Field Museum - Visitor Experiences at Program Carts

Summarize its goals, methods, and findings.  What interested you in this study? 

http://www.informalscience.org/sites/default/files/RKA%20FieldMuseum%20ScienceHubDiscoverySquad%20Summative%20Report.pdf

I was drawn to this study because it seemed relevant to MOXI.  The museum evaluated two of its program cart-type experiences and what value they provided to visitors.  The first experience is a "hub" - a quieter area off the main hall of the museum that is always facilitated by "welcoming and enthusiastic" volunteers.  The second experience is a mobile discovery cart that is also facilitated by volunteers.

"The goals of the study are to explore the extent to which visitors interact with programming in the Science Hub and at Discovery Squad Carts and the nature of those interactions, as well as visitor motivations and takeaways."

For the study, they conducted exit interviews and timed/tracked visitors.  They describe the methodology as "unobtrusive."  They were very precise about the time spent at the exhibits and the specific behaviors exhibited, like touching an exhibit, reading a label, or taking a picture.  They used the data to look for correlations between specific behaviors and demographics.

Despite looking for specific answers/causes/correlations in the data, the findings were more general in confirming the purpose of the activities.  "We conclude that Discovery Squad Carts are welcoming and.... successful in priming visitors to be curious and ask questions."  Based on the exit interviews they found that the carts provide "potentially tremendously valuable orienting experiences."  This is encouraging because I think that MOXI shares the goal of having its carts be a welcoming and priming activity.

The findings led the Field Museum to make suggestions for improvement.  A major finding was that visitors enjoyed the carts because they were "able to ask questions of someone more knowledgeable than themselves."  I think that this is an expectation at MOXI's carts (at least from adults).  They expect to be taught some science!  At the Field Museum, a finding was that sometimes the facilitators seemed nervous or unconfident so that they should train them more to be better at public speaking and providing answers.  I think we could alter this for MOXI so that Sparks are more confident in open-ended facilitation.  I think that it's important to be confident in our "non-answers."