Learning In Museums
My most impactful learning experience was during my undergraduate program at Moore College of Art and Design. In the 3D Applications in Design course, we worked on large-scale projects including a self-directed museum exhibition, but our designs mostly lived behind our screens. One day, we took a field trip to the Franklin Institute and we saw an exhibition on moon jellyfish that was not, yet, open to the public. In the classroom, my peers and I only engaged in symbolic thinking about exhibition design, but this field trip was an opportunity to directly engage with the physical space and practical context of the subject matter (Resnick, 1987). We moved beyond the computer screen into a world of experiential learning and experienced how exhibition design could be applied within a real-world space. My professor, the exhibition designer, and the docent gave us a guided tour through the experience and acted as facilitators by asking open-ended questions related to content and design concepts, encouraged us to make observations, and stimulated discussion about the topic (Vadeboncoeur, 2006). The learning experience also included real-life moon jellyfish, informational walls, compelling design, and the use of technology through an educational movie. This moment inspired me to become not only an exhibition designer, but also a lifelong learner.
Museums are a crucial part of our society and play a key role in creating meaningful out-of-school learning experiences. Museums are spaces where visitors can create, share, and connect with their community through the content (King & Lord, 2015). They are also increasingly becoming more accessible through online exhibitions and digital learning. Museums are affective learning spaces with a focus on feelings, attitudes, interests, appreciations, beliefs, and/or values (King & Lord, 2015). This intrinsically relates to the learner’s motivation to learn and engage in content.
The moon jellyfish exhibit was just one example from the Franklin Institute, and museums like it, that curate fun, interactive, and meaningful experiences. They incorporate constructionist theories into the framework of the exhibitions through activities, games, and experiments. Constructionists believe that people–in this case, museum visitors–learn through consciously engaging with and building physical objects which impact their mental schema (Harel & Papert, 1991). In Sir Isaac's Loft, learners can “enter the playground of experimentation and discover falling objects, chain reactions, and optical illusions that bring Newton's laws to life” (The Franklin Institute, n.d., para. 1). The interaction with physical objects, similarly to my interaction with exhibition design in practice, relates the subject matter to the learner’s real-world experiences. It helps learners develop understanding beyond the symbolic thinking they experience when confined to a classroom. The learners also engage with tools to help them understand the materials. These tools could include a multitude of things that assist the learner in their learning. In Sir Issac’s Loft, museum visitors used pulley systems, pendulums, and the “Astro Blaster” to aid their learning and connect Newton’s theories with concrete experiences (The Franklin Institute, n.d.). Both of these are crucial to consider when planning informal learning experiences, such as museums (Resnick, 1987).
Museums also integrate sociocultural theory when planning museums (Vygotsky, 1979). Museum designers consider how the visitors learn through dynamic interactions with others and their community (Cherry, 2024). Museums foster this social element by collaborating with schools to encourage field trips, becoming invaluable resources within communities (King & Lord, 2015), and promoting shared cognition where learners can share their knowledge within their social circle (Resnick, 1987).
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the ever-evolving technological advancements, museum exhibitions are becoming more widely available on online platforms. Ranging from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 360° Project that features a collection of videos touring the museum (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2025), to the interactive digital experiences of the Louvre (Louvre, 2025), museums are utilizing technology to make the exhibitions more accessible. In these virtual tours and online exhibitions, visitors use technology as cognitive tools to aid in their learning experience (Resnick, 1987).
Museum spaces rely on the intrinsic motivation of the visitors and interest in the exhibition’s content. Museum exhibition designers consider changes in the learner’s attitudes and evaluations and focus on feelings, beliefs and values (King & Lord, 2015). When I visited the Poster House’s exhibition on the Black Panther Party and their use of graphic design to share their message of liberation, I was already interested both in social liberation and graphic design, and therefore I was more motivated to learn. The exhibition encouraged me to engage critically with the content and challenged my pre-existing beliefs. Museum exhibitions, such as this one, are powerful resources that can challenge pre-existing beliefs, offer a new perspective, and educate learners about society and the world as a whole.
References
Cherry, K. (2024). What is sociocultural theory?. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-sociocultural-theory-2795088
Harel, I. E., & Papert, S. E. (1991). Situating constructionism, Constructionism. 1-11. https://hcs64.com/teaching%20CS/papert-situating_constructionism.pdf
King, B., & Lord, B. (Eds.). (2015). The manual of museum learning. Rowman & Littlefield. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Manual_of_Museum_Learning/grxnCgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=shared%20cognition
Louvre. (2025). Virtual Tours. https://www.louvre.fr/en/online-tours
Metropolitan Museum of Art. (2025). The Met 360° Project. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/met-360-project
Moore, A. (2023). The image of Black America [Photographs]. Poster House.
Resnick, L. B. (1987). The 1987 Presidential address learning in school and out. 13-20. https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/doi/epdf/10.3102/0013189X016009013
The Franklin Institute. (2025). Sir Issac’s Loft. https://fi.edu/en/exhibits-and-experiences/sir-isaacs-loft
Vadeboncoeur, J. A. (2006). Engaging young people: Learning in informal contexts, 239-278. https://journals-sagepub-com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/doi/epdf/10.3102/0091732X030001239
L. S. Vygotsky (1979). Consciousness as a problem in the psychology of behavior, 47-79. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/RSS1061-1428200447
