Continuation in Making Together: The Intersection of Exhibition Design and Caregiver–Child Interactions in a Museum Makerspace

By paying close attention to how families interact in and make use of exhibition spaces, museums can make productive changes to these spaces in support of family learning. In this study, we examined family interactions in a makerspace to understand how families coordinate their activity in support of sustained engagement, or what we called continuation. Groups were nimble in their approach to continued engagement. Prompts and multiple activity stations helped groups find activity modes that worked for them. When tools or materials proved challenging, group members helped their family members, negotiated new paths forward, and verbally checked in with one another on progress. In this way, we argue that the ordinary moves of family members become extraordinary, as adults and children co-facilitate their making experience so that it works for their group. The resulting framework provides a way for others to notice the seemingly routine but complex work that families are doing to support their own experiences in museum spaces.