College of Education
7 A Climate of Hope: Investigating Learning at an Innovative Museum Exhibit
Hailey Sherman; Lynne Zummo; Benjamin Janney; and Monika Lohani
Faculty Mentor: Lynne Zummo (Educational Psychology, University of Utah)
Museums are uniquely poised to engage in climate education efforts (e.g., Dillon et al., 2016). While many museums have implemented climate-focused exhibits in creative ways (e.g., Newell, 2020), empirical research on learning within such exhibits remains nascent (Zummo et al., 2022; 2024). This study aims to advance the field by analyzing learners’ experience in an innovative exhibit about climate change. Intentionally developed through rigorous prototyping and engagement with research literature on framing (e.g., Lakoff, 2010), A Climate of Hope (ACOH) uses strategic frames of “hope”, “local”, “community”, “better future”, and “playful” to engage learners with diverse views on climate change. For this study, we were specifically interested in relationships among visitors’ memory, learning, and incoming views of climate change. We drew on theories of social cognition (Frith & Frith, 2003; Meyer and Lieberman, 2012) to understand relationships among visitors’ memory, learning, and incoming climate views.
This mixed-methods study analyzed survey data collected before and 4-6 weeks following visitors’ engagement with ACOH. Survey items included demographics, views on climate change (as assessed through the Six Americas Super Short Survey [SASSY; Chryst et al., 2018]), measures intended to assess participants’ uptake of learning goals, and open-ended text responses eliciting participants’ memory of the exhibit. Questions used to assess learning goals are shown in figure 1. We developed a deductive coding scheme based on the content of ACOH to code open-ended responses, shown in figure 2. Then we used quantitative analysis to assess relationships among areas coded and survey measures using Fisher’s Exact Test, ordinal logistic regression, and the Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test.
Figure 1. Questions asked 4-6 weeks after viewing A Climate of Hope to assess attainment of learning goals. Choices closer to “A great deal” represent greater alignment with the goals.
Figure 2. Deductive coding scheme developed to code open-ended memory questions based on which areas of A Climate of Hope participants recall. Coding as “1” means there is evidence of memory of the given section (as highlighted in this response)
We identified several statistically significant relationships between participants’ memory of specific parts of the exhibit and likelihood of alignment with learning goals, shown in figure 3. For example, participants’ memory of a section of ACOH highlighting local climate impacts was associated with higher levels of agreement with the statement Climate change is already affecting Utahns (OR = 5.47; p=.006). Similarly, participants’ memory of a section focused on local, community-scale solutions increased the likelihood of greater a