Evaluating students' comprehension of messages on panels.

In science museums, teaching panels are an important means of cultural mediation and communication. This study focused on the use and features of panels in museums and we tested panels’ efficacy in conveying information. We assessed the understandability of their messages by verifying the acquisition of information over the short term (quantitative aspect) and identifying difficulties in reading (qualitative aspects). Two panels in the Museo di Biologia Marina “Pietro Parenzan” in Porto Cesareo (Province of Lecce, Italy) were evaluated. The panels had the same content but were different from linguistic and graphic points of view. The study was carried out by interviewing 1,898 middle and secondary-school students of the Province of Lecce (their ages ranging between 11 and 19 years).