Project Description:

The goal of the Thinking Aloud and Looking aHEAD at Museum Learning project is to develop a head camera and research protocol to study how people learn in humanities museums. Given that museums are widely considered to provide significant learning opportunities in the humanities, it is problematic that the scholarly community does not understand more about how learning actually happens there. This pilot seeks to address the gap in understanding by creating a new research methodology for use in museums.

In the pilot phase the team will design a head camera for museum visitors to wear as they experience museum exhibitions. The head camera will be used in conjunction with think aloud protocol. The combination will allows us to capture real-time cognitive processing while visitors are in the presence of displayed objects. The head camera allows us to combine the visitors' real-time reports with a video record of what they are looking at at the time of their commentary. Bringing the two approaches together has the potential to deliver new insight into the museum experience and the special kind of learning that occurs there.

Core personnel:

• Sam Wineburg
• Susie Wise