Getty Museum Family Room – Educational Issues on Scaffolding and Transfer of Learning

Abstract

In order better to support children’s learning experiences, art museums have begun to establish interactive art exhibitions designed for family visitors. However, as more of these interactive exhibitions are established, some museum professionals are raising concerns about whether these exhibitions actually facilitate young visitors’ learning or impede them from engaging further with the art objects exhibited. Using the Family Room (FR) of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angles as a case study, this research examines the educational principles considered and the challenges encountered when conceptualising and implementing its interactive exhibition. My research shows that the FR project team emphasised three educational principles to be integrated into the exhibition design: (1) interactive learning, (2) family as a learning unit, and (3) enhance the learning of basic artistic elements. The FR’s overarching educational objective is to encourage transfer of learning between the FR to the Getty traditional art galleries. My research concludes with three suggestions to be considered in future practices of art museum education (1) the limits and potentials of interactives, (2) the interactive exhibition design and scaffolding, and (3) transfer of learning between galleries.

Sustainable museums: a new paradigm for the 21st century from the perspective of museum professionals and visitors

“…The concept of family-friendly museums is not limited to service packages and facilities built around families with small children, but it is certainly an authoritative part of the concept of the term "family-friendly". Basically, two approaches can be identified: the "child-friendly" concept and the "multi-generational" concept, which takes into account the needs of several generations (Shuang & Lee 2020). The present study focuses on the multi-generational approach for museums.…”