Abstract:

The forms of education available today at science museums and centres are considerably diversified, and there is currently no entrenched model of educational practice at these institutions. Hence, a lot depends on the inventiveness and ingenuity of the organisers. Exhibits and activity stations at respective science centres sometimes initiate a lively research process, including the formulation of problem questions, the development and testing of hypotheses and the comparison of possible solutions. However, visitors are often simply asked to read and closely follow the attached instructions, performing experiments step by step to achieve the pre-planned outcome. This represents what is known as the reactive model of learning, which constrains the participant’s cognitive autonomy. As observable in a typical classroom, the participant’s research involvement is diluted and subject to external control. Some exhibits themselves are constructed as instructional pieces and suggest a fixed sequence of activities. However, situations in which neither the course of activities nor the expected didactic effect is prearranged by the organisers are in fact much more desirable and valuable in educational terms. In this approach, only certain input data included in the exposition are provided, while the expected outcome is not defined. In this inter-active learning model, the meaning of actions is only established while exploring an exhibit, which makes for the cognitively most valuable form of learning. Interaction- based learning is a conscious process that differs from instruction-based and imitative learning, which is, against all appearances, not infrequent at vigorously bustling science centres and museums. The constructivist premises which underlie interaction-based learning also underpin the research project described in this paper.