Developing Guidelines for Designing Challenging and Rewarding Interactive Science Exhibits

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The project will research how informal science learning can be supported while museum visitors are engaged in "productive struggle" with interactive exhibits. Often informal science learning projects focus on developing positive affective outcomes. Research has shown, however, that negative affective experiences such as struggle and challenge can be particularly powerful for learning. Learners who experience struggle and effort are likely to adopt a growth mindset, in which they attribute their mastery of skills and understanding to effort rather than innate ability. This been shown to be an important factor in lifelong learning, academic achievement, and persistence. The research will develop and refine a model of productive struggle and its impact in designed informal science learning experiences, and will elaborate a flexible set of evidence-based design guidelines and strategies for eliciting and supporting visitor engagement in productive struggle. This project is supported by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program which funds research and innovative resources for use in a variety of settings as a part of its overall strategy to enhance learning in informal environments.Research suggests that productive struggle, which manifests itself as confusion or even frustration, can occur when learners actively engage in challenges that push them just beyond the limits of their existing capabilities. For learners to engage in productive struggle, they must perceive that their efforts will be worthwhile. The research will (1) explore the individual and contextual factors associated with the emotional experience of productive struggle during informal learning experiences, (2) elaborate how learning experience design strategies can be implemented to support diverse learners to successfully engage in productive struggle, and (3) examine the relationships between productive struggle experiences, learner characteristics, and desired learning outcomes. Through an iterative research process involving qualitative comparative analysis, design-based research, and descriptive quantitative analysis, the proposed project will develop an empirically-tested theoretical model and a refined and tested set of guidelines and strategies for designing informal learning experiences which encourage productive struggle.