In the United States and Canada, there are over 6,000 museums, almost twice as many as there were 25 years ago. However, they have changed a lot. They are no longer places where one "should" go-they are places to enjoy.
At a science museum in Canada, you can feel your hair stand on end as harmless electricity passes through your body. At the Children's Museum in New York, you can play an African drum. There are no "Do Not Touch" signs in some other museums in the USA.
More and more museum directors (馆长) have realized that people learn best when they can become part of what they are seeing. In many science museums, the visitors are encouraged to touch, listen, and experiment so as to find scientific rules for themselves.
The old museums have been changing and the government is encouraging the building of new, modern museums. One cause of all these changes is the growing number of young people in the population. They see things in a new and different way. They want art that they can take part in. The same is true of science and history.
