ABSTRACT
Children's museum was born in 1899 when Brooklyn Children's Museum was established. It is defined as a nonprofit educational and cultural institution committed to serving the needs and interests of children by providing exhibits and programs that stimulate curiosity and motivate learning. The fast growing fact of children's museums all over the world is related to the expectations on their impacts, especially educational impacts, which asks for empirical investigations of the educational and social impacts of children's museums, as well as the mechanism. This chapter first describes the history of children's museums and its development in the world. Then it introduces the research questions and methods of the study, which combines quantitative methods (i.e., experimental studies and surveys) and qualitative methods like observations and text analysis. The chapter ends with the definitions of key terms.
