Towards Next-Generation Science Centers: Study on Science Museums' Future Development Trend

Currently, science museums worldwide are advancing towards the new generation of science centers—the future museums. Look back at the evolutionary stages of science museums and envision the future development of science museums, the paper analyzes the concepts, characteristics, mechanisms, contents, and form elements of the new generation of science centers. It describes the overall figure of the new generation science centers in the conceptual transcendence and dimensional enhancement, featuring participation, interdisciplinarity and reform, adopting cross-domain collaborative mechanisms to create embodied interactive experiences and showcase the basic features of science in the making. It is supplemented with emerging exhibition cases that align with the developmental trends of the new generation of the era, exemplifying the characteristics of future museums, such as science fiction narrative modes, ethical issues in technology, and cutting-edge technological themes. This provides a reference for the theoretical and practical construction of the new generation of science centers.