A Brief Discussion onFrequentVisitorsin Museums——EmpiricalResearchBasedonThreeMuseums

Zhou Jingjing Lin Yungneng Zheng Jing Fu Qiang

Wu Bin Lu Minjie Gao Mengchen Zhang Wenjun

Abstract:In recent years, the number of museum visitors has generally declined to varying degrees in European and American museum. How to retain the core visitors has become a top priority for them. At the same time, with the rapid development, Chinese museums also suffer the hidden concerns of new structural problems on the visitors. “Frequent Visitors” has become an important and basic concept for discussing this issue. Therefore, quantitative research was carried out on Nanjing Museum, Jinsha Site Museum and Qian Xuesen Library & Museum. Based on the definition of “Frequent Visitors” and existing researches, frequency analysis and cross analysis were conducted on the composition of frequent visitors, influence variables, and the relationship between variables and frequent visitors. It is found that the majority of museum visitors in China are occasional visitors. Then, this paper proposes different strategies for frequent and occasional visitors respectively. In addition, it suggests that museums should turn occasional visitors into frequent visitors through external and internal ways, and take this job as a long-term goal in order to encourage visitors to visit museums frequently. Otherwise, once the “museum craze” fades, the loss of visitors will make a disastrous impact on museums’ future development.

Keywords:museum, frequent visitors, occasional visitors, composition analysis, cross analysis

The Influence of Graphic Layout of Online Collections on Viewer’s Information Acquisition——AnEyeMovementStudy

Zheng Xia Cheng Hua

Abstract:Different picture and text layouts of online collections will affect people’s attention process, and thus affect the viewer’s information acquisition of corresponding graphic and text. In this paper, through eye movement experiments, the viewer’s attention behaviors are studied when browsing through four different web-page layout forms, including picture above and text below, text above and picture below, picture left and text right as well as text left and picture right. In addition, we also tested the viewer’s acquisition of information such as the size, shape, decoration, craftsmanship, historical and cultural significance of the cultural relics, etc. and studied the different effects of the four layouts forms on the viewer. Furthermore, this research provides a reference for museum online collection web-page design, makes it better adapted to viewers’ attention characteristics and promotes the collection’s information dissemination.

Keywords:museum, graphic layout of collections, audience visual attention, eye movement research

A Study on Museum Visitor Segmentation for Serving the Public:Significance,Approaches and Suggestions

Fu Yi Teng Xizhai

Abstract:Nowadays most Chinese museums are thinking and expecting to solve the problem of how to serve the diversified audience efficiently in a more competitive environment. Centred around the strategy of visitor segmentation widely used by the Western museums, this paper discusses its significance and analyzes studies and practices of museum visitor segmentation from four perspectives: geography, demography, psychology, and praxeology. It argues that psychographic and behavioral segmentation usually are more helpful than geographical and demographic segmentation in the field of visitor segmention study. The segmentation research relying on signle influencing factor cannot well support the service for visitor segmentation in practice. Museums can make a good balance between the specific type visitor and the public as well as regularly implement the duty of serving the public by using different types of exhibitions and project-oriented strategies.

Keywords:museum, visitor segmentation, research perspective, public service strategy

Investigation on Effective Visiting Time of Visitors in Museum——AnEmpiricalStudyBasedonEcologyHallofTianjinNaturalHistoryMuseum

Qin Xuebo

Abstract:Visiting time is one of the important contents in the field of museum visitor study. It indicates the degree of visitors’ attention to the exhibition. In this study, the tracking observation was used to investigate the visitors’ effective visiting time (EVT) in the Ecology Hall of Tianjin Natural History Museum from 2014 to 2019. The visitors’ utilization of exhibition board and multimedia was also investigated. The result shows that the visitors’ ETV tends to be short. There are no significant differences of EVT among different visitor groups, while significant differences of EVT are found in different exhibition areas. Size and rarity of specimen are the two most important factors influencing the EVT. Visitors’ utilization of exhibition board and multimedia is very low. In order to improve the visitors’ EVT, some suggestions are put forward, including providing interpretation for visitors, distributing exhibits reasonably, extending the exhibition line appropriately, simplifying and refining exhibition board and multimedia , as well as updating content timely.

Keywords:natural history museum, visitor study, tracking observation, effective visiting time

The Breakthrough of Concept and Idea:From Museum-School Collaboration to Various Educational Projects——EvaluationorCultivationofScienceEducationProjectsinScienceandTechnologyMuseums

Zhu Youwen

Abstract:In the past 10 years, the design level of education project of science and technology museums in China has been rapidly and significantly improved, in which “Evaluation or Cultivation of science education projects in science and technology museums” has played an important leading role. Through the analysis of its development process and excellent cases, we can find that “connecting to the curriculum standard, cohesive but different”, and “bringing in educational theories and methods” are two important breakthrough points of “Museum-School Collaboration” projects, which have promoted the overall level of educational activities in science and technology museums. From the theoretical and practical perspectives, these two breakthroughs not only meet the needs of schools and society for science education, but also give full play to the resource advantages and educational characteristics of science and technology museums. They also reflect the development trend of contemporary science education and reveal the future development direction of educational activities in science and technology museums.

