Designing immersion exhibits as border-crossing environments

Abstract

Science museum exhibits embody both content and form, and these aspects are not independent of each other. However, selecting the right form for a given content is not straightforward. This paper provides an example of how science education theory, specifically the notion of border crossing, can be applied to achieve an understanding of the immersion exhibit form. The argument proceeds by demonstrating how the characteristics of immersion exhibits, and visitors to them, classify them as microcultures, and examining the implications of this for exhibit design using a hypothetical immersion exhibit as a case. Finally, the generalisability of the findings is discussed as an example of applying education theory to exhibit development.

Keywords:

• immersion exhibit
• cultural border crossing
• museum exhibit design
• science museum exhibits
• visitor experience

Acknowledgements

I gratefully acknowledge productive discussions with Jan Sølberg in the early stages of this work as well as the constructive comments of Robert Evans, Jan Alexis Nielsen and three anonymous reviewers on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Notes

1. At the time of writing I was unable to locate research literature on adults’ conceptions of invertebrates; thus visitors’ conceptions of invertebrates are modelled on those of children.

2. To preserve the authenticity of the immersion exhibit, these screens could be placed close to the floor so as to not interfere with the vista of the forest floor scenario.

3. The quality of an [exhibit] such that people introduced to it for the first time will understand its purpose, scope and properties almost immediately and without conscious effort (Allen 2004, S20).