Invading public spaces: Exploring the effects of media type and social prompts on learning outcomes in an interactive environment

ABSTRACT

A 2 × 2, fully-crossed, quasi-experimental design was employed to determine if type of media (rich media vs. lean media) and social prompting (presence of prompts vs. absence of prompts) would differentially impact learning outcomes for patrons interacting with an aquatic invasive species exhibit. Results indicated that the lean-media condition elicited significantly greater learning outcomes than the rich-media condition on two of the three learning measures. The presence of social prompts elicited significantly higher learning outcomes in terms of invasive species identification. The findings are consistent with literature on media and learning. Results are discussed for those designing interactive, public spaces for education.

Notes

1. It should be noted that the free-recall measure was directionally consistent with the other learning assessments but not statistically significant.