Abstract
In this study, we analyse the role of emotion in the context of informal science education experiences, specifically seeking to understand: (a) which emotions can be stimulated in families visiting interactive expositions, and (b) the extent to which parents/caregivers and museum explainers engage the children's emotional expressiveness. To this end, a protocol based on the core affect model was employed to examine the visits of 10 family groups (26 individuals) who visited an exhibit on biodiversity in a science museum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Five families went on free visits and the other five had their visits mediated by explainers. We observed that, in general, positive emotions, such as excitement and surprise, were among those most often expressed. Negative emotions, such as disagreement and doubt, also stood out in this study, but they were not exclusively associated with the negative aspects of the experience, and were instead linked to challenging moments that facilitated the construction of meaning by the families. The data suggest that visits mediated by explainers occasioned more frequent emotional displays than free visits, indicating the importance of explainers in families’ interactions and emotional responses.
1. Introduction
Museum experiences evoke a number of emotional responses that are capable of influencing the public's involvement and engagement with exhibits and educational initiatives (Marandino et al., 2018). Moreover, emotions are responsible for stimulating the interest necessary for the learning process to occur and can provide memorable experiences that lead visitors to think and feel differently after their visit (Falk, 2009).
In the words of Wagensberg (2005: 11), ‘emotions, not anything else, are the most important elements of museographic language’, allowing visitors to experience a museum in its totality. When proposing that communication in science museums must involve touch (hands-on), reflection (minds-on) and emotion (hearts-on), Wagensberg (2001: 346) highlights that ‘stimulus and emotion are the key words for the zero point of all knowledge’.
Several authors have defended the impossibility of understanding why people visit museums and engage in related activities when emotions are removed from consideration (Gregory and Witcomb, 2007; Smith and Campbell, 2016). From this perspective, understanding how emotions affect interactions and conversations can contribute to a better understanding of visitor experiences at museums, among other things. In this study, specifically, we investigated how exhibits can influence the emotional responses of family groups and how emotions are expressed in social interactions between adults and children. In particular, we considered whether differences exist in emotional responses between free visits and visits guided by museum explainers.
1.1 Emotional responses during the visit experience
Emotions play an important role in visitor behaviour (Camarero-Izquierdo et al., 2009). Del Chiappa et al. (2014) analysed whether emotions influence visitor satisfaction and observed that groups demonstrating positive emotional responses reported higher satisfaction with their visit and evaluated the museum in question more favourably in terms of its attractiveness and singularity. Ruiz-Alba et al. (2019) and Palau-Saumell et al. (2016) verified that positive emotions are an indicator of visitors’ intentions to revisit a museum and recommend it to others.
In general, the emotions that are most strongly associated with museum visits are positive ones (Falk and Gillespie, 2009; Mastandrea and Maricchiolo, 2016). However, this varies according to the type of museum visited. Mastandrea and Maricchiolo (2016) carried out a survey in several countries and regions (Austria, France, Hungary, Italy, New Zealand, Portugal, China's Taiwan and the United States) on motivations, attitudes, emotions and learning processes in three types of museums: ancient art, modern art and the sciences. In this investigation, curiosity was the most frequently cited emotion in science museums, while art museums were more strongly associated with aesthetic pleasure.
Emotions such as excitement and pleasure have been associated with better long-term learning outcomes in science (Falk and Gillespie, 2009) and conservation (Ballantyne et al., 2007). Piscitelli et al. (2003), in their investigation of the interactions of young children at science museums, affirm that emotions such as excitement, anxiety, happiness, frustration, empowerment, success and pleasure are experienced as children interact with exhibits. Other studies (Evans et al., 2018; Rappolt-Schlichtmann et al., 2017) have also discussed the role of negative emotions in learning processes in museum spaces, showing that emotions such as frustration and confusion are associated with periods of high activation. The authors describe this state as one of ‘productive struggle’ in which children exhibit more concentrated and engaged behaviour, suggesting a relationship between feelings of ‘struggle’ and significant learning. On this topic, Falk (2009) states that the stronger the emotional ‘value’ of an experience, the higher the probability that relevant sensorial information will be committed to memory. Emotion can be interpreted in this context as a signal of the event's significance.
Luke et al. (2022) analysed social and emotional behaviour during the interactions of 606 4- and 5-year-old children at 14 children's museums and 12 community playgrounds. In their analysis, the authors made use of categories centred around four socio-emotional abilities: (a) emotional expression, which registers instances of positive and negative feelings; (b) emotional regulation, which registers instances of positive and negative reactions to frustration; (c) behavioural regulation, which registers positive and negative involvement with age-appropriate activities; and (d) relational abilities with peers. Noteworthy among these results is the observation that social emotions (those demonstrated during play with other children) and emotional regulation were expressed with more negativity at science museums than at playgrounds. Luke et al. (2022) suggest that this may be a reflection of museums as spaces constructed for play that allow children to make (and fail) multiple attempts at completing tasks, becoming frustrated in the process. As such, science museums provide opportunities for children to practise these important social abilities.
In Brazil, there have been few studies completed to date that specifically focus on investigating emotions during museum visits. Among the studies that investigate the visiting public and provide data on the role of emotions in their experiences, we highlight Leporo (2015), who analysed how children share their perceptions through spoken interactions with objects and knowledge on display at an exhibit on micro-organisms. Leporo repeatedly identified expressions of pleasure, displeasure and surprise in the children's conversations, which were the third most frequent conversation type among those identified by Leporo during the visit, and the most frequent conversation type during the interview. Cerati (2014), who investigated family visits to a botanical garden exhibition using scientific literacy indicators, showed that the aesthetic/affective indicator was the second most prevalent indicator in the families’ speech, supporting the assertion that personal affinities with the natural environment favoured aesthetic/affective experiences over the course of exhibit visits. Freitas et al. (2018) investigated how learning conversations were presented during explainer engagement with students on a visit to an itinerant marine biology museum. This study ranked affective conversations—represented by verbal expressions of students’ emotional reactions in the categories of pleasure, displeasure, surprise and intrigue, among others—as the second most frequent conversation type.
These studies demonstrate that emotion plays a crucial role in visitor motivation, engagement and behaviour. However, the way in which emotion affects people of different demographic backgrounds is not yet well understood. To contribute to this understanding, this study focuses on the experiences of families with children on free and mediated visits to a science exhibition. The exhibition fits into the typology of collections on the natural sciences, according to the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Instituto Brasileiro de Museus—Ibram, 2011), and therefore is situated in the broad category of science museums.
1.2 The role of social interaction in children's emotional responses during the visit experience
Museum visits are inherently social activities. Children, especially those of preschool age, do not customarily visit museums alone (Jensen, 1994). On the contrary, they are typically accompanied by adult family members—usually parents and/or other caregivers, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and so on. Studies have shown that, in these types of groups, parents/caregivers direct children's attention during interactions (Bamberger and Tal, 2007; DeWitt and Storksdieck, 2008; Povis and Crowley, 2015), guiding their behaviour (Crowley and Callanan, 1998; Falk and Dierking, 2000), encouraging reading (Borun et al., 1996; Massarani et al., 2021b) and contributing to learning conversations (Fender and Crowley, 2007; Siegel et al., 2007). Additionally, parents/caregivers have been recognized as emotional support systems for children, facilitating conversations about memories, making personal connections and developing joint understanding of the museum experience (Hein, 1998).
Koron et al. (2022) analysed the ways in which parental instructions moulded children's attention and focus in terms of the emotional and elemental content of paintings (e.g., colours, lines, devices, techniques). The results showed that, in groups in which parents were instructed to ask their children specific questions, the children's focus and attention were more directed, and the children were encouraged to think about the emotional and elemental content in more detail. During interactions without directed guidelines, children chose emotional words less frequently in their descriptions of the works of art observed. These results suggest, according to Koron et al. (2022), that parents/caregivers dampen children's emotional experiences when they provide educational instructions.
Another noteworthy point addresses the role that explainers can play in family interactions with children by facilitating (or not) their emotional engagement during visits. Norris and Tisdale (2013) show that explainers, when well prepared, are capable of engaging visitors with the exhibition content, themes and design elements that have the largest emotional potential. Shaby et al. (2019) also demonstrate that explainers are fundamental in the potentiation of visitors’ emotional responses. Similarly, Rodari and Merzagora (2008) argue that explainers are the only truly bidirectionally interactive museum element, as they are able to listen to visitors and respond to their reactions, questions and emotions. This ability allows explainers to adapt their responses and presentations to different audiences and contexts, making their activity dialogical. The explainer team's conversations and behaviour are also considered to influence the cognitive and emotional interactions of visiting groups (Macías-Nestor et al., 2020).
1.3 Theoretical background
Employing the sociocultural perspective found in Vigotsky (1999, 2004), we define mediation as a process of intervention in a relationship by intermediate elements, in which these elements potentially take the form of instruments and/or symbols (e.g., tools, conversations, written texts or images, among other possibilities) and human action (e.g., interaction with others). As such, both interventions function as mediators of emotions. For Vigotsky (2004), emotion is a concomitantly biological and social phenomenon that can be understood as a process that develops and transforms over time. In alignment with this perspective, we define emotion as: a complex and pluralistic set of interactions between objective and subjective variables, mediated by neural and hormonal systems, that motivate and organize cognition and action. Moreover, emotions include an aspect of interpretation on the part of the subject in terms of their own lived emotional state, as well as the cognitive evaluations of socio-communicative signs and expressions that, in turn, are capable of motivating behavior. (Scalfi et al., 2022)
Therefore, we envision emotions as possessing additional characteristics beyond the biological (hormones, connections, cerebral structure) in order to study emotions in informal spaces, choosing to include relationships with other individuals and elements, the environment and lived experiences in this operational definition (Fredricks et al., 2004; Pekrun and Linnenbrink-Garcia, 2012; Rowe et al., 2023). Emotions can therefore be defined for the purposes of this study as being based in two fundamental dimensions: valence and arousal (Russell, 1980; Russell and Barrett, 1999). These form a bidimensional ‘core affect model’, the various combinations and degrees of which result in affective experiences. Here we consider valence (positive and negative experiences) and arousal (level of activation or deactivation; for example, feeling energetic versus feeling sleepy) as emotions that sustain a direct relationship with (a) epistemological aspects of learning and construction of meaning, (b) social relations, and (c) previous experiences and memories. These emotions can be expressed through behaviours (e.g., gestures and/or facial expressions) and through conversations with other individuals and interactions with exhibition elements during the visit experience. This conception allows for a more detailed description of emotions in which any emotion can be assigned to one of four categories: weak positive emotions, strong positive emotions, weak negative emotions or strong negative emotions.
