Popularization of Science

Popularization of Science

A Preliminary Proposal to Design Digital Instruments for Museums and Science Centers

Document Type : Review Paper

Author
Freelance Museum Concept Designer
Abstract
Nowadays, it is very common to use digital tools in daily activities especially young people benefit from it so much. This issue has two aspects for the designers of museum facilities. Digital  tools are very attractive because of their fascinating motion pictures and especially visual effects. The digital tools make unlimited opportunities for us as designers of science centers/museums to show the audiences the invisible aspects of the nature or an industry (for example inside an atom or an atomic reactor and so on).
But this is the good side of digital tools, on the other side frequent use of these facilities at homes can lead to lack of interest in audiences to visit these science centers and hence decreases the function of science centers/museums. In this paper, some basic rules for designing a digital tool for science centers/museums have been investigated and then as a case study a mechatronic tool is designed for a science center.
Keywords


Assessor team. (2013) facts on the video games industry- Aug 28 2014-
(statista) http://www.statista.com/topics/868/video-games/
Gallagher , M.D. (2013) - essential facts about the computer and video game
industry- Aug 20 2014- (entertainment software association) - www.theesa.
com
Assessor team. (2013) global mobile statistics -20 Aug 2014 –(mobile web
development) http://mobiforge.com/research-analysis/global-mobile-
statistics-2014-part-a-mobile-subscribers-handset-market-share-mobile-
operators?mT&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_ medium=twitter.
Assessor team. (2013) number of tv households worldwide -24 Aug 2014-
http://www. statista.com/statistics/268695/number-of-tv-households-world-
wide.
Rogoff, B. (1990).Apprenticeship in Thinking: Cognitive Development in So-
cial Context. New York: Oxford University Press
Cecilie F. J., Arnseth H. C., Ingeborg K., Ole S., Kluge A. (2011) Designing
for Play Based Learning of ScientificConcepts: Digital Tools for Bridging
School and Science Museum Contexts ,Children, Youth and Environments
21(2), 2011.
Morris, R., (1990). Science Education Worldwide.Belgium: UNESCO.
Korwin, A.R., R.E. Jones, (1990). Do hands-on, technology based activities
enhance learning by reinforcing cognitive knowledge and retention.Journal
of Technology Education, 1(2): 1-12.
Schneider, B., Cheslock, N. (2003). Measuring results: Gaining insight on be-
havior change strategies and evaluation methods from environmental educa-
tion, museum, health and social marketing programs