Messaging Matters: Order of Experience with Messaging at a STEM-Based Museum Exhibit Influences Children’s Engagement with Challenging Tasks

Abstract This project examines how the order of messaging during parent–child interactions at a museum exhibit affects children’s engagement with the exhibit. Parents and 4-7-year-olds (N = 64) played at a circuit block exhibit. They were first given blocks with descriptive (e.g., “This is a battery.”) or discovery-prompting (e.g., “There is no wrong way to play.”) messages, and after 90 seconds, given more blocks with the other message type. Children who received discovery-prompting messages second – after being allowed to explore the affordances of the circuit blocks with the descriptive messages – played at the exhibit longer, and participated in more circuit-building challenges on their own. Parents were also sensitive to the order of the messaging; it related to the ways in which they interacted with their children at the exhibit. We conclude by considering how the timing of messages families receive at an exhibit relates to the way they engage with the exhibit. Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10645578.2021.2015948 .