactive museum workshops, a
simulated archaeology dig and time machine);
5. Consultation of museum and Hunt family experts (docents (the museum’s specialist guides), curators,
museum education officers, Hunt family biographer);
6. Scan and evaluation of physical/spatial constraints of the museum.
As is characteristic of most Design-Based Research, the design process was closely informed by an
orienting theoretical perspective. The conceptual or theoretical framework for the Hunt Museum comprised
eight major design concerns or themes: (1) materiality; (2) narrativity; (3) sociality; (4) activity; (5) multi-
modality; (6) engagement; (7) computer as augmentation tool; and (8) pedagogical activity.
The Design Product: Re-Tracing the Past
The space limitations of a conference poster proposal constrain the depth of the discussion of the
analytic data, particularly as over sixty hours of video data, (in addition to other data collection activities
and instruments such as questionnaires, interviews and pre- and post-visit school visits), were collected and
analysed. Overall, the evaluation of the exhibition revealed that Re-Tracing the Past had a positive impact
in terms of the eight design themes: materiality, narrativity, etcetera. For detailed discussion of data
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pertaining to each theme, the authors refer the reader to more comprehensive accounts of the research (Hall
& Bannon, 2005) on which this paper is based. The images below show children interacting with various
features of the highly innovative and successful interactive exhibition. The final design in the museum was
a replica study room and adjoining mysterious room, which contained interactive fittings. The design of the
exhibition in the Hunt Museum embodied the theoretical frame described previously, and children’s
experience of Re-Tracing the Past was a highly positive one.
Figure 1.
Snapshots of children’s interactions in Re-Tracing the Past.
References
Barab, S., & Squire, K. (2004). Design–Based Research: Putting a Stake in the Ground. In Kolodner, J.,
Barab, S., Eisenberg, M. (Eds.) The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13(1), 1-14.
Hall, T., & Bannon, L. (2005). Co-operative design of children's interaction in museums: A case study in
the Hunt Museum. CoDesign: International Journal of CoCreation in Design and the Arts, 1(3),
187-218.
Hall, T., Ciolfi, L., Ferris, K., Bannon, L., Gallagher, P., Hickey, N., Hedman, A., & Tobiasson, H. (2004).
Tools for Open Interpretation: using novel computing to support multiple perspectives in children's
historical understanding. ICLS2004: The Sixth International Conference of the Learning Sciences,
June 22-26, 2004, Santa Monica, California.
Rogers, R., & Edwards, S. (2002). The Big Sink: a report on the key factors for designing, building,
equipping, using and managing creative spaces in galleries, museums and schools. Group for
Education in Museums (GEM) News. No. 86. Summer 2002, 8-9.
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