How can we engage children and caregivers with socio-emotional learning through a playful museum experience?

Working with the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh’s learning research & exhibit design teams to develop and test a new exhibit for their “Kindness Gallery”.

Role

Exhibit Designer

Duration

Jan 2024 - May 2024
(12 weeks)

Team

Anne Fullenkamp (CMoP Senior Director)
KT Todd (CMoP Director of Learning & Research)
Marti Louw (IDeATe Instructor)
Brianna Baker (Exhibit Designer)

Tools & Methods

Physical Prototyping
Lasercutting
Evaluation Protocol Design
Qualitative Data Analysis
Contextual Inquiry
User Testing

The Opportunity

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh wanted to implement a new pop-up exhibit in the “Kindness Gallery” that focused on Socio-Emotional Learning (SEL) between children and their caregivers. The museum saw an opportunity to engage visitors in lightweight and transformative experiences that provide a space for informal learning and exploration around these abstract SEL topics.

The Solution

We created an exhibit experience that uses the museums “play with real stuff” philosophy to center real life skills such as dressing oneself and invite deeper conversations around collaboration, independence, self-confidence, and empathy.

The Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh is an award winning museum that focuses on sensory learning and open-ended exploration.

What did we design?

The Fasten Master

The Fasten Master is a set of 4 interfaces that invite visitors to work together using only one hand each to secure the fastener in the middle. [Detailed picture of labeled interface highlighting: anatomy as well as:
1. angle of interaction, 2. flexible design, 3. simultaneous]

The Interaction Surface

Bla bla blurb about how we conducted other testing activities to arrive and 4 key design implications

Learning by doing

Children can struggle with verbalizing their thoughts but can easily learn through sensory experiences. Taking an implicit SEL approach can also be more effective since children come in with an exploration mindset, not a classroom mindset

Using real stuff

Children can struggle with verbalizing their thoughts but can easily learn through sensory experiences. Taking an implicit SEL approach can also be more effective since children come in with an exploration mindset, not a classroom mindset

Flexible interactions

Exhibits that are open, adaptable, and flexible are more successful at facilitating self-guided exploration and learning. By letting children take lead, they can develop richer experiences and derive more nuanced learning .

Parent Involvement

Parents play a crucial role in supplementing and enhancing children’s learning and experiences. When parents are actively involved, they help facilitate conversations. When they are passively involved, they can learn about their children and better understand how to navigate SEL learning at home.

Evaluation

The Visitors

Child age breakdown
Child gender: 73% Female, 27% Male
Caretaker gender: 68% Female, 32% Male
Group size on average was 3-4 people

Our Focus

Our SEL goals were

Relationship Skills
Self-Awareness

Initiation-Transition-Breakthrough Framework

Visitor Engagement Profile

bla bla bla bla explain the graph

include quotes here

Use collapsable drop downs for these

Initiation

Watches someone else interact with the exhibit
Attempts to fasten one side of the wheel (but does not complete)
Successfully fastens one side of the wheel
Demonstrates focus on the task (not necessarily positive emotion)

Transition

Without successfully fastening the first side, visitor moves on to trying another side/fastener
After successfully fastening one side, visitor moves on to trying another side/fastener

Visitor expresses positive emotions while engaging (smiling, laughing, eagerness)
Adult-led discussion of fastener strategy

Breakthrough

Child-led discussion of fastener strategy
Refers to previous experience with fasteners (includes calling the fasteners by name)
Making reference to potential future actions (personal or collective)