I-Guides in Progress: Two Prototype Applications for Museum Educators and Visitors Using Wireless Technologies to Support Informal Science Learning

We describe I-Guides, an information technology research project in progress at the Exploratorium, a handson museum of science, art, and human perception. Building upon the findings from the Electronic Guidebook Project [Hsi, 2003], various configurations of RFID technologies, handheld computers, and network-based applications are being developed to support nomadic inquiry and extend the museum experience for two different audiences: museum visitors and museum educators. For museum visitors, this project is exploring ways to enable visitors to intentionally capture one’s museum experiences for later reflection and investigation of personally relevant science ideas via the Web. For museum educators, this project is designing a wireless handheld Web resource and digital library infrastructure to support educators in making effective uses of exhibits and exhibit-based content for inquiry-based teaching. An overview of research as well as planned design studies, working prototypes, and evaluation activities are described. Background and Context for Research Wireless electronic devices such as audio tour guides have been used to promote deeper appreciation of exhibit artifacts and enhance onsite museums experiences [Woodruff et al., 2001]. These museumbased experiences can be extended beyond the physical location of museumbased learning using technologies that enable one to bookmark an exhibit for later reflection [Fleck et!al., 2002]. Similarly, handheld computer applications have been configured to enhance and extend formal classroom education into informal learning settings such as zoos, aquaria, and the outdoors using probeware and GPS to enable realtime data collection and data interpretation. [Chang and Sheu, 2002; Klopfer et al., 2002; Tinker and Krajcik, 2001]. The I-Guides project takes place at the Exploratorium, an interactive, hands-on museum of science, art, and human perception in San Francisco, California. Our goals are to create a wireless infrastructure and test bed at the museum to support nomadic inquiry: an approach to learning in which the learner is mobile, asks and investigates personally relevant problems, builds on their own scientific ideas, critiques information, and creates explanations by drawing upon cognitive supports and knowledge resources from both virtual and physical landscapes. This model of learning in informal environments assumes learners are not passive recipients of knowledge but rather are self-motivated and make their own choices about what to learn and when to request facilitation (provided by either technology or humans). This work draws upon pragmatic pedagogical principles and instructional framework from the Scaffolded Knowledge Integration for science education [Linn and Hsi, 2000]. Our long-range vision is to support continuous, lifelong science inquiry at the museum as well as extend visitors’ primary informal experiences across other learning spaces encountered after their visit to the Exploratorium or other