The Museum Exhibit as a Visual Learning Medium

In this article, William A. Barnard of the University of Northern Colorado and Ross J. Loomis of Colorado State University discuss a series of research studies they conducted to address three basic questions concerning the evaluation of visual learning from exhibits: (1) Was it possible to determine how well people remember specific items that they had previously seen in exhibit collections? (2) What, if any, optimal number of exhibited items would serve to maximize visual learning? and (3) What is the potential relationship of the amount of time spent viewing objects and the retention of visual information. The authors outline key findings and conclusions from this research.