Enhancing Understanding about Social Issues: Exploring the Educational Role of Museums from the Audience's Perspective

Today museums function as important cultural institutions that not only preserve and display artifacts to spaces that can create social awareness and address contemporary social issues. To gain a better understanding about museum experiences and social interactions can enhance the understanding of social issues, this master thesis explores the educational role of museums from the perspective of museum visitors. This study applies the Social Learning Theory to the environment of museums. The Social learning theory is based on the statement that learning is a social process which is improved by social interaction and engagement with others. The main question guiding this study is: What are the perceptions of museum visitors in Rotterdam, the Netherlands regarding the effectiveness of educational programs in museums and their possibility to enhance understanding of social issues? This study adopts a qualitative approach that involves semi-structured interviews with twelve museum visitors. These participants were selected to gain insight into their diverse perceptions about educational programs, museum experiences, learning preferences, and their views on the social function of museums. A thematic analysis was conducted to identity key themes and patterns in the data, these themes focusing on how educational programs and social interactions enhanced the participants understanding of social issues. The findings reveal that museum visitors mentioned social interactions multiple times as significant factors regarding their learning experiences. Social interactions, through observation and dialogue, provides chances for shared learning and the co-construction of meaning. This research contributes to our understanding of the educational role of museums by recognising the importance of social interactions and enabling immersive experiences to foster awareness of social issues.