ABSTRACT
In the ecological system of early childhood development, children's museums may serve as an important educational context. Theoretically, it is believed that hands-on exploration and child-centered learning can promote child development. This chapter describes the findings from a comprehensive evaluation study for the CNCC Lao Niu Children's Discovery Museum regarding the attendance effects on young children's development, which involves a one-year follow-up experimental design for 228 four-year-old preschoolers in the family visit mode and 224 middle-class preschoolers in the school visit mode, plus questionnaire survey and observational research. The experimental results showed that regular visits by children and their families promoted children's overall cognitive abilities, creativity (in the subdimension of originality), scientific literacy (in the sub-domain of science interest and biology), and self-confidence. Findings in the school visit mode revealed that the provision of 18 free visits opportunities to the experiment classes delivered some positive impacts on children's cognitive skills, approaches to learning skills, and problem-solving skills, and for some preschools, and there is a positive effect in creativity (in the fluency sub-domain). Findings from observations and parental surveys confirmed the above results and revealed more effects in other domains, such as autonomy, persistence, and positive emotions. Reflections upon the mechanism is also provided.
