The Museum of Modern Art in New York City offers audio guides for its
31 collections in 9 different languages for visiting children. This study was
intended to analyze the contents of audio guides offered for children by the
Museum of Modern Art and examine their educational features. Since the concept
of the post-museum has emerged, directions of education in museums have also
changed. As the concept encourages different social and cultural groups to produce
and exchange their own interpretations, education in museums also considers it an
important objective to create meanings. In this respect, the study recognized audio
guides as an educational medium to encourage visitors to create their own
meanings, thus drawing content elements, explaining strategies by analyzing scripts
of audio guides for children in the Museum of Modern Art. The result showed
that scripts of audio guides for children typically deal with types, contents,
methods and contexts of expressions with visual guidance for visitors to find out
such details for themselves while providing supplementary texts for them to extend
their own meanings. In addition, they used detailed explaining strategies such as
recalling experiences, inducing precise actions, modeling reactions, imagining and
thinking of one’s own expressions so that visitors can connect their experiences
and prior knowledge with collections. It was also revealed that various texts and
audio effects make visitor experience multi-dimensional. Based on the analysis, it
was defined that audio guides for children is a device that can encourage children
to enjoy individual appreciation experience by stimulating their knowledge and
experience and offering a variety of contextual information as an instructional
scaffolding so that they can understand collections.