Zoos and aquariums (Z/As) serve as important informal STEM learning (ISL) environments that engage public audiences around conservation and science. However, little is previously known about how Z/As include autistic individuals as visitors, participants and staff. This mixed methods, descriptive study as part of the Modeling Zoos and Aquariums as Inclusive Communities of Science (MoZAICS) project explores how Z/As across the United States are addressing autism accessibility and inclusion. Drawing on survey and focus group responses from professionals across the Z/A field, we examine current strategies, barriers, and opportunities for autism accessibility and inclusion. Findings reveal that most Z/As are in early stages of inclusion work with a predominant focus on sensory tolerance through certification programs, sensory kits, and modified events. Other Z/As are moving further toward inclusion by involving autistic individuals in staff roles, advisory panels, and strategic planning. Internal capacity building events, like inclusive hiring practices, staff accommodations, and training, remain uneven across organizations. Challenges to inclusion for autistic individuals include resource constraints and organizational silos. Thus, this study contributes to the limited literature on autism inclusion in Z/As. We conclude with reflection questions for Z/A professionals to consider in relation to their current inclusion practices and describe next steps, such as creating an evidence-based toolkit and conducting further research with the autism community.
During the Corona pandemic, many extracurricular learning sites, such as zoos, were closed. In order to offer students the opportunity to visit zoos under pandemic conditions, online live tours via Zoom were conducted at the Frankfurt Zoo. After the pandemic identical tours were conducted under in-person conditions. To investigate the effects of this educational format on students' interest in animals, they were surveyed in a pre/post/follow-up design. While Zoom tours at the zoo had very little effect on interest in animals, significant increases were shown immediately after the in-person tour. The advantage of in-person tours over Zoom tours in terms of interest generation can be attributed to a lack of a "real zoo experience" during the Zoom tours. But even these effects were not sustained, as follow-up tests demonstrated. An examination of the gender results shows that boys were the primary contributors to the increase in interest in animals.
How do we move from capacity building to skill building? While these may seem like one in the same, internal capacity to conduct research and evaluation primarily benefits museums, while developing skills of emerging museum professionals opens the door for a more diverse set of individuals to join us. This paper will discuss how we can evolve existing evaluation capacity building (ECB) strategies to support the next generation of Visitor Studies professionals. By presenting examples in practice from museums, we will discuss how ECB strategies and approaches can support skill-building and highlight the need for additional evaluator competencies.
Religious monuments and museums systematically curate experiences for visitors by marginalizing certain viewpoints and narratives that are regarded outside the ethos of socio-cultural religious discourse. Amidst this forced invisiblization, visitors from minority groups may accept their erasure or claim spaces through language, meaning-making, and singular ways of engaging with objects and spaces. This article uses autoethnographic writing to examine how a visitor reclaims religious monuments and a museum by critically reinterpreting narratives from a queer standpoint. The author argues that visitor studies can focus on the interrelationships among religious sites, religious content, and their relationships with LGBTQ+ believers by using autoethnography as a method of reflecting on visitor experience.
This article reflects critically on the visitor studies field and discusses the stronger role it could play in advancing equity and social justice in museums. We frame this reflection through an examination of the role visitor studies has played in the evolution of U.S. museums from collections-focused to visitor-centered organizations. We argue that we must now expand and re-imagine our orientation to become equity-centered. We outline four dimensions of our vision for equity-centered practice: (1) prioritizing people and communities closest to harm, (2) shifting museums' relationship stance from inviting marginalized groups to visit as guests to fostering rightful presence, (3) designing content and experiences that are culturally sustaining, and (4) adopting an organizational focus that examines programs and exhibits in the larger context of museums' organizational change toward equity. We conclude with case examples that illustrate how these dimensions have been enacted toward an equity-centered orientation in visitor studies.
