Apparently the information was transferred from those children and adults who did read to the ones who did not read, during casual conversations while walking through the museum, on the school bus or in the car, and over dinner or breakfast the next morning. The other dimensions of learning While studies like these measuring content learning are encouraging, learning in a museum or other informal setting is very different from classroom learning. We must be careful not to miss these other forms of learning, such as the acquisition of interest in a topic, which may be even more important results of a successful informal learning experience. The conditions of museum learning are very different from those of the classroom. Museum learning is self-directed rather than directed by a teacher.
Exhibits replace the teacher as the central medium of instruction.
There is no compulsory attendance law, career placement office, or even beloved teacher to induce attendance. Willard Boyd, in the preface to The Museum Experience One of the most striking demonstrations of how different the museum experience is from the classroom is the mad dashing about that we see, especially on the part of early elementary children at the beginning of a visit. Research is helping us understand what is going on here. Children especially want to be sure they have seen everything. Two kinds of learning are happening when children burst into a museum for the first time.