2. Methodology
This study is part of a larger research project being carried out by the National Institute of Public Communication of Science and Technology (INCT-CPCT), the objective of which is to understand visitor experiences at scientific-cultural spaces in Latin America (Massarani et al., 2019a, 2019b, 2021b). This project was approved by the Joaquim Venâncio Polytechnic School Research Ethics Committee (EPSJV/Fiocruz), case number 466/2012, and under National Health Council/Ministry of Health operational norm n˚001/2013.
In this study, we investigate the emotions experienced by family groups during visits to an exhibit on biodiversity. Two questions guided this investigation: (a) Which emotions can an interactive exhibit stimulate in visiting families? (b) To what extent do parents/caregivers and explainers stimulate children's emotional expressions? Specifically, we examined whether a difference in emotional responses exists between free visits and visits guided by museum explainers.
This study adopted a qualitative approach, is exploratory in character, and can be categorized as a case study. These choices are justified by the fact that case studies allow for the close examination of data in situations in which the separation of a phenomenon of interest from its context is unfeasible (Yin, 2014).
2.1 The ‘Forest of the Senses’ exhibition
The interactive ‘Forest of the Senses’ (Floresta dos Sentidos) exhibition was developed as a science communication strategy designed for 5–8-year-old children; it focuses on topical biodiversity issues, such as animal trafficking, biopiracy, resource disputes between native and invasive species, and conservation.
The exhibit simulates a 42-square-metre nanoforest in which printed images, objects, textured materials, sound effects and scenic illumination immerse the visitor in the forest environment (Figure 1). At the entrance, there are two scenographies of trees that envelop a touchscreen computer. The exhibition associates the three-dimensional nanoforest with ‘gamified’ language in which visitors are invited to participate in a search that is completed by obtaining clues. In summary, the visitors could (a) use the computer to obtain instructions in the form of clues, which are delivered by a sloth mascot; (b) enter the forest and complete an activity within the stipulated time of 180 s in order to find a clue; and (c) return to the computer to answer a question and obtain a new clue. To assist in the discovery of clues, visitors receive a kit of curiosity-stimulating, low-cost objects, such as magnifying glasses and flashlights.
Forest of the Senses. (A) Computer with instructions; (B) and (C) Children performing activities; (D) An area of the ‘forest’. Credit: Peter Iliciev.
This exhibit was produced by the Museum of Life (Museu da Vida), which is an interactive museum associated with the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation/Fiocruz and the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and was supported by the Rio de Janeiro Research Foundation Carlos Chagas Filho. At the time of data collection, the exhibit was located at the Science and Life Museum (Museu Ciência e Vida; MCV), which was supported by the CECIERJ Foundation (Rio de Janeiro State Centers for Science and Higher Distance Learning; Centros de Ciência e Ensino Superior a Distância do Estada do Rio de Janeiro). The MCV is located in downtown Duque de Caxias, in the metropolitan region of the state of Rio de Janeiro; this area was assessed with one of the lowest Human Well-Being Index scores in the country (Observatório de Metrópoles, 2010, 2013). The Duque de Caxias municipality has been considered an area of high economic growth in recent decades, but little social benefit has resulted from this growth when analysed in terms of regional per-capita gross domestic product and/or human development indices (Camaz, 2015).
2.2 Procedures and participants
Data collection occurred from March 2015 to June 2015 on Saturdays, which are the day of the week when the MCV has the highest number of spontaneous visitors. To participate in the study, family groups were required to have at least one adult and at least one child between 5 and 8 years old, with a maximum of six members to allow for adequate multimedia data collection. This age range was aligned with the exhibit's target audience. Families were approached at the exhibit entrance by researchers who explained the study's general objectives and verified whether the groups adhered to the selection criteria.
Point-of-view cameras were deployed for observation and visit recordings (Burris, 2017; Glăveanu and Lahlou, 2012; Massarani et al., 2019a, 2019b, 2021b); specifically, a Looxcie camera was attached to helmets worn by the participants to document their interactions with the exhibit and other individuals. One limitation of the study was that people knew they were being watched, which may have made them self-aware and led them to modify their behaviour. Glăveanu and Lahlou (2012), Burris (2017) and other previous studies developed by our research group (Massarani et al., 2021a; Scalfi et al., 2022) show that, when recording the visit, some children tend to initially focus their attention on the camera. However, this behaviour is reduced and even disappears during the visit. The 10 participating family groups were composed of 14 adults (10 women and 4 men), 12 children (9 boys and 3 girls) and one teen. Five families were accompanied by exhibit explainers, and five went on free visits.