The rise of multisensory-immersive technology has transformed visitor experiences in museums, yet a notable gap remains in distinguishing between immersive and traditional exhibitions. This study examines the added value of immersive exhibitions over traditional formats, specifically how sensory intensity influences experiential satisfaction. A survey of 356 participants who visited either a digital immersive exhibition rich in visual and auditory stimuli or a traditional art museum exhibition with limited sensory inputs (mainly by eyes) reveals that immersive experiences significantly enhance attention, experience, and overall satisfaction. The findings also suggest that visitor attention is a valuable extension to the experience economy model, with esthetic, entertainment, and escapism dimensions substantially contributing to satisfaction. The study highlights the importance of integrating sensory inputs to capture visitor attention, thereby extending the experience economy framework through an exploration of cause-and-effect relationships. Practical implications for museum management are discussed, offering insights for optimizing visitor engagement.
The DoVE adjective checklist was developed to capture multiple facets of the visitor experience in order to assist attractions such as museums, art galleries, science centers, zoos and aquariums to better understand and improve their core product - the visitor experience. This paper describes the comprehensive three-stage process used to refine the instrument, including user feedback, pilot testing, and comparison of different formats, culminating in the presentation of a new revised version covering seventeen dimensions of visitor experience. A review of the visitor studies and broader psychology literature underpinning these seventeen dimensions reveals the rich and diverse range of experiences available to visitors. A number of methodological and practical issues identified in the process of refining and testing the instrument are discussed, offering insights for other researchers in visitor studies contexts. The revised checklist (included as an Appendix) uses phrases rather than single words in order to provide better context, covers a wider range of dimensions, and allows users to select dimensions that are tailored to their specific needs and purposes. The instrument can be used in academic research, as well as contributing to benchmarking between or within sites, and evaluations designed to improve the visitor experience.
If art museums are to conduct visitor studies in a way that both supports their needs and strategic goals and demonstrates their effectiveness and public value in today's accountability climate, possessing adequate capacity to do so is and will undoubtedly continue to be paramount. In the relevant literature to date, discourse on capacity related to the conduct of visitor studies in museums has primarily centered around defining, assessing, and building the evaluative competencies of visitor studies professionals and their non-evaluator counterparts at an individual level. While important, recent scholarship suggests that even when individuals' capacities increase, varied institutional factors can still impede evaluation's enculturation, pointing to a critical need to simultaneously develop evaluation capacity at the individual (micro) and organizational (meso) levels. Frameworks such as the Visitor Studies Association's Evaluator Competencies for Professional Development provide useful schemas outlining what capacity entails at an individual level and how it might further be strengthened over time. The purpose of this paper, therefore, is to reduce the foregoing gap by presenting a conceptual framework for both understanding and assessing organizational evaluation capacity in art museums. The conceptual framework was both informed by a scoping review of the existing literature base and empirically validated through a multiple-phase pan-Canadian study into organizational-level capacity in the art museum sector. Findings from the validation study suggest that an art museum's overall capacity for evaluation can be described through six sub-divided and interrelated dimensions (i.e., context and culture, demand for evaluation, resources & supports, capacity to do evaluation, capacity to use evaluation, and research & evaluation activities) organized under two main categories (i.e., influencing factors & capacity indicators). The proposed framework is likely to be useful to the growing number of art museums seeking to integrate evaluative thinking and practices into their organizational cultures.
Public libraries occupy a unique space in the informal learning world. They often serve as community hubs, providing access to information and technology, opportunities for learning, and social services. Additionally, libraries are increasingly providing STEM-related activities such as makerspaces and hands-on programming. Taking on so many tasks leaves little time for librarians to reflect on their work. In this article, we explore the role that evaluators can play in supporting reflective practice. By mapping interview protocols designed for use with public library staff onto reflective practice frameworks, this paper presents a critical look at our current practices and the extent to which they support reflection. Although focused on libraries, this work offers a framework through which to design more equitable evaluations in other informal contexts that provide benefit to the participant as well as the project and evaluator. Implications and considerations for supporting reflective practice through evaluation are also presented.
