Study examines parent–child families’ interactions with exhibits in natural history museum

This study aims to examine how parent–child families interact with exhibits while visiting a natural history museum. The study included 71 parent–child families with children aged 3–12 visiting the Zhejiang Museum of Natural History. Interaction with exhibits was recorded employing tracking and timing, and discourse analysis using video and observation recording forms. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were used to examine the data. The results revealed physical engagement in parent–child family interactions with exhibits and between family members, with high-frequency verbal interactions among members. Families have diverse preferences for different exhibits, with interactive question-and-answer displays being the most popular. The higher the relevance of the exhibit to the visitor's life, the stronger the interest displayed by the parent–child family. The behaviour of parent–child families is influenced by three factors: exhibits, visitors and space layout, resulting in different visiting routes and patterns.