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Different Images of Science - A study of how science is constituted in exhibitions

Davidsson, Eva LU (2008)
Abstract
Within the science and technology centre (STC) movement there exists explicit aims and ambitions to enhance visitors’ interest in and knowledge about science. Meanwhile, several researches question the choice of the scientific content in exhibitions when arguing that a too unproblematic view of science commonly is presented. But what images and aspects of science are visitors actually confronted with at STCs? How do staff members at STCs consider the scientific content and how do they choose what aspects of science to display in exhibitions? What ideas about visitors’ learning do staff members express and what consequences follow these when planning and constructing new exhibitions? And in what ways do sponsors affect the content and the... (More)
Within the science and technology centre (STC) movement there exists explicit aims and ambitions to enhance visitors’ interest in and knowledge about science. Meanwhile, several researches question the choice of the scientific content in exhibitions when arguing that a too unproblematic view of science commonly is presented. But what images and aspects of science are visitors actually confronted with at STCs? How do staff members at STCs consider the scientific content and how do they choose what aspects of science to display in exhibitions? What ideas about visitors’ learning do staff members express and what consequences follow these when planning and constructing new exhibitions? And in what ways do sponsors affect the content and the design of exhibitions? The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what assumptions and factors affect the final content and design of exhibitions. This question is elucidated and explored from different perspectives, presented in four articles as well as in the different sections in this thesis. In a first phase, staff members at Nordic STCs were asked to consider to what extent they believe they display different aspects of science. The results suggest that the most common image was "the usefulness of science" which tends to display science in an unproblematic and single-dimensioned way. In order to explore what underlying assumptions and factors which affect how science is constituted, a second phase involved interviewing17 staff members who worked with planning and constructing new exhibitions. Furthermore, a third phase of the data collection comprised participant observation and a focus group interview.



The results indicated that staff members’ ideas about the nature of science do not seem to have a decisive effect on what scientific aspects they choose to display in exhibitions. When it comes to staff members’ ideas about visitors’ learning, this seems to influence their choices of scientific aspects. The results imply that staff members tend to use only an experience-based approach to learning and do not consider what is known from the field of learning and informal settings and science education. Furthermore, the results suggest that sponsors may affect the final content and design of exhibitions both directly and indirectly. This means that sponsors may have explicit demands concerning the content, but also that staff members consider what they believe are views of the sponsors when planning and constructing new exhibitions. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Inom science och technology centre (STC)-rörelsen finns det uttalade mål och ambitioner att öka allmänhetens intresse och förståelse för naturvetenskap. Samtidigt ifrågasätter många forskare de val som görs vad gäller utställningarnas innehåll och hävdar att det är vanligt att en alltför produktorienterad syn på naturvetenskap presenteras. Men vilka bilder och aspekter av naturvetenskap möter besökarna på STCs? Hur resonerar personalen på STCs kring det naturvetenskapliga innehållet i utställningar? Vilka idéer kring besökarnas lärnade uttrycker personal på STCs och vilka konsekvenser får det då nya utställningar planeras och konstrueras? Och på vilka sätt påverkar sponsorer utställningarnas... (More)
Popular Abstract in Swedish

Inom science och technology centre (STC)-rörelsen finns det uttalade mål och ambitioner att öka allmänhetens intresse och förståelse för naturvetenskap. Samtidigt ifrågasätter många forskare de val som görs vad gäller utställningarnas innehåll och hävdar att det är vanligt att en alltför produktorienterad syn på naturvetenskap presenteras. Men vilka bilder och aspekter av naturvetenskap möter besökarna på STCs? Hur resonerar personalen på STCs kring det naturvetenskapliga innehållet i utställningar? Vilka idéer kring besökarnas lärnade uttrycker personal på STCs och vilka konsekvenser får det då nya utställningar planeras och konstrueras? Och på vilka sätt påverkar sponsorer utställningarnas innehåll och design? Syftet med denna avhandling är att undersöka vilka antaganden och faktorer som påverkar utställningars slutliga innehåll och utformning. Detta syfte belyses från olika perspektiv och presenteras i fyra olika artiklar samt i olika kapitel i kappan. I en första fas tillfrågades personal på nordiska STCs att överväga i vilken utsträckning de tyckte att de visade olika aspekter av naturvetenskap. Resultaten visar att utställningarna tenderar att visa en oproblematisk och endimensionell bild av naturvetenskap som riskerar att endast fokusera nyttan av naturvetenskap. För att undersöka vilka faktorer och antaganden som påverkar hur naturvetenskap konstitueras, innefattade en andra fas intervjuer av 17 personer som arbetar med att planera och ta fram nya utställningar. Vidare omfattade en tredje fas av datainsamling deltagande observation och fokusgruppsintervju.



