Learning With Style: How Exhibits on Learning Style Preferences Can Serve Adult. Visitors in Science Museums

Abstract

The author developed an exhibit prototype to enhance the experiences of adult, walk-in visitors to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. This exhibit prototype was intended to help visitors identify their unique learning styles and then suggest ways they could apply that knowledge to improve their museum visits. The exhibit prototype functioned in three ways: 1) as a means for visitors to identify their learning styles through a popular science theme, 2) as an instrument for the museum to evaluate the various types of visitors it was serving or neglecting, and 3) as an orientation tool for adult, walk-in visitors, a large but underserved portion of the museum-going public.