How can creative museum-based learning activities improve children’s wellbeing in the Chinese context?

This thesis has two main objectives: first, to reveal the impacts of museums’ creative learning programmes on children’s wellbeing and explore the underpinning reasons for these impacts; and second, to offer recommendations for how creative learning could be used within Chinese museums to support children’s wellbeing.

To achieve the first objective, this research involved two key groups of research participants: children aged 6 to 12 (namely children of primary school age in China, n=193) and museum practitioners (n=15) in China. To evaluate the impact of museums’ creative learning programmes on children’s wellbeing, pre- and post-session quantitative methods and end-session focus group discussions were employed. Moreover, this research was inspired by ‘children’s museology’, a growing research area that involves children in the production of museum content and programming. Thus, children were provided with appropriate ethical considerations, and their museum experiences were accessed in such a way as to prioritise their own perspectives. Interviews with museum practitioners in China authentically revealed their motivations, preconceptions and understandings of museum learning, children and wellbeing, which shaped their museum programming with children.

A four-domain wellbeing framework was developed, encompassing social, emotional, physical, and personal development, to enhance children’s museum experience and care for their wellbeing. This interdisciplinary research seeks to strengthen museums’ awareness of their role in promoting wellbeing, encouraging museum practitioners to develop museums as assets for promoting wellbeing for wider populations, and helping children express their wellbeing rights and capabilities.