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I-Guides in Progress: Two Prototype Applications for MuseumEducators and Visitors Using Wireless Technologies to Support Informal

Science Learning

Sherry HsiExploratorium, San Francisco, California, USA

AbstractWe describe I-Guides, an information technology research project in progress at the Exploratorium, a hands-on museum of science, art, and human perception. Building upon the findings from the Electronic GuidebookProject [Hsi, 2003], various configurations of RFID technologies, handheld computers, and network-basedapplications are being developed to support nomadic inquiry and extend the museum experience for twodifferent audiences: museum visitors and museum educators. For museum visitors, this project is exploringways to enable visitors to intentionally capture one’s museum experiences for later reflection andinvestigation of personally relevant science ideas via the Web. For museum educators, this project isdesigning a wireless handheld Web resource and digital library infrastructure to support educators in makingeffective uses of exhibits and exhibit-based content for inquiry-based teaching. An overview of research aswell as planned design studies, working prototypes, and evaluation activities are described.

Background and Context for Research

Wireless electronic devices such as audiotour guides have been used to promotedeeper appreciation of exhibit artifactsand enhance onsite museums experiences[Woodruff et al., 2001]. These museum-based experiences can be extendedbeyond the physical location of museum-based learning using technologies thatenable one to bookmark an exhibit forlater reflection [Fleck et!al., 2002].Similarly, handheld computerapplications have been configured toenhance and extend formal classroomeducation into informal learning settingssuch as zoos, aquaria, and the outdoorsusing probeware and GPS to enable real-time data collection and datainterpretation. [Chang and Sheu, 2002;Klopfer et al., 2002; Tinker and Krajcik,2001].

The I-Guides project takes place at theExploratorium, an interactive, hands-onmuseum of science, art, and humanperception in San Francisco, California.Our goals are to create a wireless

infrastructure and test bed at the museumto support nomadic inquiry: an approachto learning in which the learner is mobile,asks and investigates personally relevantproblems, builds on their own scientificideas, critiques information, and createsexplanations by drawing upon cognitivesupports and knowledge resources fromboth virtual and physical landscapes. Thismodel of learning in informalenvironments assumes learners are notpassive recipients of knowledge butrather are self-motivated and make theirown choices about what to learn andwhen to request facilitation (provided byeither technology or humans). This workdraws upon pragmatic pedagogicalprinciples and instructional frameworkfrom the Scaffolded KnowledgeIntegration for science education [Linnand Hsi, 2000].

Our long-range vision is to supportcontinuous, lifelong science inquiry at themuseum as well as extend visitors’primary informal experiences acrossother learning spaces encountered aftertheir visit to the Exploratorium or other

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partner museum. Via a wireless network,digital library, and personalized Webmuseum services, this futurecyberinfrastructure will enable userinteractions to be audited andlongitudinal studies of museum visitorbehaviors to be conducted towardsbuilding a model of learning in informalenvironments.

Application for Museum Visitors

Visitor Needs and Interactions

At any given time in the museum, thereare live demonstrations, hands-onconstruction activities, and as many as600 interactive exhibits to explore. Manyexhibits involve one-handedmanipulation to move a disk, knob, orlever, while others involve two hands andother participants. The museum is noisy,and exhibits often involve things that caninterfere with the handheld’s function,such as sand, water, or electricity.Visitors find this free-choice, multi-sensory environment exciting yetoverwhelming, making it difficult toengage visitors for any length of time at asingle exhibit. Visitors also consist offamily groups who have multiple,competing interests and agendas[Dierking and Falk, 1994]. Oldermembers of a family group may wantmore time to explore the scientificphenomena being presented by oneexhibit but are pulled away by children tothe next exhibit or event, requiring theolder family members to switch theirattention from moment to moment. Thehands-on museum setting poses achallenging but potentially rich contextfor studying ways in which museumvisitors might use wireless technologiesto improve visitor experiences andaddress deeper understanding of the

science phenomena beyond fleetingencounters with exhibits.

