It’s easy to say that science literacy is an integral part of our continued growth and society in the United States (and in most developed countries such as Canada, the UK, France, and Japan). A great deal of time, effort, and money is being poured into the public school system in an effort to increase science learning and understanding in children. This science literacy is important, because we are surrounded by science (and its close relatives technology, engineering, and mathematics) on a daily basis from the most mundane activities (i.e. making a phone call) to extraordinary occurrences (i.e. the NASA space program shuttle launches), to life saving research (i.e. breast cancer research). Many important science endeavors, such as the space program and medical research, rely on funding from policy makers who are not themselves scientists, so making sure that people (in general) have a solid understanding of science, both basic principles and modern applications, becomes even more important. However, the average college educated individual only spends about 3% of their lives in formal education (Falk & Dierking, 2002). One way adults out of formal education use science centers/museums is to learn about science issues (Rennie & Williams, 2006).
Science centers and museums (collectively referred to here as “museums”) can provide excellent space and resources for the presentation of concepts to a highly variable audience. Science centers work to enhance visitor understanding/awareness of science (Rennie & Williams, 2002). Museums are popular destinations for families during vacations and other breaks, and according to the sign outside of the Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, OR, people spend more money annually visiting museums than on sporting events. These institutions are an excellent venue for engaging visitors in basic scientific concepts and applications, but difficult and/or controversial science can be more problematic. Science centers provide space for providing information on controversial/difficult science concepts in an impartial manner (Pedretti, 2004; Spiegel et al., 2006).
Evolution is one such concept, being both controversial and difficult. This problem is especially prevalent in the United States, where “[in] spite of the nearly universal agreement by scientists on the fundamental principles underlying evolution, between one-third and one-half of Americans think that the theory of evolution is not well-supported by evidence” (Spiegel, Evans, Gram, & Diamond, 2006). Despite the difficulty and controversy, however, there are a growing number of museums that are including exhibits and exhibitions on evolution, or some aspect of evolution. The National Museum of Natural History opened the Hall of Human Origins in early 2010 (http://humanorigins.si.edu/), the Texas Natural Museum’s fourth floor is given over entirely to evolution on various scales, from HIV to whales and humans (http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/exhibits/hall-4/), the San Diego Natural History Museum had a temporary exhibit dedicated to Darwin and evolution from November 2009 to February 2010 (http://www.sdnhm.org/exhibits/darwin/), and the University of Nebraska State Museum is running a partnership with several other museums to promote their Explore Evolution program (http://explore-evolution.unl.edu/partners.html) just to name a few.
My research will focus on institutions such as these, and will use a multiple case study approach to better understand how museums develop exhibitions on controversial/difficult science, how visitors engage with these types of exhibitions, and what visitors take away from their experience. This will hopefully help more institutions develop engaging and useful exhibits on science issues that are important to our national growth and well-being.
Works Cited
Falk, J. H., & Dierking, L. D. (2002). Lessons without limit: How free-choice learning is transforming education. Altamira Pr.
Pedretti, E. G. (2004). Perspectives on learning through research on critical issues-based science center exhibitions. Science Education, 88(S1), S34–S47.
Rennie, L. J., & Williams, G. F. (2002). Science centers and scientific literacy: Promoting a relationship with science. Science education, 86(5), 706–726.
Rennie, L. J., & Williams, G. F. (2006). Adults’ Learning about Science in Free-choice Settings. International journal of science education, 28(8), 871–893.
Spiegel, A. N., Evans, M. E., Gram, W., & Diamond, J. (2006). Museum visitors’ understanding of evolution. Museums & Social Issues, 1(1), 69–86.
