Overview
Intellectual engagement deals with “the connections visitors make to existing knowledge during their interaction, the conceptual understandings [they gain], and the questions they have” (Humphrey et al., 2005). We break down intellectual engagement into three distinct categories: seeking knowledge, sharing knowledge, and applying knowledge.
Notes/Guiding Questions
- Exhibits in which facilitators interact with and guide visitors should NOT include the facilitator as a participant for intellectual analysis.
Codes
SEEKING KNOWLEDGE
General: Participants seeking more knowledge about the experience. Seeking Knowledge encompasses two types of behaviors:
Asking Questions: This involves asking questions about how aspects of the exhibit work (to oneself or others) (e.g. “What does this do?”) and/or asking questions that promote curiosity or further engagement with the system. (e.g. “How do you think that works?”; “Do you want to try that?”) This does not include extra-diegetic information or questions. Analysts should focus more on the inquisitive intent, and less on the grammatical form (e.g. “I wonder what this does” is asking an implicit question, even though it is a statement).
Confusion: This involves a visitor expressing confusion about an aspect of the system that violated their expectations (e.g. “Hmm…?”; “What just happened?”).
Keywords: Seeking more knowledge; questions/confusion about how the exhibit works and about what one might learn from the exhibit;
Specifics [fill in for your exhibit]:
- Questions about exhibit:
- Questions that promote engagement:
- Confusion:
SHARING KNOWLEDGE
Participants sharing knowledge about the experience. Sharing Knowledge encompasses two types of behavior:
Voicing Observations: This involves verbalizing what is happening in the exhibit (including reading signage or other information about the exhibit), or noticing that something is occurring (e.g. “It made a sound”; “This block has lines going this way and this one has lines going the other way”). This includes aesthetic observations (e.g. “This is cool”), but not aesthetic decisions (these fall under applying knowledge—e.g. “Use that block because that looks/sounds nice”). This does not include observations about unrelated things (e.g. “It’s getting late”) or observations about the state of other participants (e.g. “Oh you are just playing”).
Explaining: This involves a visitor offering an explanation or hypothesis for how they think the system works, even if it is incorrect; explaining ‘why’ something is happening (e.g. “It might be happening because…”; “It probably reads all of it when you hit play”).
Keywords: voicing observations about the exhibit or what they are learning through the exhibit; explaining/hypothesizing about how the system works or about the underlying concepts.
Specifics [fill in for your exhibit]:
- Observations:
- Explanations:
APPLYING KNOWLEDGE
General: Participants applying their knowledge of the experience by planning or directing action. Applying knowledge encompasses multiple behaviors:
Proposed Solutions: The participant verbally proposes a solution to a problem they are trying to solve. This follows a violation of the user’s expectations of how the system works (e.g. “What if we put this at the end?”; “Maybe we should move this”)
Planning: The participant verbally proposes a goal or plan for the group. This should involve more than one step, be goal-driven, and move the group to a place where someone can conduct (e.g. “Let’s see what they sound like individually”; “Let’s add in a backbeat”).
Conducting: The participant tells or suggests to another participant how to contribute to the composition; a command. This does not include proposing a goal for the group, but is rather a singular, action-driven process (e.g. “Play!”; “Move that there”)
Aesthetic Decisions: The participant chooses to incorporate elements they like, discarding or removing elements of the activity they find displeasing (e.g. “Use that block because it sounds good”). This does not include aesthetic opinions that do not result in a decision (e.g. “That looks/sounds nice!”)
Prior Knowledge: The participant explicitly, verbally relates the exhibit to other experiences in school, life, exhibits, etc. (e.g. “This reminds me of programming!”; “This sounds like the theme from Star Wars!”)
Keywords: Proposing a solution; making a plan for the group; telling another participant how to contribute; making choices based on aesthetics; applying prior knowledge.
Specifics [fill in for your exhibit]:
- Proposed Solutions:
- Planning:
- Conducting:
- Aesthetic Decisions:
- Prior Knowledge: