The use of questions in exhibit labels to generate explanatory conversation among science museum visitors

Abstract: Research suggests that conversations at museums contribute to as well as serve as evidence for learning. Many museums use labels to provide visitors with information as well as stimulate conversation about exhibit topics. However, most studies on exhibit labels do not centre on conversations. This investigation uses a Vygotskian framework to examine the ways questions in exhibit labels can stimulate conversations in a science museum. We examined the questions and explanations that appeared in conversation occurring under three label conditions (current label, added question: 'Why is this here?', and simplified text plus question) at three exhibits in a science museum. Each exhibit (a model of a Victorian workshop, a sectioned 1959 Austin Mini Cooper, and a bowl which survived the atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan) was videotaped for approximately six hours in each condition. Findings based on 464 conversations at these exhibits indicated that our guiding question affected visitors' c

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Postprint ; begutachtet (peer reviewed) ; In: International Journal of Science Education ; 29 (2007) 12 ; 1557-1580

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Organisationen, Museumswissenschaft

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2007
• Creator: Hohenstein, Jill ; Uyen Tran, Lynn

Further information

• DOI: 10.1080/09500690701494068
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-132437
• Rights: Open Access unbekannt; Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:39 AM CEST