2.3 Analysis protocol
Previously described procedures were adopted in this study for the analysis of emotional experiences in public scientific-cultural spaces (see Massarani et al., 2022b; Scalfi et al., 2022; Rowe et al., 2023). After collection, audiovisual data was loaded into Dedoose 8.0.23 software, and significant events and conversations were selected using a methodology similar to those proposed in Ash et al. (2007), Rowe and Kisiel (2012), Rowe et al. (2023), Massarani et al. (2022b) and Scalfi et al. (2022). Events were considered significant if they (a) had a clear beginning, middle and end; (b) contained spoken content related to the exhibit; (c) contained externalized conversations among participants or carried out by one speaker with themself or an imagined individual; and (d) contained linguistic emotional descriptors (spoken or gesticulated).
Later, appropriate emotional descriptors were assigned to each event using the proposals found in Emotion Annotation and Representation Language (EARL) and Wheel of Emotion (Plutchik, 2001) as references; this allowed us to categorize positive and negative emotions (valence) and their degrees of activation or deactivation (arousal). To gain a better understanding of these emotions, the EARL and Wheel of Emotion emotional descriptors employed in this study were grouped into larger categories based on their degree of arousal (activation or deactivation) and valence (positive and negative) proposed by the core affect model (Russell, 1980, 2003; Russell and Barrett, 1999), as shown in Figure 2. The model consists of two bipolar, independent dimensions. The valence dimension is interpreted as reflecting the aspect of emotion that offers information on well-being, for example, by attributing a good or bad meaning to an experience. Arousal, in turn, is the dimension of experience that corresponds to the mobilization or expenditure of energy; that is, it is represented as a continuum from relaxation (e.g., sleep state) to activation (e.g., vigilance) (Russell and Barrett, 1999). In this model, the four diagonally arranged variables are not dimensions in and of themselves, but rather assist in the definition of the quadrants in the core affect model (Russell, 1980). Thus, the proposed structure avoids reducing the complexity of emotions to a small number of basic emotional labels. This approach allowed for clearer visualization of differential prevalence among quadrants during the families’ visits.
Examples of EARL and Wheel of Emotion descriptors. Source: Author compilation; adapted from Russell (2003).
Then, the sections of the visits containing significant events were transcribed using a detailed transcription code (Kasper and Wagner, 2014; Perakyla and Sorjonen, 2012). The use of the transcription code (Figure 3) contextualized dialogue with temporal and sequential elements, such as superimposed conversations, sentences combined by speakers without pausing, silence, intervals and pauses, as well as intonation, volume, variations in tone or speed, laughter, and breathing, all of which are essential to refining the emotional analysis process.
Transcription conventions employed.
3. Results and discussion
3.1 Which emotions were evoked during the visits?
In total, 192 min of recordings were produced, of which 18.7% (35 min 59 s) were characterized as significant events. Next, 18 emotional descriptors were identified. Visitors’ emotional data were grouped and sorted by quadrant according to the core affect model (Russell, 2003); 193 occurrences of high activation and positive valence were recorded, along with 124 occurrences of high activation and negative valence. Low activation was identified in six occurrences of negative valence and one occurrence of positive valence, as shown in Figure 4.
Descriptors identified in this study. Source: Author compilation. Note: Circle size reflects the number of occurrences of each descriptor.
In Figure 5, free and mediated visits are separated to visualize their potential similarities and differences. Free and mediated visits had similar mean durations of 17 and 16 min, respectively. Eight descriptors in the high activation, positive valence category were identified (curiosity, surprise, fun, excitement, enthusiasm, confidence, interest and joy), with a greater number occurring during mediated visits (n = 113) than free visits (n = 80). Seven high activation, negative valence descriptors were identified (doubt, disagreement, estrangement, frustration, irritation, tension and impatience); these also occurred more frequently in mediated visits (n = 80) than in free visits (n = 44). Among the low activation descriptors, two negative valence descriptors were identified (boredom and fear), which occurred more in free visits (n = 5) than in mediated visits (n = 1). One positive valence descriptor (enchantment) occurred only during mediated visits.
Occurrence of emotions in free versus mediated visits.
The results demonstrate that the exposition offered positive experiences to the families, given that positive valence descriptors were more common. Excitement (n = 61, n = 34) and surprise (n = 25, n = 16) stood out more prominently in mediated than in free visits, respectively. Among the negative valence emotions experienced by the families, disagreement (n = 40, n = 15) and doubt (n = 24, n = 17) were prominent in both mediated and free visits, respectively.
In general, mediated visits garnered more descriptors, indicating that greater stimulation was achieved in the presence of these professionals in terms of the families’ interactions and emotional responses, as discussed in Emotions present during children's social interactions with parents/caregivers and explainers. In the following sections, we consider the data generated in this study in the light of academic literature on the subject, beginning with general reflections concerning the emotions presented during the families’ interactions with the exhibit, illustrated by example observations.
