YOUNG CHILDREN’ S LEARNING IN MUSEUM S ETTINGS by Barbara Piscitelli & David Anderson Centre for Applied Studies in Early Childhood Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Background museum experience of very young children, and hence In the 1980s, museum and visitor research studies were regarded as being in their infancy (Feher, 1990). The in- tervening years have seen considerable growth and devel- opment in this field of research, although it can be re- garded as having been in a formative stage throughout the past two decades. By the middle of the 1990s, there was widespread acceptance among researchers of the cogni- tive, affective and social aspects of the learning experi- ences of visitors in museums and similar institutions (Raphling & Serrell, 1993; Rennie & McClafferty, 1996; Rennie, 1994; Roberts, 1992), and Falk & Dierking (1992) had drawn attention to the physical, social and personal contexts in which learning occurs. The highly stimulating, novel and in- teractive physical and social environ- ments of museums have been linked to ineffective learning outcomes by visiting school students in some stud- ies (Anderson & Lucas, 1997; Kubota & Olstad 1991). Others studies of the 1990s period have demonstrated that students enjoy visits to museums tre- mendously and that increased interest and enjoyment of post-visit activities constitute extremely valuable learning outcomes (Anderson, 1998, 1999; Ayres & Lelear, 1998; Ramey-Gassert at al., 1994), that persist over time (Ander- son, 1999; Rennie, 1994; Wolins, Jensen & Ulzheimer, 1992). With a few notable exceptions (Andrews & Asia, 1979; Borun, Chambers & Cleghorn, 1996; Kindler & Darras, 1997; McClafferty, 2000; McClafferty & Rennie, 1997; Piscitelli, McArdle, & Weier, 1999; Wolins et al., 1992) there is an absence in the literature of studies which ex- amine very young children’s perspectives and museum experiences. This is somewhat surprising given that young children constitute a significant part of museum visitorship by virtue of their inclusion as part of the family visitor demographic. The impact of museums on the lives and learning of young children has been largely ignored. A survey of the literature pertaining to young children’s museum experiences leads us to several conclusions. First, there is a notable lack of investigation concerning the there is currently limited understanding of children’s per- spectives of these settings. Second, investigating and col- lecting data from young children pertaining to their learn- ing and museum experiences is difficult by virtue of their limited ability to communicate, difficulty in self-reflect- ing on their past experiences, and reliability issues asso- ciated with data collection from adult investigators (Hatch, 1990; Piscitelli, et al., 1999). Third, positive experiences of museums appear to be an important factor in future visitation to such settings (Andrews & Asia, 1979; Kindler & Darras, 1997). It was also evident, from our relationship with the museum community in Queensland, Australia, that there have been fluctuations in the number of young visitors over the past several years as well as a decline in school visitors. Furthermore, there are no known studies and few policy docu- ments on the position of young chil- dren in museum culture, despite the fact that children are enthusiastic mu- seum visitors. Given these general con- clusions, it would appear that there is a need for a thorough investigation of children’s experiences and perceptions of their museum encounters. Such research would inform museum communities about the experiential aspects which children find most rewarding, and assist in the develop- mental aspects of exhibitions and programs which have educational and experiential impact for young visitors. The QUT Museums Collaborative In 1997, museum educators and administrators joined university researchers to form a collaborative team to ex- amine the experiences of young children visiting muse- ums. The team comprised staff from Queensland Univer- sity of Technology (QUT), the Queensland Art Gallery (art museum), the Queensland Museum (natural and so- cial history museum), the Queensland Sciencentre (inter- active science and technology centre) and Global Arts Link (visual arts and social history museum). From the col- laborative efforts of this group, a baseline study was con- ducted in 1998 with funding from each of the partners (continued on next page) “… there is a need for a thorough investigation of children’s experiences and perceptions of their museum encounters.” Vol. III/Issue 3 Visitor Studies Today! 3