Museum Galaxy Guides Wear Five Hats

Tour Guide / Naïve Interlocutor / Socializer / Information Receiver / Answer Person

Being a Museum Galaxy Guide is a complex skill. Sometimes a Galaxy Guide will explain an exhibit to visitors. At other times he or she will ask questions to draw out the visitor’s curiosity and sense of discovery. A Galaxy Guide will also serve as information receiver, that is, listening to visitors share their experiences. A skilled Museum Galaxy Guide has his or her interpersonal radar turned on to pick up signals from the visitor, and then take on the role which is most appropriate for that visitor.

To reinforce this idea of the ever-shifting roles Galaxy Guides take on, the Space Odyssey staff have come up with five hats to practice with. To reach his or her full potential, each Galaxy guide is encouraged to:

  • Understand each of the five Museum Galaxy Guide roles.
  • Become comfortable operating in each of the five roles.
  • Be able to switch roles fluently to individualize each visitor’s experience; in other words, know when to wear which hat.

All five roles involve listening as a central element. Listening tunes the Galaxy Guide in to the wants and needs of the visitor and provides the basis for a two-way exchange rather than a one-sided lecture.


Sometimes people are not aware of what is in an exhibit. This is an opportunity for a Galaxy Guide to show the visitor around on a mini-tour. Someone may ask, “how can a Galaxy Guide do this for everyone?” The answer is that not everyone wants a tour guide. In addition, Space Odyssey will be fully staffed, so when one Galaxy Guide is engaged with a group of visitors, another one can fill in.

Galaxy Guides are tour guides in another sense as well. Often visitors are not familiar with the content or ideas in an exhibit, and so do not know enough to have their curiosity sparked. The visitor might not know what to ask. The Galaxy Guide is a tour guide in leading a visitor to formulate questions. Often a question will foster another one, and the visitor is soon engaged in a conversation about something that just a few minutes before was completely new territory to them.


An interlocutor is a person who engages others in conversation. The adjective naïve refers tonot having the answer, or having it but leading the other people to discover that answer for themselves in their own way. Socrates is the best known example of this type. Some people say that they use a Socratic method because they ask questions, but the role of Naïve Interlocutor is more than asking questions. This role means to ask the kinds of questions that allow a person to construct a mental model of something. The key word here is to construct. The transaction is not a transfer of knowledge; it is not a quiz or solicitation of facts. The key to the process is to ask follow up questions that clarify. Many times in conversation, especially disagreements, people are using words to mean different things. A Socratic questioner might ask someone to elaborate on that point or say, “Could you explain what you mean by the word energy?”

Two notes on questioning:

  1. It is important to put the visitor at ease. Often people feel fragile when they encounter an expert or even a stranger. Rather than opening a conversation with a factual question, it is better to warm the visitor up with questions that have no right or wrong answer, for instance, Would you like to go into space? Once the terms of the conversation are established, the Galaxy Guide can take questioning in new directions. Likewise it is better to say, “What questions do you have?” rather than “Ask me a question,” a way of phrasing that may sound like an expert wanting to show off his or her knowledge. The preferred transaction is two people exploring together.
  2. Socrates observed that a well-formulated question takes you half way to the answer. This being the case, the Galaxy Guide’s first task is to help the visitor get ready to formulate a question by helping them observe, connect and clarify their perceptions of what’s before them.


It’s OK to chat with visitors before talking about space science or the Space Odyssey exhibits and programs. This way you can gauge the interests of the visitor and provide them with a list of interesting programs and exhibits to enjoy. But beyond the practical level, we know from museum research that one of the main aspects of a museum visit that people enjoy is human contact. One of our staff members spoke with a family from Guffey, Colorado who come to Denver once a year to see a Rockies game, and go to Elitches and the DenverMuseum of Nature & Science. They asked the staff member a host of questions, such as Where do you live? Do you like living in Denver? What does your job involve? The staff member in turn asked about their home town. The conversation was not focussed on the exhibit, but as they left, the father said to the staff member, “You know, we’ve been in Denver three days and you’re the only person we’ve had a conversation with.” In the role of Socializer, the staff member played host to the out-of-towners, and even though the entire encounter was unrelated to the museum exhibit, the visitors left feeling enriched.


Sometimes the most helpful thing to do is listen to a visitor tell you a story or personal anecdote. This is a polite and respectful way for the Galaxy Guide to respond. But in addition, other visitors can get the benefit of the experience, perhaps meeting an astronaut or riding in a centrifuge. This act of listening also helps the Galaxy Guide to understand the visitor’s background and continue the conversation by offering to do a Web search on the topic or direct the visitor to a program or exhibit of special interest to the visitor. Young children in particular are eager to “tell their stories.” It is very important in their development to have opportunities to articulate personal experiences. This process helps them to formulate ideas and make connections. Adults, too, have much to gain from recounting their personal experiences. By putting new knowledge into a personal context, they are better able to recall it later on and use the information in a new setting.


Sometimes the Museum Galaxy Guide’s job is to give out information. This is the case when a visitor asks, “What is the gravitational force on Mars?” The answer is that it’s 38% of what you feel on Earth. There’s no exploration or discovery involved; it’s a straightforward interaction. But often enough the visitor isn’t even sure of how to put the question. A girl of about six asked one of our Space Odyssey staff what a moon is. He gave her an authoritative summary about the composition of various rocky and icy worlds in our solar system. She listened, politely then turned to another staff member and asked the very same question. He said, “It’s a thing that goes around a planet rather that going around the Sun.” “Oh,” she said happily. The first staff member didn’t realize what the girl meant. Part of the role of being an Answer Person is to make sure you understand what the question really is.

Sometimes the answer takes the form of an impromptu demonstration. If a visitor asks why there are seasons, the Museum Galaxy Guide might pick up a globe and a lamp, recruit two bystanders, and then SHOW the answer rather than TELL the answer.