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Chronological Awareness with Historical Exhibits

Entezari

Stories are told in a manner to support the listeners ability to understand how they arrived to where they are while foreshadowing a hint of whats to come; the same is true for historical exhibits in museums. This mental exercise is what we are calling chronological awareness, which has been used in education for many decades (Phillips, 2002, p. 33). For the purposes of this proposal, chronological awareness seeks to understand the visitors position in time while comparing it to surrounding times (such as eras and major historic events). Existing historical exhibits do not offer a sense of chronological awareness within the exploration of their content. This shortfall leads to a loss of comprehension within the context of the timeframe the visitor is studying, in turn generating weak ties with other independent sources of knowledge throughout the exhibit. As the comprehension of these sources of knowledge fall, so does the cohesive understanding of the events chronology. Within instructional settings, teachers have used timelines to facilitate the links between historic events while maintaining a sense of what time frame is being taught (Phillips, 2002, p. 35). While fitting for a traditional classroom-learning environment, an interactive exhibit solicits a greater sense of the visitors immersion into the context, in such a way that an interactive story would (Grasbon & Braun, 2001). Suggestions of embedding contextual information, like history timelines, into exhibits have been made to address visitors potential lack of awareness and knowledge (Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.). Embedding this contextual information, however, still leaves the visitor with the mentally taxing task of understanding where they are, how they got there, and whats next. To address this issue, we will introduce a guidance component to historical exhibitions enhancing chronological awareness that would ubiquitously give the visitor a sense of direction and cohesiveness of chronology, while still allowing free movement through the exhibit. There are two specific aims to achieve this goal. Aim 1: Investigate a timeline that is aware of the era the visitor is exploring as well as surrounding eras and systematically link the corresponding historical events. The timeline will be presented to the visitor via a mobile device that will flow into the users exploration of the exhibit. Aim 2: Investigate the comprehension of a users current chronological position based on the exhibits offered, chronologically relevant material. The users understanding of the exhibit as a holistic experience, as opposed to a piece-by-piece experience, will be a beneficial metric. Findings from the results of our research will not only practically benefit history exhibits, but also influence temporal-chronological understandings of teaching and comprehension. Guidelines will also be established for mobile devices use of historic events to enhance the users understanding of their current position in time.

Works Cited
Grasbon, D., & Braun, N. (2001). A Morphological Approach to Interactive Storytelling. cast01 // Living in Mixed Realities. Bonn. Phillips, R. (2002). Reflective Teaching of History. New York, NY: Continuum. Randi Korn & Associates, Inc. Front-end Evaluation: Interpretative Planning of Ellis Islands Hospital and Medical Facilities. Alexandria: Randi Korn & Associates, Inc.