Keywords:science and technology museum, educational activity, Museum-School Collaboration, design concept, design idea

Cultivating the Ability of Science Engagement Through the Practice of Scientific Inquiry——ThePracticeandRevelationfromCitizenScienceProgramsConductedbyBritishandAmericanNaturalHistoryMuseums

Ruan Jiaping Lin Li

Abstract:British and American natural history museums have been running the citizen science programs for over 30 years. This paper analyzed dozens of citizen science programs from three museums to assess their achievements and problems on data quality and public education. Based on the analysis and interpretation of typical cases, we further put forward that the greatest feature and advantage of these programs is the design of cultivating the ability of science engagement through the practice of scientific inquiry. This successful design model emphasizes the core concept of “scientific inquiry practices”, suggests ways of public engagement with science and solves the problem of how to have the ability of science engagement, which have been bothering the science communicators for many years. It also provides a new idea for the development of Chinese natural science museums.

Keywords:natural history museums, citizen science, cases, scientific inquiry practices, the ability of science engagement

On Naming ofCollections in Science Museums——AReviewontheNamingHistoryofChineseMuseums’CollectionsandthePracticeofLondonScienceMuseum

Liu Niankai

Abstract:How to name the collection of science and technology? This is a new problem that has been encountered in the construction and development of science museums. This paper reviews the different opinions on the naming of collections of the general museum in China over the past 30 years. According to the norms and standards issued by the cultural heritage administrative departments of China, this paper analyzes problems and causes of the naming for scientific and technological collections. Referring to the naming method of London Science Museum, this paper takes the Science Museum of Tsinghua University as an example and proposes a suggestion that scientific and technological collections can be named in the way of “period + feature + general name”.

Keywords:science museum, scientific and technological collection, collection naming

An Explorative Study on the New Ways of Museum-School Collaborationfor High School Students’ Future Development

Tang Wanqin Tian Ke Zhang Jiayi Bao Xianqing

Abstract:At present, the museum education activities mainly covers primary school stage, rather than high school stage. Hence, the major challenge for museums are strengthening the collaboration between museums and high schools, attracting high school students to participate in educational activities and giving full play to the educational capacity of museums. By sorting out domestic and foreign cases, the author believed that science and technology museums can be complemented with schools in terms of enrollment and employment, and help the future development of senior high school students. There are four new ways of museum-school collaboration for the future development of high school students: including internship in museums, hands-on experiment, professional research and curriculum resource. Finally, on the basis of case analysis, and combined with the current domestic situation of collaboration between science and technology museums and high schools, the author put forward opinions and suggestions as references.

Keywords:science and technology museum, museum-school collaboration, high school student, collaboration way

Planning and Implementation of Sci-tech Achievements Theme Exhibitionin Science and Technology Museum——TakingtheExhibitionPraiseforthePeople’sRepublicofChinaasanExample

Tang Gang

Abstract:Praise for the People’s Republic of China:Sci-tech Achievements Exhibition in Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of Chinais a themed exhibition elaborately designed and produced by China Science and Technology Museum in 2019. It is a successful attempt to display and publicize scientific and technological achievements by the unique ways and means of science popularization and exhibition education in science museums. This paper, by organizing ideas of exhibition planning, makes an analysis of the gained experience from perspectives of topic selection, exhibition target, content planning, exhibition arrangement and exhibits design. Under the circumstances of constructing an innovation-oriented country and a science and technology world power, it hopes to provide some references for extending the ideas about exhibiting sci-tech achievements in science museums.

Keywords:science and technology museum, scientific and technological achievement, science popularization, exhibition, design idea

The Study on Design of Children Educational Activity Based on theCognitive Characteristic of Pre-operation Stage——TakingTheGrowthofKangarooasanExample

Huang Lingli

Abstract:In order to satisfy the needs of different ages, types and levels of audience, scientific education activities in museums are gradually refined from “theme category” to “stage stratification”. Pre-school children aged from 3 to 6 years old are in the pre-operation stage of cognitive development, which is an important period of rapid cognitive development. With the development of language, children begin to use representational symbols to think, which is self-centered, relatively specific single and rigid. This paper, takingTheGrowthofKangarooas an example, introduces how to study and design scientific education activities for children aged from 3 to 6 years old based on the cognitive characteristics of pre-operation stage.

Keywords:natural history museum, scientific education, children’s cognitive development, pre-operation stage, activity design