Dwell on This

A collective mass of youthful exuberance pulses through our science centers and museums on any given day. As I visit our ASTC-member institutions around the world, I find it extremely rewarding to watch all that energy being transformed into focused, intense contemplation of specific topics or experiences.

I have always been fascinated by the concept of “dwell time” in our science centers and museums. Dwell time usually refers simply to the period of time visitors spend in an exhibition or at a specific exhibit or activity. This time period can be extended in ways that are not entirely productive, of course. Activities may be difficult to execute, exhibits challenging to understand. But our experience tells us that these conditions are just as likely to reduce dwell time because they do not successfully engage inquisitive minds. So I like to think of the concept of dwell time a bit more broadly, as something I might call “cognitive dwell time”: the period of time that a visitor remains truly mentally engaged with an experience.