Diapositive 1

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 Cognitics  help for good exhibits
ECSITE Conference Budapest - 29/05/2008
Christophe CHAFFARDON Head of Education Cité
de lespace - Toulouse - France
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This presentation shows how la Cité de l'espace
has developed a set of recommendations for
designing exhibits, thanks to a collaboration
with an engineering school in  cognitics , in
the framework of the renewal of its permanent
exhibitions. The purpose of the document
produced ("Didactical Charter for designing
exhibits") is to propose a reference system for
group work, focusing on motivation, fun,
memorisation, attention, error handling, to
improve a didactical efficiency.
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THE CITÉ DE LESPACE IN FIGURES
Location  Toulouse, South of France, main
european city for space activities Theme
Space activities, Astronomy Age  10 years
Number of visitors  280 000 /
year Exhibitions  2 500 m² (permanent), 400 m²
(temporary) mainly interactive and hands-on
exhibits Attractions IMAX cinema (3D, 300
seats), Planetarium (20 m diameter, 280 seats),
 Terr_at_dome  (audio-visual show)
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RENEWING OUR PERMANENT EXHIBITION WHY ?

• - Because of 10 years-old-exhibitions
• - To update the contents
• To update some technologies
• To develop immersion and storytelling
• To improve learning efficiency

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HOW COULD WE IMPROVE LEARNING EFFICIENCY ?
Research in cognitive sciences could help us in
that BUT - We do not have time to explore
publications - We do not have the skills to do
that - We want some practical outcomes
adapted to our constraints ! SO How could we
bridge the gap between researchers in these
fields and exhibition designers ?
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HOW COULD WE IMPROVE LEARNING EFFICIENCY ?
We found out the Cognitics Institute  from the
University of Bordeaux, an engineering school
that focuses on the applications of cognitive
sciences.
Institut de Cognitique
Bordeaux, France
 COGNITICS  is the science of automated
cognition. As a pluridisciplinary field
(neurobiology, psychology, artificial
intelligence), it encompasses various concepts
like knowledge, learning, expertise, abstraction
We developped a partnership to integrate some
students in our group project.
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WE STARTED WITH AN ASSESSMENT
In the framework of the collaboration with the
IdC, a student-engineer has run a global
assessment of our permanent exhibition, based on
cognitics criteria from the literature. This work
took part in the PENCIL project (6th framework
program)
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AND FINALLY, WE HAD A  DIDACTICAL CHARTER 
Finally, he found out always the same problems
some relevant criteria of improvement. All these
criteria has been put together in a short
document a  didactical charter .
A  check-list  to help us in designing exhibits
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
Motivation dynamics
Make learning fun
Families of exhibits
Memory and attention
Text technology
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
Because reserachers have shown that motivation is
a key factor in learning activities.
The activitys intrinsic value (pleasure)
The extrinsic value (usefulness) of the task
The importance of the task in relation to
self-image
The effort one task demands compared to another
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS

• Novelty break the routine !
• Set the learner realistic goals
• Introduce elements of surprise
• Propose real-world applications
• Stimulate curiosity
• Feedback show the results
• Security reassure the learner
• Identification stimulate belonging,
  accomplishment feelings
• Challenge set obstacles and goals
• Competition show and compare performance

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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS

• Play induces very high levels of attention and
  concentration in the player.

• - Bringing play into learning by introducing
• content into a game-type scenario.
• - Producing flow, an optimal experience
• that occurs when the learner doesnt
• experience the effort as painful, and feels he is
  
• controlling the action.
• - Using simulation

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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
- Set a well-explained goal - Set a broad
range of challenges - Produce immediate
feedback for the learner - The player
should be able to increase or decrease the
level of difficulty - The activity should be
isolated from internal or external interfering
stimuli.
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
Because human reasoning works on mental schemata,
broad knowledge patterns guiding the way we
recognize and understand new situations.
Creating families of exhibits from the visitors
point of view.
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS

• Designing the same
• Skin
• Pedagogical pattern
• Completion time
• Level (or progressive level) of difficulty
• Involvement of the visitor in the task
• Information density
• Explanatory style

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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
Because memory and attention are two essential
components of the learning process.
Short-term or working memory (about 20 seconds
retention time) enables us to temporarily
manipulate information patterns.
Different data media (text, audio, images) have
an effect on how information is stored and
processed.
Neurobiologists and psychologists found out that
the auditive canal is the most fragile of all
communication channels.
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
- Audio messages should be reinforced with text
or images. - If text and audio are used
together, the text should not deviate from the
audio commentary.
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS
Because text in its different forms (panels,
instructions, multimedia) is hardly read at
all. Improve physical and
psychological text readability
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COGNITICS HELP FOR GOOD EXHIBITS

• Clarity
• Relevance
• Conciseness
• Scanability and readability

• Consistency
• Error-free
• Limited depth

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WHO WILL USE THIS CHARTER ?
To be a reference document for every members of
our teams of designers.
The check-lists will be included in the
specifications dedicated to subcontracting firms.
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CONCLUSION
We hope that Didactical charter could help us
in..
connecting creativity with practicality !
Thanks for your attention.
Christophe CHAFFARDON Head of Education - Cité
de lespace Toulouse , France
c.chaffardon_at_cite-espace.com