This is an open letter to the museum industry: I still remember the day in 9th grade when our school took us on a field trip to the science museum.
I knew I had an interest in science, but certain concepts always seemed just out of reach. That all changed when I encountered the Shadow Table at the museum. Suddenly, physics concepts like refraction and reflection clicked into place.
That was the day I learned that true education often exists outside of notebooks and classrooms—it exists in experiences all around us.
It turns out I’m not alone in this belief. Albert Einstein once said, “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.”
So, dear museum industry, are you prepared to evolve your teaching methods to align with how students truly learn?
In this blog, we’ll explore how museums can create meaningful connections with children and invite more students into their establishments.
All Work Through Play Makes Jack Learn Better
The age-old tale of “all work and no play” is taking an interesting twist.
Over 50% of educators today are switching to game-based learning. In fact, educational video games are used 52% of the time in an average US classroom.
To understand why education is shifting in this direction, let me walk you through this study from 2018:
According to this 2018 systematic review, educational games have proven to enhance mathematics learning outcomes effectively. Research has shown that games can improve students' comprehension of course material and increase their engagement in the learning process.
But how does this information help museums?
As an industry, our goal is to ensure that every child who visits a museum leaves with enough curiosity to keep them coming back. No matter what anyone tells you, the key to encouraging student participation in museums lies in making learning fun.
Now, let’s explore how we’ve embraced this approach at Museums22—and how you can, too.
The Key to Making Museums Engaging for Children
At Museums22, we have been using the most advanced technology to achieve six simple and proven goals:
Enable learning without the child realizing it—by making it fun
Simplify concepts through playful engagement
Provide something new with each visit to encourage repeat attendance
Offer interactive ways to explore ideas and content
Allow independent or team-based play as they explore
Connect museum experiences to the school curriculum
But why focus on these goals?
As we all know, museums have always served as windows into the past. However, this glimpse means very little to a school group that doesn't have the proper context.
If students aren’t studying related topics in school, the exhibits they observe at the museum may have little impact.
Consider a scenario observed by Rebecca Shulman: A second-grade class toured life-sized replicas of Christopher Columbus’s ships, the Nina and Pinta, docked at Peoria’s harbor. Despite the tour, the students retained little beyond a fascination with the cannons.
Why?
Of course, the tour guides’ unclear teaching objectives and insufficient training in age-appropriate strategies were at fault. But, more importantly---the students lacked the necessary context to grasp the history presented. Without an understanding of life on land in the fifteenth century, they couldn’t comprehend what it was like on a ship from that era.
This is where digital games come into the picture, making history come alive in ways that resonate with children.
How Digital Games Stimulate the Human Brain
“Digital games, when designed well, can allow children to experience a sense of control, have freedom of choice, experience mastery and feelings of achievement, experience and regulate emotions, feel connected to others and manage those social connections, imagine different possibilities, act on original ideas, make things, and explore, construct and express facets of themselves and others.”
The above is an official statement from UNICEF’s book.
It’s no wonder that 74% of teachers have integrated game-based learning into their lessons.
To meet our educational goals at Museums22, we’ve harnessed digital games to:
Merge learning and play in physical spaces enhanced by digital elements.
Keep the experience fresh and exciting to encourage repeat visits.
Spark interest in subjects that might otherwise seem dull.
Provide a sense of accomplishment through rewards like points and certificates.
Facilitate learning through interactive and engaging gameplay.
As for content retention:
The age-old adage, "Practice makes perfect," holds true for digital games as well. Repeated gameplay allows children to internalize content and information, strengthening their memory.
Additionally, digital games are customized to meet each child’s unique needs. So rest assured, an engaging experience is always guaranteed, accessible online---anytime, anywhere.
How Museums22 Can Make this Happen for You
So, now you understand how digital games enhance learning and why they are a powerful tool for growing your museum’s younger audience. But the question remains: how do you bring all these elements together?
That’s where Museums22 comes in. With years of experience in the museum industry, we've been helping museums create engaging experiences for children via technology.
Museums22 can develop a custom game app specifically for your museum, tailored to captivate and educate young visitors. But, our journey doesn't stop at creating the app.
Your app will need ongoing maintenance, and ensuring its smooth operation is our responsibility. Additionally, our technology solutions include content management systems and apps compatible with Android, iOS, and progressive web platforms, so the technical aspects of your app are in expert hands.
To nurture children's minds effectively, we believe in a child-centered approach. That's why our tours are tailored specifically for young explorers, keeping in mind their attention span, unique interests, and learning styles.
Now, let’s talk about content—the key to keeping your app fresh and engaging. It’s crucial that your content remains exciting and relevant month after month. The good news? We’ll handle that for you, refreshing and enhancing the content at regular intervals. If you prefer, we can also train your team to develop this content in-house, empowering your museum to evolve independently.
To give you a glimpse of what’s possible, here are some of the games we’ve developed that have been huge hits:
Junior Discoverers: This game brings history to life with specially crafted, child-friendly scripts that weave engaging narratives around your museum’s content.
Little Masterpieces: A simple yet captivating jigsaw puzzle game that uses images of artifacts and artworks to engage both children and adults in brain-teasing fun.
Heritage Hunt: This game encourages children to explore the museum by matching artifacts with pictures provided in the app, turning a visit into a treasure hunt that deepens their connection to the exhibits.
Museum Trivia: Quizzes designed to motivate children to engage with exhibits, challenging them to ace the quiz while learning along the way.
Is That All?
Of course not!
A museum app offers much more than just digital games. Once you have it in place, you can expect growth in both on-site and online visitor engagement.
Create Interest
For instance, what if you could enrich visitor experiences through DIY multilingual audio-visual guided tours of the galleries? Or offer virtual tours for those who cannot visit in person?
This is exactly what we achieved during our collaboration with The Tibet Museum. Their mobile app provides users with an immersive journey into the rich history and culture of Tibet, available in multiple languages, including English and 10 other prominent languages.
With audio-visual tours in various languages, visitors can engage deeply with the museum's content, breaking down linguistic barriers, making Tibetan culture more accessible globally.
Beyond that, you can integrate augmented reality (AR) experiences that bring exhibits to life, create a digital repository of past exhibitions, and enable visitors to share their experiences and reviews on social media directly from the app.
Create Community
Speaking of social media, your app can help you maintain an active community by connecting with visitors long after they have been at the museum.
With Museums22's app, you can stay connected with your audience by posting on all social media platforms with just one click through the dashboard, combining convenience with efficiency.
Additionally, the app allows you to send out newsletters and notifications about upcoming events and new exhibits, keeping your audience engaged and informed.
This approach proved successful during our collaboration with the Aviation Museum of Kentucky. While the subject was quite a niche, the museum’s app encouraged greater community feeling among visitors, aviation history enthusiasts, and scholars through various features like audio tours, notifications, newsletters, galleries, exhibitions, and offline access to points of interest and events.
Create Change
Lastly, to make sure all your efforts are working, the app offers powerful tools to track, monitor and improve, based on real-time data.
You can access smart analytics and infographic formats that provide insights into app usage and user journeys.
And, my personal favorite feature—heat maps and detailed usage reports help you understand where your audience is spending the most time to understand visitor preferences and identify high-performing exhibits.
What Next?
“If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.” – John Dewey
Technology in museums is inevitable because technology in education is inevitable.
Now that I’ve provided you with the tools and insights to attract a younger audience to your museum, I want to leave you with a guiding hand.
The path forward is simple and clear. To help guide you through the process, I invite you to connect with us for a consultation call. This will give you a better understanding of where your museum currently stands and the potential it has to grow.
Does my museum even need a mobile app?
Well, let’s find out. Book a session today!
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