Although much has been written in recent years on what museum visitors actually experience, there is little research-backed guidance available for developing meaningful exhibits and programs for specific educational purposes. Deborah Perry looks at what we know about the experiences of people in museums and other informal learning settings, and then shares a set of tested principles and strategies—known as the Selinda Model—for the design of effective museum exhibits. Along the way, she showcases examples of both effective and ineffective exhibit designs drawn from two decades of work in the field.

"[T]he greatest strength of the book is its focus on application of the principles. Each of the six chapters in Part Two addresses one of the motivations listed along the base of the Selinda model and provides strategies for implementing each principle. ... As she presents each new principle or strategy, she revisits the earlier cited exhibit redesign and discusses how her redesign employed that principle or strategy. This helps illustrate her ideas, and her explanations are generally very helpful. The inclusion in Appendix A of photos and illustrations of that exhibit before and after the redesign also proves helpful. This book is. . . well written and it is a fairly quick read. ... It was refreshing to read a book in which someone borrowed from instructional design to enhance practice in her field." - Educational Technology

"Deborah Perry's interesting, accessible, and highly useful book, What Makes Learning Fun?, provides insights into how museums can design and evaluate for learning. ... What Makes Learning Fun? is thought-provoking. ... Perry has written a highly accessible book grounded in both theory and practice. The field will benefit from her expansive view on learning and comprehensive ideas about design. . . . The Selinda Model is an exceedingly useful professional tool for discussion, debate, and design, especially recommended for staff, both veteran and novice, looking for new ways into thinking and talking about learning in museums. What Makes Learning Fun? does the museum field a great service by broadening and deepening the conversation about our work." - Visitor Studies