In search for an in-depth experience

Visitors to science centres and museums choose their preferred activities and design their own learning experiences. To support visitors, most institutions aspire to an environment that combines learning with enjoyment. While many such environments have been found to provide effective learning experiences, particularly in the affective domain, it is not clear whether visitors gain deep or in-depth knowledge from enjoyable situations. Our question for this session is thus: how can we systematically create an enjoyable experience, which meaningfully integrates visitors’ personal context and that also supports in-depth learning about science and technology? This will be a truly reverse session with small-group discussions kicked-off with a presentation and a closing plenary discussion.