Designing for Emotion


Science museums are designed to be fun and engaging for visitors. But fun doesn’t always lead to learning. We are working together with the Boston Museum of Science to investigate how the design of informal learning environments can support visitors to engage in “productive struggle” – learning challenges that are exhilarating, challenging, intensive, and fruitful.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, this project is the most recent extension of a line of work focused on transforming the way we think about and design for engagement. 

“Dynamic and reflexive, interpersonal and powerful, emotions guide and mediate visitors’ behaviors, motivations, engagement, and learning.”Core Emotion and Engagement in Informal Science Learning, Rappolt-Schlichtmann, Evans, Reich, Cahill, 2017