3.2 Emotions observed during family–exhibit interactions
From an experiential perspective, the presentation of inspiring stimuli to visitors is an inherent part of museum design. Numerous authors maintain that an exhibit's arrangement is a potentially emotion-evoking element for visitors (Legrenzi and Troilo, 2005; Norris and Tisdale, 2013). Similarly, Joy and Sherry (2003) and Wang (2020) highlight the capacity that exhibit atmosphere and arrangement have to engage visitors and elicit reactions that stimulate all five senses. In this study, numerous elements of the investigated exhibit were identified as being fundamental in stimulating visitor emotions, connecting families to their senses, and creating a meaningful experience.
The Forest of the Senses exhibit thematically implements gamified language to incentivize children to interact and have fun, and to engage the family as a whole. Lazaro (2004) explores this topic, arguing that the gaming experiences, in general, include adrenaline rushes, a sense of adventure and mental challenges. The data generated in this study demonstrate that the exhibit was exciting (activation) and evoked high levels of energy and enthusiasm. These emotions were observed during two instances in particular. The first was that of searching for clues in the forest. Searching for and getting close to answers excited children and parents/caregivers, as can be observed in Example 1.
The flower clue.
Note: A = adult, C = child.
In Example 1, the family (G5) is searching for a clue about bees. The father/caregiver guides the children, who rush to find the clue before the allotted time expires. They search for, select and define which flowers are the correct ones to bring back to the computer. This interaction elicited a high degree of excitement from them. The other instance in which excitement was prevalent in the families’ emotional responses was during their interactions with the computer; specifically, when they chose the correct answers, as narrated by the sloth mascot (illustrated in Example 2).
Fruit texture clue.
Note: S = sloth, C = child, A = adult, E = explainer.
Examples 1 and 2 demonstrate how families had fun during their experiences. Lazaro (2004), who observationally analysed the emotions of 34 adults playing video games (by studying their behaviours and facial expressions), shows that the participants mentioned excitement as one of the positive emotions that they experienced, associating it with moments of adrenaline, novelty and challenge. Although excitement was positive in this context, we observed a collateral effect on family interactions in which members became more concerned with finding the correct answer before the allotted time expired than with reflecting on biodiversity issues.
Surprise was another high activation/positive valence emotion that appeared during the families’ experiences. Generally, surprise is an emotion experienced in short durations as a prologue or prelude to other emotions (Ramachandran, 2012). In other words, a person often feels happy or angry shortly after feeling surprised. In this study, surprise was observed as a sudden change associated with positive emotions upon seeing objects or animals in the nanoforest, as illustrated in Example 3.
Visiting forest spaces.
Note: A = adult, C = child.
As shown in Example 3, upon observing individual elements in the scenario, the mother/caregiver and child demonstrate surprise, followed by excitement or fun. For Valdesolo et al. (2017), an unexpected event may be surprising even when it is easily explainable. This result suggests that the exhibit arrangement, designed with interactivity and immersion in mind, exerted a positive influence on the visitors’ capacity to notice and be spontaneously surprised by exhibit elements.
Mazzanti (2021) states that museums employing multisensory and multimedia approaches represent a new experiential trend that promotes dialogue between exhibits and visitors. Mazzanti discusses the importance of designing exhibits with emotional stimuli in mind in order to engage visitors and motivate them to interact with the content while also taking care to allow free visitors to choose their own emotions. This is underscored by Rappolt-Schlichtmann et al.'s (2017) insight that different visitors value different emotions during their experiences. While some prefer strongly positive stimulation and feelings, others prefer to feel challenged, which can involve negative feelings, such as confusion, difficulty and frustration. Therefore, a diverse array of emotional responses must be considered and supported during exhibit design (Mann and Cohen, 2017).
Although the Forest of the Senses exhibit incentivizes a playful approach, its content covers serious and topical biodiversity issues with the intent of engaging families in scientific discussion, particularly in the area of biodiversity. This juxtaposition inherent in the exhibit's design accentuated the duality between positive and negative emotional expressions. Themes such as biopiracy, resource disputes between native and invasive species and concerns regarding wildlife conservation all carry the potential to cause discomfort in visitors. Hayes (2016), for example, argues that such discomfort, evoked by exhibits, allows for a meaningful dialogue to take place and a more grounded, significant understanding of the theme by the visitor. Mann and Cohen (2017) also extol the potential of exhibits that allow visitors to experience complex and negative emotions that lead to reflection. Nonetheless, the significant events analysed in this study, even those that occurred in the presence of explainers, indicate that families engaged only superficially with this type of content, given the presence of only a single example (see Example 11) of a more reflective discussion on the themes addressed.
Another aspect that we observed was that of cognitive effort during the search for clues. Studies have demonstrated that, during play, children practise cognitive skills including language, problem solving, creativity and divergent thinking (Russ, 1988; Vigotsky, 1999). The game in the Forest of the Senses exhibit was fundamentally based on the use of problem-solving skills, favouring the expression of emotions that typically arise during this type of activity. For example, disagreement—a high activation/negative valence emotion characterized by conflicting ideas—was observed during interactions with the sloth at the computer station in which the family was asked to choose between several clues, as illustrated in Example 4.
