Exhibit Designs for Girls' Engagement (EDGE)

Abstract

This paper describes an NSF‐funded study which explored the relationship between female‐responsive exhibit designs and girls' engagement. Across three participating science centers, 906 museum visitors ages 8–13 were observed at 334 interactive physics, math, engineering, and perception exhibits. We measured girls' engagement based on whether they chose to use or return to the exhibits, opted to spend more time at them, or demonstrated deeper engagement behavior. Findings suggest that the design strategies identified in our previously developed Female‐Responsive Design Framework can inform exhibit designs that better engage girls. However, the specific design attributes that address the broader strategies are not all equal: we identified a subset of nine exhibit design attributes that were consistently strongly related to girls' engagement. Further, none of those nine design attributes were harmful to boys' engagement. In practice, we hope educators will help address gender disparities in museums by considering female‐responsive design when creating STEM exhibits: broadening their design approaches and choosing among the nine EDGE Design Attributes based on their appropriateness for a particular exhibit experience or set of exhibits.

An interactive gravitational-wave detector model for museums and fairs

“…The audiences in both settings are typically nonscientists with a general interest in science. We engage our audience by pitching the exhibit material to the right level, enabling them to build upon their current understanding 24,36,37 , and conveying the subject in an interactive [38][39][40] , varied and fun way 41,42 .…”

“…We settled on a circular aluminium base with a diameter of 0.6 m, which can be easily lifted by two people and fits into a compact car. The circular shape also allows for people to easily gather around the model at fairs 41,43 .…”

“…The four presenters (two female and two male) were all PhD students from the University of Birmingham Institute for Gravitational Wave Astronomy. Student presenters were chosen as we considered them to be more relatable and intentionally avoided the old-professor stereotype of a physicist 25,39,41 . The videos were produced in collaboration with the communications department of the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Birmingham.…”

Creating a Female‐Responsive Design Framework for STEM exhibits

“…Phase two of our project (see Dancstep and Sindorf this issue, and Dancstep and Sindorf ) begins this exploration, working to identify the most promising subset of the FRD's design attributes, within a particular set of topics and with a specific age range. This study suggested that the FRD Framework can help museum staff understand how to design exhibits to better engage females.…”

“…We were able to expand the initial literature review into the theory‐driven Female‐Responsive Design (FRD) Framework described in this paper. This framework is part of a larger mixed methods project which also explored a specific application by investigating which of the FRD‐derived exhibit design attributes best engaged 8–13 year‐old girls at STEM exhibits (Dancstep and Sindorf this issue), and explored that narrowed set of attributes in‐depth via focus groups (V. Garcia‐Luis & T. Dancstep (née Dancu) in review).…”