The Museum ExperienceAs the first book to take a "visitor's eye view" of the museum visit, The Museum Experience revolutionized the way museum professionals understand their constituents. Falk and Dierking integrate their original research from a wide variety of disciplines as well as visitor studies from institutions ranging from science centers and zoos to art and natural history museums. Written in clear, non-technical style, The Museum Experience paints a thorough picture of why people go to museums, what they do there, how they learn, and what museum practitioners can do to enhance these experiences. This book is an essential reference for all museum professionals and students of museum studies, and has been used widely for higher education courses in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., and has been translated into Japanese and Chinese. Originally published in 1992, the book is now available from Left Coast Press, Inc. as of November 2010. |
Contents
The Personal Context Visitor Agendas | |
Groups in the Museum | |
The Physical Context Visitor Pathways | |
Exhibits and Labels | |
The Museum as Gestalt | |
Museum Learning Defined | |
Understanding the Museum Experience | |
Creating the Museum Experience | |
Creating Museum Experiences for Organized Groups | |
Appendix | |
Annotated Bibliography | |
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Common terms and phrases
activities adults agenda American animals appeared approach asked aspects Association attention Balling become centers cognitive communication concept conducted conversation create described determine Dierking discussion display educational effects environment evaluation example exhibits expectations fact Falk feelings field trip frequent gift goals groups History Museum ideas important individual influence institution interaction interest interviewed kinds knowledge labels learning leisure look memory motivation museum experience Museum of Natural museum professionals museum visitors Natural History objects observed occasional organized orientation parents parking particular perceptions personal context physical context play Predicting presented programs provides psychology question recall recollections remember result role setting significant social social context specific spend staff suggests things understanding University Unpublished visit museums visitor behavior Washington York