The jackfruit clue.
Note: S = sloth, C = child, A = adult.
During this interaction, family members were demonstrably motivated to engage in learning opportunities. Russ (1988) states that the divergent thinking ability can play a role in helping children to consider different ideas on how to regulate their emotions. Doubt was another frequently observed emotion during gameplay. Although doubt is classified in the field of psychology as a high activation/negative valence emotion (as it typically causes confusion, resentment and defensiveness), the field of education regards it positively in teaching and learning processes (Schuck and Buchanan, 2012). Dewey (1930), Schön (1995), and Freire and Macedo (1987) are among the authors who consider doubt to be an important process in problem solving, generating new questions and a critical perspective. In the words of Schechter (2004: 172), ‘doubt is the necessary spark for the beginning of a learning process’. In Example 5, we present an episode that illustrates the presence of doubt during the families’ conversations.
Getting to know the forest.
Note: A = adult, C = child.
Example 5 illustrates an episode in which the family was still familiarizing itself with the nanoforest space. On viewing one of the animals in the scenario, the family members displayed doubt as to whether it was a tapir (C2) or an anteater (A1). The adult, in this case, recalled the animal's characteristics but not its name, after which the child stated that it was an anteater. This stretch demonstrates the fact that doubt is often erroneously interpreted as a lack of knowledge. Nonetheless, this episode shows that previous experiences—that is, tests of previous knowledge—contribute to learning experiences, demonstrated here by the correct identification of the animal in question.
In summary, doubt and disagreement are not exclusively related to negative experiential aspects. As in the studies performed by Evans et al. (2018), doubt and disagreement are evidence of ‘productive struggle’. For Rappolt-Schlichtmann et al. (2017), challenging experiences, reflected in negative emotional expression, can help pave the way for collaboration and the construction of meaning. Although few museums presently encourage negative emotional responses in their visitors, pressure is mounting for museums to recognize and incorporate the fact that exhibit narratives are imbued with meaning, and that emotions, be they positive or negative, must be capitalized on to achieve inspiration, reflection, effective proposals of significant engagement, and lasting impressions (Mann and Cohen, 2017; Watson, 2021).
3.3 Emotions present during children's social interactions with parents/caregivers and explainers
Parent/caregiver interactions with children in this study were characterized by moments of support and stimulation, in which adults incentivized children verbally and through affectionate touches and gestures (for details, see Neves, 2019). Some of these interactions generated positive emotional responses; for example, when a child answered a question correctly, they might receive a kiss from their parents and give them a kiss back. Another example would be a child in the same situation receiving a pat on the back or the hands and responding with a smile. Other parental behaviours evoked more negative responses from children. For example, holding a child's hand to guide them or control them in some way generated frustration and irritation.
At distinct junctures, parents and caregivers attempted to guide and aid children in identifying clues. However, as they themselves were not yet familiar with the environment, the groups on free visits took indirect or confused trajectories through the forest and experienced difficulty in completing the game's tasks, as illustrated in Example 6.
The bird egg clue.
Note: A = adult, C = child.
In Example 6, both positive emotions (excitement, surprise, enthusiasm, curiosity and fun) and negative emotions (impatience, disagreement and doubt) were identified. The parents/caregivers gave spatial instructions to help their children find the clues, but they were not always in agreement, demonstrating doubt and disagreement. A1 also corrected one of the children's erroneous identifications of an animal: ‘A1: Is it the parrot? / C1: Yea. / A1: No (.) it's not a parrot [DISAGREEMENT]’. Such corrections occurred in other instances as well, as can be observed in Example 7, in which a child, unsure as to whether they have found the correct clue, asks, ‘Is this it? [DOUBT]’, and A1 disagrees, saying, ‘No (.) it's not that o:ne (0.3) no: [DISAGREEMENT]’.
The toad clue.
Note: A = adult, C = child, S = sloth.
Although the assistance received by the children while identifying clues about animals or plants appeared consistently throughout the conversations, the parents/caregivers were not always well versed on the content in question; nor did they always understand the clues and hints correctly, as Example 7 demonstrates.
Another frequently observed aspect of family visits, as Whitaker (2016) highlights, is that some parents/caregivers are not predisposed to engage with the visit. This was not observed in our study. Even when unfamiliar with the space, the game and/or the content, the parents/caregivers generally made an effort to be involved in the children's experiences by playing together, allowing for varied emotional expressions during these familial interactions.
Regarding the role of explainers in the interactions of children with their families, we observed that the explainers, due to their previous knowledge of clues and familiarity with the space, provided hints, offered assistance in finding clues and oriented the children to help them complete the activities within the time limit, as Example 8 demonstrates.
The giraffe clue.
Note: E = explainer, A = adult, C = child.
In Example 8, C1 confidently names the animal when prompted after receiving the explainer's help. In general, the explainer had the effect of expanding and amplifying emotional situations, which is also depicted in Example 9, in which the explainer encourages the child to put their hand in a box to feel a sensory clue about a fruit, as well as in Example 10, in which the explainer encourages the child to search for a clue on the ground and incentivizes them to respond correctly, which the child does with enthusiasm.
