Shaping minds through modelling: a novel experimental approach in the museum

Museums are increasingly shifting from passive spaces of display to active sites of learning where knowledge is co-created through material and social engagement. This chapter examines how models and modelling can serve as powerful mediators of understanding in museum education, bridging conceptual knowledge and embodied experience. We first synthesise key theoretical traditions, i.e. experience-based learning, constructionism, tinkering, makerspaces, object-based, model-based learning, etc., to clarify how these approaches conceptualise modelling as a form of “learning by making.” Despite widespread assumptions about its benefits, empirical research on modelling in museums remains largely qualitative, case-based, and fragmented, leaving causal mechanisms underexplored. To address this gap, we introduce a Factorial Mixed methods (FM) paradigm, an interdisciplinary approach that combines experimental design with qualitative inquiry “in the wild” of real museum contexts. This paradigm allows for controlled, systematic testing of educational variables while preserving ecological validity. We illustrate the FM approach through a field experiment at Steno Museum involving 152 eighth-grade students participating in astronomy workshops. Using a 2×2 factorial design, we varied two key factors, physical modelling and social interaction, to examine their individual and combined effects on learning, engagement, and enjoyment. The results showed that both factors independently enhanced learning and that their combination produced an additive effect, yielding greater outcomes than either factor alone. Qualitative observations further revealed how collaborative model-building fostered deeper conceptual reflection, creativity, and embodied understanding. Together, these findings provide rare causal evidence that modelling and social collaboration jointly enhance learning in museum settings. The chapter concludes by outlining how the FM paradigm can advance a more generalisable, experimentally grounded science of modelling across museums and disciplines.