Too young to ask their own questions: Learning and visitor dynamics in a constructivist museum environment.

Abstract

In 2023, the Children's Museum, a new permanent exhibition for children, opened at the National Museum in Prague. Primarily designed for children aged 5-10, the exhibition aims to provide an educational alternative to traditional (pre-)school education and classical museums. Through a combination of interactive and traditional presentation methods, the exhibition offers imaginative and interdisciplinary perspectives on various phenomena. It encourages visitors to explore and learn in their own ways. This approach requires a significant interpretative effort from both children and their accompanying adults. To evaluate how the exhibition's concept resonates with visitors, we observed visitor interactions over a period of 2.5 months, analysing 720 interactions involving more than 2000 visitors. Our analysis revealed that older children (aged 6-10, the primary target group) showed higher levels of interaction and engagement compared to younger children. However, the primary target group constituted only 23% of the child visitors, with 72% being younger children. This indicates that the exhibition is not attracting its intended audience effectively, and the majority of the young visitors may face challenges due to the complexity of the exhibition's concept. We discuss the implications of these findings and suggest strategies to align the exhibition's content better with its target audience.