Project Recap

This study examined how different exhibit formats support family collaboration and science learning in museums, offering guidance for designing experiences that engage both children and adults in complex scientific concepts.

Project Overview

Museums want to create exhibits that meaningfully engage children, but research suggests that effective design considers the family as a learning unit. Rather than designing solely for children, this project examined how exhibits can be structured to support collaboration between adults and children and strengthen learning for both.

From 2017-2020, we conducted research for Lineage, an initiative funded by the National Science Foundation in support of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s Deep Time exhibition. In partnership with Twin Cities Public Television, the Smithsonian, Schell Games, and Rockman et al, we studied how different exhibit formats supported family learning about paleontology, evolution, and deep time.

We compared two exhibit activities designed to foster family collaboration. One was a hands-on activity facilitated by museum staff where families manipulated physical fossils and used an evolutionary tree board to track their thinking. The other was a virtual reality (VR) activity where children and adults assumed complementary roles, each receiving different information through separate screens. Child-adult pairs (children ages 8-12) participated in one of these activities, and their interactions were video-recorded. Families were interviewed several weeks later to understand what knowledge and experiences stayed with them over time.

The study found that different formats supported different kinds of learning and collaboration. The hands-on activity, with its prominent evolutionary tree structure, more strongly supported conceptual understanding by providing families with a shared tool for organizing ideas and sparking conversation. Meanwhile, the VR activity more strongly supported engagement with authentic scientific practices by immersing families in the investigative work of paleontologists.

Across both formats, adult facilitation played a critical role. Adults who encouraged children to slow down and explain their thinking, connected to prior knowledge and shared family experiences, and made their own thinking visible supported deeper learning. These findings demonstrate the importance of designing exhibits that intentionally support adult–child collaboration while also equipping adults with strategies to scaffold inquiry in informal learning environments.