Bitte wählen Sie ihr Lieferland und ihre Kundengruppe
Both the development and evaluation of one of a set of computer programs designed for use by visitors as adjuncts to museum exhibits are described. Museum displays used were (1) a static, behind-glass exhibit on evolution, (2) a hands-on primitive stone age tools exhibit, and (3) a Foucault pendulum. A computer placed next to each exhibit served as a simulation of a teacher who asked questions by way of a video screen and received responses keyed in on a typewriter keyboard. Questions about the visitors were used in the analysis of responses to leading questions to cue the computer response to the sophistication and age of the user. A preliminary study for the evolution program showed that the mean scores for a 4-question test, administered via computer to 13B randomly selected visitors over the age of 14, were significantly higher for the visitors who had used the computer program for that exhibit than for those who had used one of the other programs. This report also describes the design and results of an experiment to test the effectiveness of one section of the program, and outlines some practical conclusions drawn from project experiences.