The fruit texture clue.
Note: E = explainer, A = adult, C = child.
The leaf clue.
Note: E = explainer, A = adult, C = child.
Examples 9 and 10 demonstrate how the explainers facilitated the families’ emotional relationship with the exhibit to engage them as much as possible and keep them interacting. To accomplish this, they employed strategies such as the use of open questions, the direction of the children's attention, and the stimulation of their curiosity. Some studies (see Kamolpattana et al., 2015; Massarani et al., 2022a; Pattison and Dierking, 2012; Shaby et al., 2019) show that explainers create the space for deeper science-related discussions. In this study, there was only one example of a significant event that qualified as a deeper discussion of the exhibit's themes. This discussion was about the conservation of a certain toad species (Example 11).
The toad clue.
Note: C = child, A = adult, S = sloth, E = explainer.
In Example 11, the explainer directs and applies information about a species and its conservation; this information became meaningful to the mother, who had previous knowledge regarding the interruption of an important infrastructure project in Rio de Janeiro due to the animal in question, though she did not know exactly why. During the dialogue, the mother surprisedly states: ‘A1: I didn’t know! = [SURPRISE]’. In summary, these results demonstrate that explainers stimulate the visiting families to interact with the exhibit by employing stimulating phrases, interesting facts and assistance, consequently creating emotional stimuli as well as supporting learning experiences.
Shaby et al. (2019) analysed the potential of explainers to stimulate visitors’ emotions during a visit to science museums, investigating the interactions between students, museum explainers and the physical exhibit environment. Their results show that explainers used emotional engagement—understood as interest, curiosity, feelings, guidance, and positive and negative affects inherent in the learning process—to engage the students with the exhibit in numerous instances. The results generated in the present study are similar to those observed by Shaby et al. (2019).
3.4 Contrasting roles: Parents/caregivers and mediators, and children's emotional responses
Comparing how parents/caregivers and explainers interacted with children and stimulated their emotional responses indicates that both behaviours created pleasurable and fun moments, and provided assistance in clue discovery. During this process, positive emotions, such as excitement, surprise and fun, are notably more prevalently expressed. Although the roles of both types of adults (parents/caregivers and explainers) involve supporting the children, we suggest that this constant facilitation may also have inhibited moments of frustration or irritation when people were faced with incorrect answers or failure to find a clue.
Adults’ specific activities while interacting with the children, which incidentally implied affective attachments, elicited greater cooperation, as parents actively engaged in play and affectionately incentivized their children with words and gestures. These behaviours were associated with moments of confidence (n = 8) and joy (n = 6), and occurred more frequently on free visits.
Family intimacy also produced a greater incidence of disagreements over child behaviour, specifically in terms of moral conduct. For example, some parents/caregivers showed feelings of irritation or impatience when children did not do what they had previously agreed to do, or when they did not do what their parents/caregivers requested, as demonstrated in Example 12.
The lion tamarin clue.
Note: A = adult, C = child.
Example 12 demonstrates how emotions shape people's actions. In the phrase ‘A1: C2 (.) Geez man I already asked you (.) stay close to me (.) otherwise we’re leaving [IRRITATION]’, the mother warns her son, in an irritated tone, about what might happen if he doesn’t respect their agreement. For Rowe et al. (2023), specific social institutions (such as scientific, educational or familial institutions) and culture shape ‘what’ is felt and ‘how’ during interpersonal interactions. Similarly, Illouz (2007: 3) observes that emotion reveals as much ‘about the self as it does about the relationship with others in a cultural context’. In Example 12, demonstrating alignment with this argument, the mother elicits a high activation/negative valence feeling (irritation) from her child that may or may not result in a behavioural change on the child's part. Emotions are indeed, as argued by Morton (2013), central factors in individuals’ moral lives.
The explainer can be conceptualized as fulfilling the role of a catalyst, assisting families in effectively explaining information that otherwise would have remained inaccessible to the children. As previously discussed in Emotions present during children's social interactions with parents/caregivers and explainers, the explainers’ support elicited both positive emotional responses (such as excitement and surprise) and negative emotional responses (such as disagreement and doubt) in the children. The experience of tension represents a noteworthy divergence between parent/caregiver and explainer interactions with children. While tension was typically associated with conflict during familial interactions, it was associated with fun or excitement during interactions with explainers upon encountering the unknown, as shown in Example 13.
The animal body sensory clue.
Note: E = explainer, C = child, A = adult.
In Example 13, the explainer incentivizes the children to affectively engage with the activity, think logically about the clue object, and play. Using the Vigotskyan perspective as a framework, Colliver and Veraska (2021) demonstrate that mediators contribute to the intellectual comprehension of the emotions of children at play. They suggest that explainers have the duty of helping children identify and experience their emotions in the context of cultural learning and thus facilitate their learning about culture and the value of emotions. Our study presents corroborating observations, supporting the fundamental role that explainers play in facilitating children's construction of their own emotions.
