ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book represents the culmination of multiple years of work on the part of us, and many others in the worlds of both museums and learning theory. It helps to provide a useful window between theory and research on the one hand and practice on the other. The book refers to studies involving digital technologies in museum learning in several places. It draws from literature in psychology, sociology, history, philosophy and anthropology as 'primary' disciplines. The book tends to rely on empirical, rather than theoretical, research in the presentations of theory and research. It presents the ways that theory develops over time, and how it can be difficult to change a discipline's dogmatic reliance on particular theoretical perspectives. The book considers issues related to self and identity in museums. It considers how learners interpret the authenticity of what they are experiencing.