Evaluation continues to grow as an established, professionalized field and specialty area, and museums are adding in-house roles where none existed before. As one of those first in-house Evaluation Trailblazers, I navigated my way through professionalizing evaluation practices for my museum, whether orienting colleagues to evaluation's core function or supporting organizational strategy and transformation. This article shares lessons learned from this process; they come from sleepless nights, celebratory milestones, and considerable reflection on navigating a hefty undertaking. Through vignettes exemplifying the growth of one organization over six years, I outline effective capacity building approaches, draw distinctions for when to apply flexibility or firmness, and offer considerations for supplying quick wins or reorientation. Though it takes time and persistence, in-house evaluators who develop these skills can shift organizational culture. In turn, Evaluation Trailblazers lay the path for their institution to center audiences and deliver intentional outcomes for years to come.
This article encourages museum researchers to adopt intersectional research methods to support the field's efforts to create more equitable and inclusive environments for informal learning. Characteristics of intersectional studies-such as explaining group differences based on systems of inequality, rather than characteristics of individuals-have the potential to reframe how visitor studies are conducted and how researchers understand the visitor experience. We explore how existing guidelines for intersectional research methods from various fields (psychology, social work, public health, family studies) might be applied to studies in museums, and suggest decisions researchers can make throughout the research process to integrate intersectional methods. Finally, we describe our own experiences integrating intersectional research strategies into two recent projects: a co-design project with caregivers of pre-K children, and a large-scale interview study with families at museum exhibits, to illustrate possible intersectional approaches and encourage further exploration and innovation within the field.
In this reflective article, the evaluation team for the NASA-funded SciAct STEM Learning Ecosystems project discusses the process we used to study four exemplar STEM learning ecosystems in regions across the US using culturally responsive evaluation (CRE) methods. We expected to follow a linear path for each of the study's three inquiry cycles but found that this process needed to be fluid because of the culturally responsive evaluation methods employed. These methods meant we shared control with the project team in ways we had not before and had to rethink study validity and rigor. Beyond the evaluation team, this article shares reflections from the project team as well as the study's external evaluation advisor about what it was like to participate in a study that used CRE methods.
For a long time, Visitor Studies has been closely identified with institution-specific, applied research, such as museum evaluation and audience development, and focused on contexts of "informal learning". This paper reflects on the evolution of Visitor Studies in primarily museum settings in the US and the UK influenced by researchers from education and psychology. It considers how the study of visiting in other heritage settings developed relatively independently of Visitor Studies, and with different priorities. It then looks at recent issues and challenges that are common across heritage settings and makes the case for a unified field of Visitor Studies that spans all heritage contexts that provide designed experiences and interpretation for visitors. Broadening the scope of Visitor Studies from informal learning to heritage contexts would enrich the field, advancing our understanding of the complex relationships between people and heritage.
Visitor Studies (VS) professionals often gather visitors' data and report it to stakeholders who can use the findings. This could be a powerful opportunity to democratize visitor-serving organizations by bringing marginalized perspectives into decision-making. In practice, however, this model of researchers-as-intermediaries often maintains or expands inequitable power dynamics. This paper reviews the interactions between visitors, organizational decision-makers, and VS professionals, drawing on conversations with VS professionals to consider how proximity between visitors and organizational leaders influences a study's overall quality. Seven Visitor Studies professionals offer a range of professional perspectives as museum-based researchers and practitioners, academics, a student, and a nonprofit research practitioner as well as lived experiences of marginalization based on race, ability, gender, sexuality, and more. The paper poses questions that can spark considerations about how VS projects can enact anti-oppressive practices and foster humanizing relationships that promote equity and benefit our field.
Climate change severely impacts societal well-being, requiring urgent and collective efforts. Although formal climate education is crucial, informal learning through contexts such as science museums is also vital for fostering responsible climate engagement. Unfortunately, despite climate change being an established science, sociocultural divides make it difficult for many people to discuss and engage with it. However, trusted institutions such as museums may be able to balance the scientific position with welcoming messages for different perspectives. Research indicates that museum-based learning plays a key role in promoting pro-climate action, yet studies on effective museum practices are limited. This study investigates the effectiveness of a novel museum exhibit, Hopeful Future, in engaging visitors with positive climate learning. Analyzing interviews with 48 visitors, we found that they valued messages addressing pragmatic climate action, rational hope, and local relevancy. These insights offer practical implications for enhancing museum-based climate education.
