Awe and Epistemic Emotions in a Science Museum

• In Event: 63.064 - Measuring the Impact of Emotions in Informal Learning Environments

Abstract

Objectives. In many ways, museums are in the business of awe. And recent studies have suggested a link between awe-related emotions and critical thinking. The goal of this study was to measure awe in a science museum across spaces and time-of-day and see if it is related to critical thinking and other forms of epistemology.

Research context. Awe was measured in multiple locations around a large science museum (hereafter: Museum): the parking garage (as a baseline), the Entry Hall, the main Rotunda, a War Two submarine exhibit, outside the front of the building on a lawn, and on the front steps of a separate art museum in Chicago.

Theoretical framework. Awe has recently been proposed as a catalyst for science learning (Valdesolo, Shtulman, & Baron, 2017) and as an epistemic/knowledge emotion (Silvia, 2008). Knowledge emotions are produced from cognitive qualities of knowledge tasks and knowledge-generating activities (Trevors, Muis, Pekrun, Sinatra, & Winne, 2016). When students are curious or experience interest they persist longer at learning tasks and get better grades (Silvia, 2008). More directly, awe has been shown to promote critical thinking, in the form of a lower likelihood of being persuaded by weak arguments (Griskevicius, Shiota, & Neufeld, 2010), and to promote ethical decision making (Piff, Dietze, Feinberg, Stancato, & Keltner, 2015).

Data sources and analysis. Awe was measured with 1,057 guests using a survey based on the Situational Awe Scale (SAS) - a 19-item/4 factor Likert measure designed to assess respondents’ momentary experiences of awe (Quinn & Krenzer, 2017). Eyetracking using mobile glasses was also used to look for relationships between gaze and awe. Critical thinking was measured using a technique taken from the Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) framework, which has been used to measure critical thinking in museums (Greene, Kisida & Bowen, 2015) and the Professional Skepticism Scale ().We also interviewed 51 guests to look for deeper answers to the survey results.

Results. We found no consistent relationship between awe and our critical thinking task based on VTS. However, we did find strong, positive relationships between awe and skeptical thinking. The more awe a guest reported, the more they also reported to be skeptical thinkers. We also found that prior knowledge was positively associated with increased awe, suggesting appreciation was just as important as surprise in triggering awe. Interviews suggest guests who experience awe in the Museum described them differently than awe experiences they were asked to recall from past experience.

Significance. We did not replicate prior results linking awe to critical thinking. However, we did find awe was related to skeptical thinking – which is an aspect of critical thought. To date, awe has only been measured in lab settings using memory. Interviews suggest there may be a fundamental difference between memory/lab experiences of awe and those that come from more ecologically valid settings. These differences in setting may explain the differences in result. More work studying awe in real world educational settings is needed.

Authors

• C. Aaron Price, Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago

• Jana Greenslit, Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago

• Lauren R Applebaum, Museum of Science and Industry - Chicago

• Kim Quinn, DePaul University

• Sheila Krogh-Jesperson, Northwestern University