A science museum is created by its contents and the activities relating to them. These contents may be historical artifacts, such as a steam engine, or exhibits of natural phenomena, scientific ideas or technological inventions. A museum is an educational county fair, a serious and exciting learning environment where the relationships between one exhibit and the next, and among the exhibits, the visitors and the space as a whole are important. This location‐and‐object specific attribute sets museums apart from other communications media such as television, books and periodicals.

Topics
Combustion engine, Television broadcasting, Books
1.
Assoc. Sci.‐Tech. Centers, 1987 survey (115 institutions reported “through the door” attendance of 50 million) Washington, D.C.
2.
B. Serrell, ed., What Research Says About Learning in Science Museums, Assoc. Sci‐Tech. Centers, Washington, D.C. (1990).
3.
P.
Morrison
,
Am. J. Phys.
32
,
441
(
1964
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
4.
J.
Diamond
,
Curator
29
(
2
),
139
(
1986
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
5.
J. H.
Falk
,
J. Mus. Ed.
7
(
4
),
22
(
1982
).
Google Scholar
 
6.
M. Csikszentmihalyi, I. S. Csikszentmihalyi, eds., Optimal Experience, Cambridge U.P., New York (1988).
7.
R. A. Hodgkin, Playing and Exploring, Methuen, New York (1985).
8.
W. H. Whyte, City, Doubleday, New York (1988).
This content is only available via PDF.
© 1990 American Institute of Physics.
1990
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.