Negotiated agendas: Families in science and technology museums

International Journal of Technology Management

Volumn 25, Issue 5, 2003, Pages 477-489

  Moussouri, Theano ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Cultural itineraries; Family agendas; Hands on interactive science exhibitions; Personal and social context of the visit; Science communication; Socio cultural patterns; Visit plans

Indexed keywords

INFORMATION DISSEMINATION; MUSEUMS; PROFESSIONAL ASPECTS; SOCIAL ASPECTS; TECHNICAL PRESENTATIONS; TECHNOLOGY;

FAMILY AGENDAS; MUSEUM AGENDA; SCIENCE COMMUNICATION; SOCIOCULTURAL PATTERNS;

INFORMATION SERVICES;

EID: 0037238919     PISSN: 02675730     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2003.003114     Document Type: Article

References (25)

1. Bitgood, S.C. (1987) 'Understanding the public's attitudes towards and behavior in museums, parks, and zoos', Technical Report No. 87-30, Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama, Psychology Institute.
2. Blud, L. (1990) 'Social interaction and learning among family groups visiting a museum', Museum Management and Curatorship, No. 9, pp.43-51.
3. Diamond, J. (1886) 'The behaviour of family groups in science museums', Curator, Vol. 29, No. 2, pp.139-154.
4. McManus, P. (1988) 'Good companions - more on the social determination of learning-related behaviour in a science museum', International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 7, pp.37-44.
5. McManus, P. (1987) 'It's the company you keep: the social determination of learning-related behaviour in a science museum', International Journal of Museum Management and Curatorship, Vol. 6, pp.263-270.
6. Falk, J. and Dierking, L.D. (1991) 'The effect of visitation frequency on long-term recollection', in S. Bitgood, A. Benefield and D. Patterson (Eds.) Visitor Studies: Theory, Research and Practice, collected papers from the 1990 Visitor Studies Conference, Alabama, Center for Social Design, pp.94-103.
7. Falk, J., Moussouri, T. and Coulson, D. (1998) 'The effect of visitors' agendas on museum learning', Curator, Vol. 41, No. 2, pp.106-120.
8. Stevenson, J. (1991) 'The long-term impact of interactive exhibits', International Journal of Science Education, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp.521-531.
9. Dierking, L.D. and Falk, J. (1994) 'Family behaviour and learning in informal science settings: a review of the research', Science Education, Vol. 78, No. 1, pp.57-72.
10. Apart from Xperiment! Gallergy at the MSI in Manchester, another two hands-on museums were used as cases studies. These were Eureka! The Children's Museum in Halifax and the Archaeological Resource Centre (ARC) in York. Eighty-six family groups (128 adults and 126 children) were observed and then interviewed in all three museums. The findings presented in this paper are supported by finding in the other two cases studies. For more information see [11].
11. Moussouri, T. (1997) 'Family agendas and family learning in hands-on museums', Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, Leicester, University of Leicester.
12. Butler, S. (1992) Science and Technology Museums, Leicester, Leicester University Press.
13. Greene, P. and Porter, G. (1992) 'The Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester: the local and the historical context' in J. Durant (Ed.) Museum and the Public Understanding of Science, London, Science Museum, pp.94-96.
14. Originally, the Museum was part of the Department of History of Science and Technology, University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), during the late 1960s. The Museum was transferred to the Liverpool Road Station becoming the Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry. For more information on the renewal of the urban environment see [12].
15. Xperiment! Gallery was developed in 1988 in order to make connections with the everyday life experience of visitors; to illustrate ideas existing other exhibits; and to bring more 'science' into the museum. Visitors to Xperiment! are expected to learn scientific principles through hands-on experimentation, backed up by the Explainers.
16. Greene, P. (1989) 'Xperiment! The role of a hands-on gallery in the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester', in M. Quin (Ed.) Sharing Science: Issues in the Development of Interactive Science and Technology Centres, London, Nuffield Foundation/COPUS, pp.11-12.
17. Socio-economic groups are divided into two broader categories: non-manual professional people (A, B and C1) and manual workers (C2 and D). Group A includes very senior managers in business or commerce or top-level civil servants and make up 3% of the UK population. Group B consists of middle management executives in large organisations, with appropriate qualification; principal officers in local government and civil service; and top management or owners of small businesses, educational and service establishments (14% of the UK population). Group C1 includes junior management, owners of small establishments and all other in non-manual positions (26% of the UK population). Group C2 includes all skilled manual workers and those manual workers with responsibility for other people (25% of the UK population). Finally, group D includes all semi-skilled and un-skilled manual workers as well as apprentices and trainees to skilled workers (19% of the UK population).
18. Macdonald, S. (1995) 'Consuming science: public knowledge and the dispersed politics of reception among museum visitors', Media, Culture and Society, Vol. 17, pp.13-29.
19. During the visit by interacting physically with the exhibits and at the interview by using bodily movements to describe the exhibits.
20. Providing descriptions of actions and reactions often combined with the use of sound.
21. Making whole body movements while drawing and also depicting movement by using different techniques.
22. The vast majority of the children and 17 adults reconstructed the exhibits in terms of 'how they worked' while only two children and ten adults used abstract terms. Abstract descriptions refer to fundamental principles and/or material property. For example, understanding an electric current requires an understanding of the property of conductivity for materials, the role of a closed circuit configuration and the presence of potential difference caused by the electric source.
23. Levy-Leblond [24] commenting on current approaches to assessing the understanding of scientific principles by the public, argues that the ability to abstract is developed by a small elite and comes from higher education. This ability is often alien to many social groups, including experts and non-experts, and lack of this ability does not necessarily mean that they are ignorant. Instead he argues that, "people show a rather uncanny ability to learn what they need and not more". He claims that "instead of an ideal of absolute knolwedge, it is a reality of relative ignorance with which we have to deal".
24. Levy-Lebold, J. (1992) 'The Museum of Technology in context', in J. Bradburne and I. Janousek (Eds.) Planning Science Museums for the new Europe, Seminar Proceedings, Prague, Narodni Technicke Museum, UNESCO, pp.97-103.
25. A recent UK-wide study carried out by MORI on behalf of the Museums and Galleries Commission showed that people with masters degrees and PhDs, 44%, and 42% of those with bachelor degrees are regular science and technology museum visitors as compared to 31% of those with 'A' level or equivalent, 37% of those with GSCE, O level or CSE, and only 24% of those with no formal qualifications. Similarly, 46% of ABs are regular science and technology museum visitors compared to 27% DEs.