It is also noteworthy that explainer activity can be used to guide family groups to answer questions correctly, restricting the group's ability to find clues and construct solutions themselves. Another important aspect is that, as Massarani et al. (2022a) indicate, there is a tendency for explainers to focus their attention on the children in the group, excluding adults from the museum experience in certain respects. As it happens, the explainer in this study also directed the most of their speech towards the children, often leaving adults in a passive role during their interactions.
4. Final considerations
Studies on emotions in scientific and cultural spaces offer an opportunity to construct more meaningful interpretations of visitor experiences. In this study, the objective was to understand which emotions the Forest of the Senses interactive exhibition stimulated in family groups and to what extent the parents/caregivers and museum explainers elicited these emotional responses.
Our analysis indicates that the exhibit's structure as a ‘treasure hunt’ game, as well as the design of the space, allowed the visitors to become immersed in a representation of forest spaces that stimulated a variety of emotional responses and incentivized families to participate actively. This suggests that the sensory dimension of the exposition was directly related to the emotional responses that occurred during visitor–exhibit interactions. Therefore, it is important to consider that the objectives, narratives and design of an exhibit affect the ways in which visitors respond emotionally. Different types of expository projects offer distinct emotional experiences to their visitors. Moreover, knowledge of visitors’ principal emotional experiences can be used to orient exhibit design to meet visitor expectations and support significant visitor engagement.
Among the emotions observed during the family visits analysed in this study, those denoted as high activation/positive valence were the most prominent, followed by high activation/negative valence. These results suggest that, although the extant literature has documented that positive emotions are more strongly associated with museum visits, analysis of visitor satisfaction studies generally indicates that both positive and negative valence emotions experienced during the visit play an important role in the understanding of visitor engagement and learning experiences. In particular, results related to relatively high levels of negative emotional experiences reinforce the importance of understanding that negative emotional expression is a legitimate and valuable form of learning for families and an opportunity for building emotional regulation skills.
Exhibits that deal with topical, quotidian themes that are covered in the media are of redoubled importance to socially fragile locales, such as the community investigated in this study, due to their significant potential to attract local populations to museums and promote scientific culture—a process permeated by a set of emotions that occasion the visit itself and emerge during it.
This study generated supporting evidence regarding how parents/caregivers and explainers contribute to children's emotional responses during social interaction. The analysis of the mediated visits, for example, revealed that museum explainers employ strategies to guide the visit experience and, as a result, elicit emotional responses from children and their families. Consequently, we confirm that the presence of educators on such visits attributes an additional dimension to emotions in which they become not only feelings but also an educational tool employed to guide the visit, stimulate curiosity and engage families on scientific issues (in this case, Brazilian biodiversity). Our observations with respect to parents/caregivers support the assertion that they experience the emotions elicited by the game together with their children; therefore, their role is better characterized as a chaperone of child conduct than as one of gameplay orientation.
The emotional experiences of museum visitors are still far from completely understood. The identification of trends in these complex phenomena and the contextual factors associated with them are fundamental for the creation of efficient and resonant learning experiences for all of the diverse audiences who visit museums. More studies are necessary to deepen and extend the discussions on emotions in museums, as the focus on visitors is the predominant lens for studies in this area. Understanding how these emotions are expressed and how exhibits direct visitors to feel certain things are lines of investigation that will generate important contributions for the design of more meaningful and inclusive visit experiences.
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
Luisa Massarani and Graziele Scalfi thank the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for awarding them a 1B Productivity grant and DTI-B scholarship, respectively. Rosicler Neves thanks the Higher Education Personnel Improvement Coordination for her doctoral scholarship. The authors are also indebted to Denilson Esposito and Cleber Serqueira for their technical support during the exhibition at the Science and Life Museum. The authors also thank the families who participated in the study.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This study was carried out within the scope of the National Institute of Public Communication of Science and Technology, with the support of the funding agencies CNPq (no. 405672/2013-6 and no. 6465658/2014-8) and Rio de Janeiro Research Foundation Carlos Chagas Filho (no. E-26/200.89972018).
Notes
Author biographies
Luisa Massarani is the coordinator of National Institute of Public Communication of Science and Technology (INCT-CPCT), based at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz). She works mainly on historical and contemporary aspects of scientific communication, science in the media, and public perception of science.
Graziele Scalfi is a PhD in education from the University of São Paulo and a researcher in the INCT-CPCT. Her research interests are science communication, informal education and learning experiences, with a particular emphasis on children and families.
Rosicler Neves is a science educator and a scholar in science communication at the Museum of Life Fiocruz focusing on science museum experiences, community engagement, and science and society. She has curated exhibitions and developed community engagement projects since 2000.
Monica Santos Dahmouche works in the Science and Life Museum, based at the Cecierj Foundation. She researches mainly science communication, gender in science, public studies in science museums and informal education.
Luiz Bento is a science communication researcher affiliated with the Cecierj Foundation. He is one of the coordinators of the Brazilian Science and Art Olympics. His interests are related to science museums, art and science collaborations, and online science communication.