This article is writtcn for those who arc willing t o accept the idea that in the realities of today's world, a major function of public museums (including art galleries, historical societies, visitor centers, etc.) is "education." In other words, public museum displays are designed with the goal and hope that the people who view them will be affected in some useful way. Potentially, at least, public displays of art, science, or artifacts are three-dimensional teachingbearning situations that may affect the knowledge, values, attitudes, or interests of the people who see them-in constructive directions, it is hoped.The educational goal of museums is not t o impart just facts, but also broad overviews, concepts, stimulation of interests and values, new ways of thinking about the world. Museums are vast educational resources with the potential t o serve as significant alternative environments for self-education. For some people, the museum may be more accessible, more personally satisfying, and perhaps more effective at teaching than conventional educational resources. Many people have already found this t o be true, especially scholars and those who have the background and perceptual skills allowing them t o relate the objects on display to meaningful concepts, processes, principles, and/or events with which they are already familiar.But what about the vast majority of visitors who come in off the street? Accumulating evidence suggests that museums are not functioning very well for these people (Lakota, 1976; Screven, 1974b Screven, , 1975 Shettel, 1968 Shettel, , 1976. The average visitor appears t o be better educated than expected and sometimes genuinely interested in mak-271 CURATOR ing sense out of what is o n display (Dixon, 1974;Lakota, 1976; Shettel, 1976, pp. 8-11), but museums are special and rather difficult places in which t o seek a predictable educational impact. Unlike public schools, public museums are informal learning environments where most "learners" are voluntary. In other words, visitors must be reached while moving freely through the halls. They are free to look at particular exhibits, but they are also free to ignore them, to misunderstand, to misread their diagrams, or whatever. Most visitors have little or no idea why the objects or paintings o n display (except for well-publicized glamor items and some technology exhibits) are important. The typical museum audience varies widely in interests and backgrounds, has limited time, is often physically exhausted, and is frequently overwhelmed and confused by too much sensory input. Finally, it is difficult to control the order in which visitors view certain materials whose meaning depends on the order in which they are seen (Screven, 1974b).Given all this, is it reasonable to attempt serious communication of substantive ideas, concepts, and va1ut:s via public exhibits to the average off-the-street visitor? Some would say no, but this article is written on the assumption that the answer is probably yes (Washburn, 1975). Tlicre are important ...
Much progress has been made in designing the physical and aesthetic aspects of exhibition spaces. How the physical design affects the motivational, perceptual, affective, and learning potentials of unguided visitors in the informal museum environment is less well understood by museum and exhibit planners.Informal settings have immense potential as learning resources for persons of all ages (Falk, 1984(Falk, , 1985. More needs to be learned about what makes these settings work or not work. There are important differences between formal learning settings, such as schools, and the informal settings of museum environments, which are nonlinear, selfpaced, voluntary, and exploratory. In schools, the primary teaching tool is the teacher, supported mainly by verbal media; in museums, the primary teaching tool is the exhibition, supported by objects and other visual media. These differences frequently require approaches that are radically different from those employed in schools and other formal settings. Unguided museum audiences are leisure audiences who, on their free time, interact with exhibitions on a voluntary basis and on their own terms. They learn by paying attention to exhibit content, noticing details, making comparisons, reading explanatory text, following instructions, and so on. Whether they do these things or not depends on their expectations and the enjoyment resulting from looking, touching, comparing, and reading.
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