In recent years, museums have begun to think more about the value of creating 'quiet spaces'. However, there remains little systematic discussion in the literature regarding their definition, characteristics, and purpose. This exploratory study examined perceptions of quiet spaces in museums from the standpoint of both museum educators and visitors. Through semi-structured interviews with 40 participants, it was determined that educators and visitors similarly perceive museum quiet spaces as restorative, inclusive, varied, situated, and spaces to process emotions. Furthermore, the outcomes demonstrated that the meaning of quiet spaces are contextual and mediated by the interplay between the individual's context and the environmental characteristics of the quiet space itself. These spaces hold the potential to afford enjoyable, memorable, and even transformative experience that supports learning and are, at times, a necessary part of the museum experience for many visitors. The study also speaks to the potential of quiet spaces to be integral to psychological restoration within the museum experience for individuals to exercise their visitor agency and well-being. This study provides valuable insights about the importance and significance of these often neglected or unconsidered museum spaces for visitors and educators alike.
In the early 1990s, the field of visitor studies was in a period of self-reflection, with repeated calls for standardized data collection practices that could be used to transcend individual institutions and help understand museum visitors. A quarter century later, the Collaboration for Ongoing Visitor Experience Studies (COVES) was established, with more than 50 museums systematically collecting visitor experience data. This article shares COVES findings from 2023 on who visits, why they visit, and how they feel about their experiences, and compares this to older data from the field while positioning itself against commentary and available data from 30 years prior. Certain visitor demographics (including race/ethnicity and LGBT+ identity) appear to be shifting amidst a diversifying American public, while others (including educational attainment and household income) are disappointingly similar to trends seen decades ago. Prioritizing visitors and their experiences with benchmarked data (against peer institutions and census information) is essential for establishing actionable next steps for the field.
This study draws on site observation and worksheets from a field trip to examine children's narratives of the exhibitions at the War Remnants Museum in H & ocirc; Ch & iacute; Minh City, Vietnam, with a specific focus on the portrayal of the victims of Agent Orange through both "photographic" and "life" exhibitions. In applying Landsberg's concept of "prosthetic memory," the findings reveal how the photographic exhibition with its visual documentary evidence, and the life exhibition, through its interactive engagement, play important roles in the formation of children's prosthetic memories of the US war in Vietnam. These exhibitions provide context, depth, and immediacy to the portrayal of the ongoing suffering of the Agent Orange victims, enabling children to integrate historical and personal memory. This dual approach influences their perceptions, interpretations, and remembrance of the war, enhancing their learning experience by offering a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the historical event.
Museum educators play a major role in how visitors' experience failure moments during STEM-related activities. The purpose of this study was to explore how museum educators co-constructed iteration through failure moments with visitors during an engineering activity. Utilizing an instrumental case study, we analyzed video data and one-on-one reflective meetings from five museum educators. Through our analysis, we highlight how educators and visitors are able to jointly attend, interpret, and respond to failures that leads to continuous improvements of the prototype and/or design process (i.e., iteration). The significance of this study lies in providing informal educators with approaches they can incorporate to support visitors during the failure-learning process, namely, strategies that develop visitors' noticing skills around failure.
This paper draws on notions of embodied learning to inform exhibit design that fosters children's meaningful embodied engagement to successfully unveil science ideas. While children's interaction in the museum is often hands-on and speaks to the physical emphasis that embodiment brings, observation of children's spontaneous engagement at a museum's Water Zone revealed opportunities and barriers to engagement with, and access to, science ideas in terms of what we call 'embodied proximity' and 'embodied dislocation'. Drawing on design considerations from these findings a set of purpose-built prototype exhibits were developed and deployed to examine how they supported children's embodied exploration of science. The findings highlight key design dimensions that support children's accessing and making meaning about science through fostering embodied proximity: considering palette of embodied features; applying direct multisensorial experience; developing temporal-positional contiguity; and designing opportunities for communicating experiences through the body.
