First narrow your search.

What is the goal?
        Proving cognitive gain?
        Proving effective (+ or - attitude) gain?

Affective gain
What would be a behavior that would show what that they enjoyed the visit?

Develop a survey to ask these questions
        Return visit?
        Referral from a previous visitor?
        Child says they would return?
        Parent is impressed (they decide if the kid returns)
        Length of stay versus other exhibits?
        Purchasing a membership?

Or, observations
        Eye movements  (number of blinks)  See neuroscience literature.
        Body movements (animated vs passive)
        On task or (literally) attached to an interactive
        all these measure againsty a similar exhibit in the "traditional
                part of the museum or another children's museum.

Cognitive Gain
        Pick one or two popular exhibits.  What is the learning goal of those
        exhibits?
        Pretest and post test all visitors then random select children for one
        on one interview.  See Piaget's original works for how he interviewd
        students on physics experiments.  Be prepared to address if you
        are showing learning gain on specific exhibits or the room.

        Don't ask them if they learned......it is untestable and
        unreliable data for a quantitative or quantiative study.  It's
        really messy to prove to a committee.

Betsy Price, Project Manager            A joint project sponsored by:
The Natural History of Genes            Eccles Institute of Human Genetics
UMNH                                    Utah Museum of Natural History
University of Utah                      University of Utah Medical School
Salt Lake City, Utah 84112

801-581-6286
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