Engagement in a Science Museum–The Role of Social Interactions

Neta Shaby; Orit Ben-Zvi Assaraf; Tali Tal

doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/10645578.2019.1591855

Engagement in a Science Museum–The Role of Social Interactions

Neta Shaby, Orit Ben-Zvi Assaraf, Tali Tal

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

This qualitative research explores the interactions of elementary school students during free-choice activity with science museum exhibits. The study participants were 39 students, who visited a science museum on six occasions during a three-year-period (from 4^th to 6^th grades). Our study showed that most interactions around exhibits are social in nature. Within these social interactions, students mainly discuss the technicalities of operating the exhibits and rarely engage with their scientific content. On occasion, exhibits are no more than settings for social interactions that could equally occur, for example, in the schoolyard. The main implications of this study concern exhibit design and pedagogy. Because students find ways to create their own social interactions in museum settings, museum pedagogy should leverage this social interaction into cognitive engagement with the scientific content of exhibits.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	1-20
Number of pages	20
Journal	Visitor Studies
Volume	22
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10645578.2019.1591855
State	Published - 2 Jan 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Education
Communication
Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management
Museology

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Engagement in a Science Museum–The Role of Social Interactions

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

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