Measuring Learning

Measuring learning at MOXI can be a challenge due to a free-choice learning environment. I feel that implicit memory plays a large role in visitor learning at MOXI. Priming could be a beneficial technique in accessing learning at MOXI however this technique could be disruptive to a visitors experience.

The clinical interview method reminds me of an interaction a Spark may have with a visitor by asking open-ended questions, encouraging observations, and never trying to suggest right answers. I think this technique could be beneficial for the evaluation of program carts.

In my opinion using observation tools could be the most beneficial way of accessing learning at MOXI. This could be done through filming, recording audio, as well as tracking a guest through the museum. I often observe visitor learning through observation. One example is of a toddler who approached BiTiRi and took out parts to build a car. He was trying to connects the wheels to the roof, the roof to the side, all the parts in the wrong places. He began watching other guests build cars and started to get a better idea of what to do. After a lot of trial and error, he had built his first car! Instead of racing it, he decided to build another car and once again struggled with figuring out what pieces went where. I watched as he built 4 cars, each time getting a little faster and having a better understanding of what to do. By his 5th car he was a pro!

In addition to using observation tools, I think a self report measure of what guests think they learned would be interesting. I do not feel it would provide a lot of insight into how much visitors actually learned in their visit, however I think it would be interesting to hear how guests perceive what they learned. This could be done in addition to observing the guest in order to form a comparison of what we observed them learning to what they felt they learned.