Wonderlab+ and its content were developed with a science capital informed approach, and using our engagement reflection points, to help us critically consider our audiences’ experience and making it as inclusive as possible.
1. One of our most popular pages is the grown-ups page
In the Science Museum Group (SMG) we take a family learning approach, engaging both children and adults as active
participants in learning. It has been encouraging to see how many users choose to visit this page. We wanted the content on the Grown-Ups page to convey our approach and help adults understand how to grow children’s confidence with STEM.
This page also provides information about our accessibility options. Additionally, in pre-project focus groups families told us that online safety is very important to them, so we have included information about staying safe online as well.
2. The most popular content theme is get messy
The content on Wonderlab+ is grouped under content types as well as three themes: Get Messy, Space and Your World.
Inviting users to get hands-on as part of our learning resources approach as it provides first-hand experience of STEM principles and themes, so it’s great to see people choosing these types of activities on the site.
At the same time we understand that these types of activities won’t be for everyone, and we use sensory icons on the website to let people know if an activity is fiddly, messy, noisy, stimulating or if it contains flashing images.
3.The most popular content type is games
Games have always been a very popular part of our online offer and we know people find them very engaging. We recently launched a new game, Explore it, Make it, which invites users to get creative with objects from the collection. We’re really looking forward to seeing what users come up with.
4. Our most popular quiz is about space
Our ‘True or False?’ space-themed quiz’ has been completed more times than any other. We’ve noticed that many users are coming to this quiz from search engines, suggesting that people are actively seeking out quizzes on this very popular subject.
5. People are using the ‘random’ button on the homepage
The random button on the homepage isn’t labelled, but data shows that people are willing to click it anyway. We think this suggests that our Wonderlab+ audience are happy to try things even if they aren’t sure of the outcome, and after all: curiosity is one of the skills that scientists need!
Going forward, we are continuing to build our offer and gather further insights on how families with low to medium science capital respond to our content, so keep an eye out for new quizzes and videos.
If you would like to learn more about the user-centered development process for Wonderlab+, why not read our blog post all about it.
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