Our first design, the ElectronicGuidebook, was used to make the sciencebehind the exhibit more explicit. Thisguidebook contained multimedia contentof ways to play with exhibits, exhibithistory, and content to show examples ofthe same science phenomena found ineveryday life. However, our researchwith the Electronic Guidebook hasestablished that individual visitors foundit difficult and cumbersome to carryhandheld devices while operating themuseum exhibits. Ironically, visitors alsofound that a handheld promoted a senseof isolation in a museum whose goal is topromote learning conversations [Hsi,2003]. Unlike audio tours in artmuseums, the audio portion of themultimedia content was difficult to hearin the Exploratorium’s noisyenvironment. While the nomadic Webcontent motivated users to try new waysto interact with exhibits, they preferredhaving their hands free to manipulateexhibits [Fleck et al., 2002]. Thus, theredesigned visitor application for I-Guides aims to remove bulky technologyfrom the hands of the visitor and providealternative forms of recording andcapturing user experiences at the museumfor later reflection. Using an RFIDpackage such as an electronic watch, acard, a yo-yo, or a remote clicker, avisitor could bookmark the exhibit he/sheis visiting (which sends his/her unique IDto the network via an RFID transceivermounted on the exhibit), capture amemorable photo of himself/herself at ornear an exhibit by activating a camera,and/or trigger a printer to create asouvenir of a visit. An RFID transceiverrecords and sends the visitoridentification number to the network and

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database system while also tracking avisitor’s conceptual pathway through themuseum. After the museum visit, thevisitor later reviews additional sciencearticles, conducts personally relevantscience investigations, explores onlineexhibits, and downloads hands-on kitsand other science activities at home via apersonalized Web page (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The I-Guide Digital Notepadprototype showing an image that a visitorfamily group has captured during theirmuseum visit and access to more after-museum, Web-based, science-inquiryactivities.

User Requirements for Individual VisitorsBased on a front-end evaluation withvisitors and museum staff, we found thatthe packaging’s design needs to belightweight, waterproof, drop-proof, andinexpensive, and that it should notinterfere with exhibit interaction. Theoverall system configuration ofpackaging and user has to necessarily beboth easy to maintain and low-poweredor requiring no power outlets (because ofthe nature of some exhibit locations). Inaddition, the ID capture system must becreated and installed to be obviousenough for visitors to trigger, and yet notdetract from the aesthetic of the exhibitdesign. The packaging also has to be easyto distribute at the admission ticket deskor at a vending machine.

Based on several group design meetings,three general classes of bookmarkingdevices that house the RFID tag1 wereprototyped: retractables, wearables, andcards (Figure 2). These configurations arecurrently being studied and evaluated byvisitors at the museum.

Figure 2: Prototypes for RFID tokens: yo-yo,cards, table coaster, necklace, and watch.

Application for Museum Educators(Explainers)A second I-Guides application isdesigned for museum educators, calledExplainers. This application wasmotivated by positive feedback from theExplainers who enjoyed learning fromthe explanations provided in theElectronic Guidebook, our first researchprototype, and their high level of fluencyin using technology and attentionswitching between exhibits and thehandheld made them ideal candidates fortesting the I-Guide [Hsi, 2003].Explainers are museum staff who areapprenticed into helping othersexperience and become skilled at inquiry-based approaches to learning andteaching science. Explainers prompt

1 The RFID tag, developed by Texas Instruments, uses apassive inductive couple to capture user ID information. TheRFID wireless transceiver is a proprietary technology underdevelopment at Intel Research Labs, Seattle, Washington,USA.

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visitors, children on field trips, andvisiting teachers to engage more deeplywith exhibits without answeringquestions directly or giving lengthyexplanations. Explainers also performdemonstrations, shepherd field tripgroups, and help maintain exhibits.Because new Explainers continually jointhe museum staff and new exhibits arefeatured at the Exploratorium on aregular basis, Explainers’ backgroundknowledge about any particular exhibitand the content behind that exhibit varies.Also, Explainers gain pedagogicalexpertise in using exhibits for teachingwith visitors, yet this expertise is lostwhen they leave the museum. Thus, thehandheld could be used as device tocapture and share Explainer knowledgewith future trainees. Explainers could usea wireless handheld in the presence ofvisitors to remotely control a largerexhibit, to send addition information viae-mail to a visitor, or to collect data aboutthe interesting phenomena. The handheldcould also serve as a mobile tutorial ortraining tool, or as a workflow organizerfor the Explainer. We predict that thissame application could also by useful bythe adult in a family group to supportfacilitation and explanation with theirchildren.

