ABSTRACT
Framing Informal STEM Institutions (ISIs) as “ecosystems” acknowledges that each ISI has its own cultural hysteresis: the ways in which decisions and trends over time have shaped the institution. While exhibits are a major component of all ISI learning experiences, the archetypical exhibits that emerge from natural history museums, science centers, and zoos and aquaria have marked differences. An ecosystem framing permits educational designers to view exhibits as a part of a network of affordances (material, social, and cultural) that encourage different visitor learning behaviors. By understanding these affordance networks, educational designers can be more strategic about how to integrate technology into ISI exhibits. This chapter will review the historical origin stories of three exhibit archetypes and connect them to the (explicit and implicit) pedagogies underlying their designs. This foundation is then used to review existing attempts to integrate interactive technologies into those ISIs, and reflect on future opportunities.
