Poster #46 - Lifelong Competencies at the American Children’s Museum: A Review of Mission Statements

• In Event: Poster Session 17

Abstract

Research on children’s learning in museum settings has, to date, primarily focused on content knowledge gains. However, specifying who the museum is for rather than what it exhibits (e.g., science center, natural history museum, botanical garden), the children’s museum is a distinct type of museum that offers a holistic environment particularly poised to provide children with a variety of benefits, including supporting the development of Lifelong Competencies, defined as malleable, domain-general, context independent skills, attitudes, abilities, and understandings that support individuals in being resilient and adaptable in the face of changing and unpredictable circumstances of their own future. Important in preparing children for their futures but understudied constructs in children’s museums, which Lifelong Competencies children’s museums prioritize is largely unknown, and, thus, so is how to effectively design for them. To more wholly understand and optimize the ways in which children’s museums contribute to their communities, it is important to identify which Lifelong Competencies they aim to support, as well how they fulfill such goals and why they are valued. Mission statements offer a way of informing this.

In Study A, readability assessment and frequency analysis were conducted for all available American children’s museum mission statements (n = 321). Overall, readability findings indicate that children’s museum mission statements are compact (length: M = 23.75, SD = 14.92), difficult to read (Flesch Reading Ease: M = 30.27, SD = 20.61), and hard to understand (Flesch Kincaid Grade Level: M = 14.09, SD = 4.37), potentially sacrificing their ability to help visitors frame their visit for deeper engagement and exacerbating issues surrounding museum inclusion. Frequency analysis of mission statement terms (see Table 1) identified two prioritized Lifelong Competencies, as determined by their inclusion in the top ten most frequent terms: creativity and curiosity.

In Study B, thematic analysis was conducted with all the mission statements that included creativ* and/or curio* (n = 119) to explore how creativity and curiosity are planned for, as well as why encouraging these competencies is seen as beneficial, in regard to their value in supporting other outcomes. Findings indicate that children’s museums consider their role as nurturing creativity but merely triggering curiosity. Further results suggest that children’s museums plan for achieving both goals through experiences, environments, and play with a design focus on hands-on and interactive elements, family-friendly features, ways of eliciting a positive affect, and experiences that are educational and innovative. Finally, creativity and curiosity are primarily valued as mediators towards more and deeper learning gains, followed by mediating actions (i.e., learning processes), affect (i.e., learning mindsets), and building connections.

This analysis offers to serve as a guide for museum research and practice that supports children’s development of Lifelong Competencies, and implications are discussed. As mission statement intentions are not always fulfilled, future research is needed to explore to what extent the present findings on creativity- and curiosity-supporting intended practice are translated into American children’s museums’ implemented practice, as well as whether findings could be extended to other cultures and types of museums.

Author

• Kathleen Kupiec, University of Oxford
  Presenting Author