Our overarching purpose in focusing ourefforts on a museum-educator applicationis to synthesize an instructional designframework for tiny displays, to apply thisframework to the design of nomadic Webcontent, and to study its effects in thefacilitation of learning with exhibits in ahands-on science museum. To supportcontent delivery via the handhelds(whether the content be rich mediaanimations, narratives, guiding questions,or simple prompts), we are developing adigital library infrastructure to organize

media and develop search tools tosupport ubiquitous access of exhibit-based content resources. The broadercontext for this work is to understandboth the role of IT technologies insupporting explanation and facilitationwith exhibits, and the derivation andrefinement of an instructional designframework specific for handheld/mobiledisplay devices.

Planned Research and EvaluationWe have been following a design-basedresearch approach to creatingeducationally relevant interventions inwhich design for learning requiresiterative refinement and study [Collins,Joseph, and Bielaczyc, 2000; DBRC,2003]. Rather than attempting to isolateparticular variables for study in thecontext of a museum, we are identifyingsalient variables that arise and theirinterrelationships. Drawing upon Collinset al.’s model, we plan to design andstudy both the RFID visitor applicationand museum educator handheldapplication along three dimensions:cognitive level, social level, andinteraction with artifacts. However, oneadditional dimension is added that takesinto consideration the institutionalcontext and the influences thatinstitutional policies place uponeducational design, learner experiences,and expected learning outcomes.

Wireless RFID Studies with Visitors

To test whether visitors are able to makeuse of RFID tags and readers, we aretesting two basic configurations: onescenario in which the user carries thetransceiver, and the exhibit contains atag, and the inverse: The visitor carriesthe tag and the RFID transceiver ismounted on the exhibit. In both cases, theRFID transceiver captures and sends in

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real time a unique visitor ID to a userdatabase. We will assess whether or notvisitors are able to use this system at themuseum, trace the visitor’s path throughthe museum, and measure how manyvisitors conduct post-visit investigations.In addition, we will interview visitorsabout their post-museum activities andevaluate their online activity and workcreated in their I-Guides DigitalNotepads. Eight visitors have beeninterviewed and have critiqued paperprototypes of post-visit activities. Thesecritiques are being incorporated into thecurrent, working design and will be usedin larger evaluation studies.

Inquiry-Based Teaching and InstructionalDesign Studies with Explainers

To better understand the influence ofnomadic Web content on Explainers’mediation skills and inquiry-basedteaching with exhibits, we are designingand comparing three media conditions forthe handheld (e.g., narrative, guidedinquiry prompts, and mixed media) tobetter understand its usefulness as afacilitation training tool and its influenceon promoting self-guided inquiry. Inaddition, we are developing an interfacethat will allow Explainers to enter andarchive new pedagogical insights and tipson explaining scientific phenomena andways to play with exhibits. Explainerfocus groups have been conducted toidentify training issues and knowledgeneeds. Exhibit-based content and guidedinquiry prompts that will provide insightinto the design of handheld multimediafor inquiry are currently being designedand evaluated.

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AcknowledgmentsI-Guides would not be possible without thecollaborative team at the Exploratorium, MirjanaSpasojevic and Mark Smith at HP Labs, and IntelResearch Labs. I especially acknowledge theScience Museum London, and the Center forInformal Learning and Schools for their criticalinsights upon this work. I-Guides is supported bythe U.S. National Science Foundation under ITRGrant No.02056654. Any opinions, findings, andconclusions or recommendations expressed in thismaterial are those of the authors and do notnecessarily reflect the view of the NSF.