Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Communication Formats on Visitors’ Understanding of Nanotechnology

Lewalter, Doris; Geyer, Claudia; Neubauer, Katrin

doi:10.1080/10645578.2014.945345

Cited by 11 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 18 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Falk, Dierking, & Foutz, 2007;Kirchberg, 2005;Leinhardt, Crowley, & Knutson, 2002). For example, personal agendas, motivation, prior knowledge and interests were shown to have a direct effect on an individual's museum learning experience (Anderson, Piscitelli, & Everett, 2008;Dudzinska-Przesmitzki, & Grenier, 2008;Lewalter, Geyer, & Neubauer, 2014;Schwan, Grajal, & Lewalter, 2014). Taking the visitor's individual background, or what Doering and Pekarik (1996, p. 20) call their 'entrance narrative' into account is crucial when looking at the process of museum learning as well as the learning outcomes of museum visits.…”

Section: Research On Visitor Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Investigating Visitor Profiles as a Valuable Addition to Museum Research

Lewalter

Phelan

Geyer

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

There is a long tradition of museum research assessing visitors' personal background. In this article, we suggest an insightful way to enhance and intensify visitor analyses and adopt a more integrative approach. To this end, we draw attention to Latent Class Analysis (LCA), a classification method that allows us to investigate visitor profiles rather than isolated characteristics while using a mixture of socio-demographic variables and other personal characteristics. We illustrate our suggestion with two examples drawn from a study we conducted at two science museums and two museums of cultural history. The first example shows the use of LCA on variables that are easily assessed and that many museums already have access to through their visitor surveys. The second LCA involves more specific cognitive and motivational visitor variables that are of general importance for learning and that are assumed to be especially important when dealing with conflicting information. Both examples illustrate the additional value of investigating visitor profiles for researchers as well as museum practitioners.

show abstract

Section: Research On Visitor Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 95%

Investigating Visitor Profiles as a Valuable Addition to Museum Research

Lewalter

Phelan

Geyer

et al. 2015

International Journal of Science Education, Part B

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, Jansen et al (2016) reported that once developed, interest predicted ninth-grade students' (N = 39,192) achievement across 5 subject areas (biology, chemistry, German, math, and physics). Comparable findings have been reported in studies of young children's literacy (McTigue et al, 2019) , middle school students' work with writing (Lipstein & Renninger, 2007), undergraduate students' interest in biology (Knekta et al, 2020), and adults' computer literacy (Beh et al, 2015), as well as in out-of-school settings ranging from connected learning in massive online games (MOOCS; Ito et al, 2019), to involvement in Do-it-Yourself activity (Barron et al, 2014), computing science workshops (Lakanen & Isomöttönen, 2018), and museum exhibits (Lewalter et al, 2014).…”

Section: Interestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interest development, self-related information processing, and practice

Renninger

Hidi

2021

Theory Into Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Educators have a critical stake in supporting the development of interest-as the presence of interest benefits sustained engagement and learning. Neuroscientific research has shown that interest is distinct from, but overlapping with, self-related information processing, the personally relevant connections that a learner makes to content (e. g., mathematics). We propose that consideration of self-related information processing is critical for encouraging interest development in at least two ways. First, support for learners to make self-related connections to content may provide a basis for the triggering of their interest. Triggered interest encourages individuals to search for more information, and to persevere in understanding material that otherwise might feel meaningless. Second, for learners who already have an initial interest in the content, self-related connections can further promote the deepening of interest through sustained engagement and information search. Background regarding both interest and self-related information processing is provided, and implications for practice are suggested.Educators and psychologists have long acknowledged the power of interest (e.g., Dewey, 1913;James, 1890) and have pointed to its centrality in learning. They have recognized that what individuals attend to and understand is informed by their interest. Early on, psychologists such as Arnold (1910) and Claparède (1905) suggested that interest was a biological force that influenced learning. More recently, neuroscientists have been able to demonstrate that the power of interest is rooted in physiology. Specifically, the way in which the brain processes self-related information (the links between individuals' personal experience and content to be learned, e.g., Hidi et al., 2017Hidi et al., , 2019, how it activates reward circuitry (e.g., Gottlieb et al., 2013), and makes interest rewarding explains its beneficial outcomes, Interest describes the ways in which individuals engage with content (e.g., mathematics, guitar, writing). It is both a psychological state and a motivational variable that leads to reengagemnt in a content-related activity (Renninger & Hidi, 2016). Research has shown that interest develops through 4 phases, starting with the initial triggering of interest that draws attention to that content, such as self-relatedness (relation to the self), novelty, intensity, and so forth (Hidi & Renninger, 2006;). 1 Moreover, regardless of age, race or ethnicity, socio-economic status, or prior experience, all individuals may be supported to develop, or renew, an interest in particular content CONTACT K. Ann Renninger

show abstract

“…Interactions between the scientific community and the public in ISE institutions benefit all parties: (i) the public, who have the opportunity to learn more about the science of their daily lives; (ii) scientists, who have the opportunity to directly control the scientific message; and (iii) the ISE institutions, who, in providing the location of this exchange, confirm their cultural and societal importance to both the scientific community and the broader public. Some ISE institutions are experimenting with different formats for bringing scientists into the museum, including building “glass labs” where research is done in full view of the public ( 10 , 11 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using the Tools of Informal Science Education to Connect Science and the Public

Killikelly

2018

J Microbiol Biol Educ.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Traditional modes of communication within the scientific community, including presentation of data at conferences and in peer-reviewed publications, use technical jargon that limits public engagement. While altering word choice is an important method for increasing public engagement, the data itself may not be enough. For example, communicating the lack of evidence that vaccines cause autism did not convince many reluctant parents to vaccinate their kids (Nyhan, Reifler, Richey, Freed, Pediatrics 133:e835–e842, 2014). To address this gap between the scientific community and the public, many journals are adopting open-access policies and publishing lay-abstracts. Meanwhile, “meet a scientist” programs are creating opportunities for scientists to engage with the public in person. However, these programs may not be as effective as they could be. Many scientists still subscribe to an information-deficit model in which “the data speaks for itself.” Alternative tools that go beyond the data are needed. Here, I present three tools to create connections between the public and science: 3-D objects, games, and storytelling. These multidimensional and multisensory methods do more than promote understanding of scientific data; they may also be used to convey science as a verb and as an essential viewpoint in the human struggle for understanding.

show abstract

Comparing the Effectiveness of Two Communication Formats on Visitors’ Understanding of Nanotechnology

Cited by 11 publications

References 18 publications

Investigating Visitor Profiles as a Valuable Addition to Museum Research

Investigating Visitor Profiles as a Valuable Addition to Museum Research

Interest development, self-related information processing, and practice

Using the Tools of Informal Science Education to Connect Science and the Public

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About