Research On Emotional Design Of Children Exhibits In Science & Technology Museum

Children live by games because they were born with the inclination for games. As a supplement for school education, science and technology museums have set up display areas for children, where children can learn about science, nurture their imagination and creativity, and improve their exploration spirit through perceiving, experiencing and conducting operations by playing these exhibits.Apart from that, science and technology museums in China are just at starting phase where their education functions are underdeveloped. For example, products in display areas in these science and technology museums have similar and deficient designing styles; experience styles for children's exhibits are old-fashioned and not based on “children oriented” standards. More efforts in the designing of exhibits in science and technology museums for children should be made, if science and technology museums are to realize its purposes of enlightening the pursuit of knowledge and the zeal for truth in children, improving their ability of enforcing mutual help and interaction, and increasing their interest in learning and realizing the aim of teaching through playing. Born in this background and driven by the development trend, this study has put forward an idea of fusing emotional elements into the designing of exhibits for children and using emotional elements as the bridge between science and art to reduce the distance between science and children.This study laid its theoretical foundation on emotional education, emotional needs and emotional design of products and put forward the idea that exhibits for children in science and technology museum should have emotional designs. Besides, through an analysis of aspects like children's psychological features and emotional needs, this study elaborated on the necessity in carrying out emotional design on children's exhibits in science and technology. This study further discussed principles and methods in carrying out emotional design for children's exhibits in science and technology museums. The result of this verification is the producing of “Rolling on Balls” exhibit.Emotional design of exhibits in science and technology museum is to put emotional elements into the designing of products/exhibits to give children some emotional experience or give them some emotional stimulation, so that they can pay attention to exhibits all by themselves and learn by themselves. The results of this study are significant because they provide practical guidance for emotional design of exhibits in science and technology museums in China; they can be a reference for constructing ideas about emotional design of other products, thus making follow-up studies possible.