Reasoning about Objects in a Natural History Museum: The Effect of Complexity of Questions on Object Labels

Abstract In natural history museums, a large part of the educational mission is to facilitate family learning with and about objects. Questions on object labels can play a role in this learning process. In the current study, we investigated the effect that different types of questions on object labels can have on the reasoning conversations among family members. We audio-recorded family conversations at an exhibit that included a fossilized dinosaur egg and a text label containing a question. Sixty-six families participated in three conditions differing in the level of complexity of the question on the label. We found that a question of moderate complexity facilitated the longest conversations, with the largest number of complex inferences, compared to the simpler and the more complex question. When reasoning, families most often used evidence from prior knowledge and other parts of the exhibition, but did not often relate to personal experiences. During the longer and more complex conversations, parents took up a larger role in the conversation, facilitating their family’s reasoning process. We suggest that open-ended, moderately complex questions on labels can facilitate family reasoning conversations. Providing enough context within the surrounding exhibits and connecting to prior knowledge may help the reasoning process.