This document contains the proceedings from the Natural Science Gallery Symposium held by the Oakland Museum of California on September 15 & 16, 2008. Attendees discussed plans and ideas for an updated design of the Natural Science Gallery.
In the fall of 2007 the Doig River First Nation, an Aboriginal group from northeastern British Columbia, launched its Virtual Museum of Canada-funded Web exhibit Dane-Wajich: Dane-zaa Stories and Songs: Dreamers and the Land. This exhibit was produced by the First Nation in collaboration with ethnographers, linguists, and multimedia professionals. It integrates subtitled Dane-zaa and English video narratives, interpretive e-text, photographs of the production process, recordings of songs, and contemporary and archival images of traditional lands in order to showcase Dane-zaa culture and
The study provides the first major review of public finance for the museum sector. It explores public support from federal, state, and local government sources, focusing particular attention on levels of financial support and types of delivery mechanisms.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Carlow ManjarrezCarole RosensteinCeleste ColganErica Pastore
The story from the museum may not be read by visitors, who come with their own knowledge and understanding and read a different story in the animals. The visitors read a story which makes sense to them and builds on what they already know and interests them. Increasingly, robotics models are being used in natural history museums, science centers, and zoos to attract visitors and tell some kind of story. What do the visitors actually talk about when looking at such robotic animals? The visitors reported on in this paper were primary school groups and families. Do they talk about similar things
The article offers tips for early childhood educators on planning and implementing field experiences for young learners in natural history museums. It cites that providing children with access to nature could build their science literacy. Moreover, it emphasizes the importance of intrinsic motivation and recommends that teachers should focus on children's interests and provide them the time to relax. Teachers should also encourage active learning and ensure to make the visit memorable.
The purpose of this study was to describe and understand the range of outcomes of class visits to natural history museums. The theoretical framework is based on the multifaceted process of learning in free choice learning environments, and emphasizes the unique and individual learning experience in museum settings. The study’s significance is in highlighting several possible cognitive as well as non-cognitive learning effects in museums class visits, by providing the student’s point of view. Data was collected by semi-structured interviews with 50 students in grades 6–8 on the day following
In this article, the author shares general research on the subject of transformation in the context of historical/cultural organizations. The author's research examined seven history museums who had undergone various levels of change and transformation and looked for similarities, idiosyncrasies, patterns, and differences across the organizations and their stakeholders' interests. These changes and transformations are presented in a broader context of shifts in the missions and structure of cultural organizations, and presents key understandings for those institutions seeking to undergo change
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Candace Tangorra MetalicAmerican Association for State and Local History
This paper explains how and why many American museums of science and nature moved away from the traditional content and methods of natural history in the period from 1930 to 1980. It explores diverse motivations for the shift from dead, stuffed displays to live, interactive exhibits, and the consequences of that shift for museums as both educational institutions and as institutions of research. Ultimately, it argues that debates over museums' content and display strategies drew strength from and reinforced a profound transformation in the institutional history of twentieth-century American
SETAC is funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union and emerges out of the need to undertake specific action for the improvement of science education. It regards science education as among the fundamental tools for developing active citizens in the knowledge society. SETAC draws on the cooperation between formal and informal learning institutions, aiming to enhance school science education and active citizenship looking further into the role of science education as a lifelong tool in the knowledge society. On the day of the project’s conclusion, 31 October 2010, after two years of work SETAC contributes the following products and results to the field: 1. “Quality Science Education: Where do we stand? Guidelines for practice from a European experience” This is the concluding manifesto that presents the results of the SETAC work in the form of recommendations for practitioners working in formal and informal science learning institutions; 2. “Teaching and Learning Scientific Literacy and Citizenship in Partnership with Schools and Science Museums” This paper constitutes the theoretical framework of the project and innovative ways of using museums for science education and develop new modes of linking formal and informal learning environments; 3. Tools for teaching and learning in science: misconceptions, authentic questions, motivation. Three specific studies, leading to three specific reports, have been conducted in the context of the project, looking in particular into notions with an important role in science teaching and learning. These are on: Children’s misconceptions; Authentic questions as tool when working in science education; Students’ attitudes and motivation as factors influencing their achievement and participation in science and science-related issues; 4. Activities with schools: SETAC developed a series of prototype education activities which were tested with schools in each country. Among the activities developed between the partners, two have been chosen and are available on-line for practitioners to use and to adapt in their own context. These are: The Energy role game, a role game on Energy invites students to act in different roles, those of the stakeholders of an imaginary community, called to debate and decide upon a certain common problem; MyTest www.museoscienza.org/myTest, which aims to encourage students to engage in researching, reflecting and communicating science-oriented topics; 5. European in-service training course for primary and secondary school teachers across Europe. The training course is designed in such a way as to engage participants in debate and exploration of issues related to science education and active citizenship. The course is open to school teachers, headteachers and teacher trainers from all EU-member and associate countries. Professionals interested can apply for a EU Comenius grant. All the products of the project as well as information about the training course are available at the project website, some of them in more than one languages: www.museoscienza.org/setac
The goal of the study was to inform an interpretive and master planning process at Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site by documenting visitor motivations, interests, experience, and learning outcomes of four key audiences identified by Eastern State: walk-in visitors (adult only), walk-in visitors (groups with children), prearranged adult tour groups, and school groups. Specifically, the report focuses on the following evaluative questions: 1) Who are the visitors to Eastern State and why do they come? (e.g., entry conditions such as demographics, motivations for their visit, expectations
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Jill SteinEastern State Penitentiary Historic SiteJes A. Koepfler
This study was designed to assess qualitative and quantitative impacts that the enactor program has on visitor experience at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science (DMNS), using two temporary exhibitions (Benjamin Franklin: In Search of a Better World and Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition) as examples. Of interest was capturing the unique visitor experience that enactors provide by combining visitor engagement, education and interaction. In turn, this affords opportunities to better consider enactor and/or theater-based programming for other areas of the Museum (temporary and permanent) in the
This front-end evaluation study provided information about how potential visitors to the Dena'ina exhibition (scheduled to open at the Anchorage Museum in 2010) might think and feel about the exhibition's themes. Twenty interviews were conducted with a diverse group that included people with Dena'ina and other Native American cultures. The key findings were: There was a lot of diversity about what participants knew, or didn't know, about the Dena'ina, and how the Dena'ina culture was similar to others. People knew about the effects of contact on religion, education, and dress. Non-Natives (as