Resultaten indikerar att personalens förståelse kring ”the nature of science” eller naturvetenskapens natur inte har någon avgörande betydelse för vilka aspekter av naturvetenskap man väljer att visa. När det gäller personalens föreställningar om besökarnas lärande verkar detta kunna påverka deras val av naturvetenskapliga aspekter. Resultaten implicerar att personalen tenderar att använda endast en erfarenhetsbaserad ansats till besökarnas lärande och använder sig inte av kunskaper från fältet om lärande och informella miljöer eller naturvetenskaplig didaktik. Vidare visar resultaten att sponsorer kan påverka utställningars innehåll och utformning både direkt och indirekt. Det betyder att sponsorer kan ha explicita krav vad gäller innehållet, men också att personalen resonerar kring vad de tror att sponsorerna ska tycka när de planerar och skapar nya utställningar. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
opponent
  • Rennie, Leonie, Curtin University
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
keywords
learning in informal settings, science exhibitions, staff members, exhibition design, exhibition contents, museums, Science centres
pages
214 pages
defense location
Lärarutbildningen, Orkanen, Malmö
defense date
2008-04-11 10:15:00
ISBN
978-91-977100-1-5
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
2d0a9915-971e-48cc-bb46-c9d12f3fa787 (old id 1047532)
date added to LUP
2016-04-04 07:48:42
date last changed
2018-11-21 20:48:50
@phdthesis{2d0a9915-971e-48cc-bb46-c9d12f3fa787,
  abstract     = {{Within the science and technology centre (STC) movement there exists explicit aims and ambitions to enhance visitors’ interest in and knowledge about science. Meanwhile, several researches question the choice of the scientific content in exhibitions when arguing that a too unproblematic view of science commonly is presented. But what images and aspects of science are visitors actually confronted with at STCs? How do staff members at STCs consider the scientific content and how do they choose what aspects of science to display in exhibitions? What ideas about visitors’ learning do staff members express and what consequences follow these when planning and constructing new exhibitions? And in what ways do sponsors affect the content and the design of exhibitions? The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what assumptions and factors affect the final content and design of exhibitions. This question is elucidated and explored from different perspectives, presented in four articles as well as in the different sections in this thesis. In a first phase, staff members at Nordic STCs were asked to consider to what extent they believe they display different aspects of science. The results suggest that the most common image was "the usefulness of science" which tends to display science in an unproblematic and single-dimensioned way. In order to explore what underlying assumptions and factors which affect how science is constituted, a second phase involved interviewing17 staff members who worked with planning and constructing new exhibitions. Furthermore, a third phase of the data collection comprised participant observation and a focus group interview.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The results indicated that staff members’ ideas about the nature of science do not seem to have a decisive effect on what scientific aspects they choose to display in exhibitions. When it comes to staff members’ ideas about visitors’ learning, this seems to influence their choices of scientific aspects. The results imply that staff members tend to use only an experience-based approach to learning and do not consider what is known from the field of learning and informal settings and science education. Furthermore, the results suggest that sponsors may affect the final content and design of exhibitions both directly and indirectly. This means that sponsors may have explicit demands concerning the content, but also that staff members consider what they believe are views of the sponsors when planning and constructing new exhibitions.}},
  author       = {{Davidsson, Eva}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-977100-1-5}},
  keywords     = {{learning in informal settings; science exhibitions; staff members; exhibition design; exhibition contents; museums; Science centres}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  school       = {{Lund University}},
  title        = {{Different Images of Science - A study of how science is constituted in exhibitions}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/5152844/1047536.pdf}},
  year         = {{2008}},
}