Concluding Remarks Annual Meeting of the Nordic Science Centre Association Dr Per-Edvin Persson

1. Concluding Remarks Annual Meeting of the Nordic Science Centre Association Dr Per-Edvin Persson Director, Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre September 17, 2010

2. Science centres provide visitor experiences.

3. The visitor experience is based on an interaction between a personal, a sociocultural and an institutional agenda. In a free-choice learning environment the learning outcome is largely determined by the visitor himself.

4. In behavioural studies on learning, usually three phases can be identified: initiation, transition and breakthrough. At Science North 60 % of the visitors reach transition and 36 % breakthrough (Barriault 2008).

5. Conditional learning organisms: basketball rats at Heureka?

6. John Falk found five museum visitor identities: • Explorer • Facilitator • Experience Seeker • Professional/Hobbyist • Recharger • Learning is intrinsic in • all of them.

7. Asger Höeg & Pine & Gilmore Experience Economy The modern visitor is motivated by self-realization The visitor is the product! Visitor identities could be regarded as motivation descriptors? Quality of experience: transformation Operational agenda: satisfaction, sacrifice, surprise, suspense.

8. The five identity categories of John Falk have largely different agendas, sometimes counteractive. How will this influence our programming, marketing, staffing, services provided, financing?

9. We might have to work in a modular form, around a core of activities and contents, but packaging the messages and the service products to suit the various visitor agendas. In some cases this could extend the use of our facilities – e.g. rechargers and school groups probably do not mix well.

10. Visiting a science centre is a contextual relationship. What can we as institutions do to enhance this relationship? What are the elements by which we can facilitate the use of our products for different identities? How should we package our products for different users? Can we extend the use of our facilities to cater for more user categories?

11. And what shall we do about visitor studies? If the reason WHY they come influences WHAT they do, and this determines what they LEARN, understanding the motivations for coming becomes key. How can we learn to use visitor identities for predicting future use? How can we reach out to those that do not come?

12. Hannu Salmi A shift in educational paradigms: Open Learning Environments combining classrooms, the web, science centres, museums, media and the real world. Better connected, networking, co-operational, involving the visitor in the contents production and construction of meaning. Social media bring interactions between visitors into the picture.

13. visitor Wayne Labar 2010: The Radial Museum Model Museum visitor visitor visitor

14. visitor Interactive Museum Model Museum visitor visitor visitor

15. Asger Höeg: Gesamtkonzept à la Richard Wagner

16. An even greater integration of culture, science and education: Science centre methods, museum collections (art, history, technology and science), open learning environments, media, world wide web, social media, industry, universities, third sector, the whole wide world: Das Gesamtmuseum! Task: to construct meaning

17. Let us take the museum & science centre community on a high-wire ride into the future!