Designing for Productive Struggle: A Research and Development Guide to Creating Exhibits that are Both Challenging and Rewarding

This guide describes the project team’s approach in designing exhibits intended to elicit “productive struggle,” which we define as an experience with three elements: 1) a learner encounters a disruptive task, phenomena, or idea and shifts into a state of disequilibrium (which might be experienced as emotions like confusion, frustration, surprise, or unease); 2) the learner is supported to persist through disequilibrium using emotional or behavioral resources (e.g., motivation, self-efficacy, problem-solving, trying again); and 3) the learner achieves an emotionally productive resolution tied to the source of disequilibrium or a more holistic sense of effortful achievement.

Sections of this guide include background on the project; an introduction to emotions and affective science; a design framework for creating productive struggle experiences at exhibits; three example exhibits (case studies for framework implementation); and a review of research and evaluation methodology with example instruments. This guide is intended for a wide variety of museum professionals, including exhibit developers, designers, researchers, and evaluators, who are interested in exploring emotions in museum experiences.