Beauty in the foreground,science behind the scenes’: families’ views of science learning in a botanic garden

Botanic gardens, as well as being widely acknowledged as beautiful places, are often scientific organisations that aim to engage visitors, including families, in science learning. Yet, the extent to which families view them as settings for science learning is largely unexplored. Drawing upon social constructivist perspectives, this paper investigates families’ views of science learning at Kew Gardens. Kew is one of the largest botanic gardens worldwide and an internationally renowned scientific organisation located in London, UK. Twenty-four families took part in the study, which involved interviews and accompanied visits. Findings indicate that all families referred primarily to the aesthetic beauty of Kew, while its function as a site for science learning was less well acknowledged. However, interpretation helped families establish what constitutes science at Kew, and linked science to the beautiful plants, which offered avenues for families to appreciate science learning. The findings provide implications for developing interpretive provision in botanic gardens.     

浅析自然博物馆与高校及科研院所的合作——以天津自然博物馆为例

自然博物馆与高校及科研院所进行合作是大势所趋。文章以天津自然博物馆为例,分析了自然博物馆与高校及科研院所进行合作的必要性和基础,指出自然博物馆与高校及科研院所进行合作是社会发展的客观需要,有着广泛的基础;双方应主要致力于科研、科普展示教育、数字信息化以及图书信息资料等方面进行合作;同时就天津自然博物馆目前的情况,提出了建立联合中心、聘请专家定向指导、聘为学术委员会馆外专家以及参与高校教学与社会实践等合作模式。     

Hope for the Future? Early Exposure to the Arts and Adult Visits to Art Museums

This paper employs logistic regression to explore the relationship between art lessons and art history and appreciation classes as a child with adult visits to art museums. The regression-based technique allows for control of other influences such as demographic indicators of tastes and preferences. The results are generally consistent with the hypothesis that early exposure results in later participation, although exposure seems to have strongest influence in the pre- and post-teen years.     

Museums in the U.K.: Some Evidence on Scale and Activities

This paper reviews the availability and quality of statistical evidence on the structure, visitor patterns and funding of the museum sector in the U.K. The policy context is discussed and the implications for cultural economics are reviewed.     

Sources of “value for money” for museum visitors: Some survey evidence

This paper provides an economic analysis of the survey responses of visitors who were asked to make a value for money (VFM) assessment of a museum visit. The paper first interprets the notion of VFM from an economic perspective, and distinguishes between evaluations made before and after a visit. It then analyses the survey responses of visitors to a major museum in the North of England, using appropriate statistical techniques to identify the economic determinants of VFM rankings by visitors. The final section discusses the implications of the methodology and results for museum management, and for the design of museum visitor surveys.The authors are grateful to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation which financed the visitor survey on which this study is based, to staff at Beamish Museum who made the survey possible, and to their colleague, Dr Barry Thomas, who was co-director on the original project. Valuable comments have been received from colleagues at Durham and from two anonymous referees. The authors however alone responsible for any errors and omissions.     

场馆教育的前沿问题与热点探讨——访英属哥伦比亚大学大卫·安德森教授

场馆教育内涵与功能的教育争议主要源于历史发展的民主进程和场馆教育学科视角的差异。通过反思教育与学习的本质演进,场馆应当更具包容性,并且与现代教学理论相关联。场馆与学校、家庭等主体的关系也应当服务于后者动态和变化的需要。在数字化时代,场馆教育要正视技术升级带来的积极影响和挑战,科学地让技术服务于教育。在此过程中,中国应当转变借鉴模式,基于本土环境探索适合自己的场馆教育。当展望未来时,我们会发现场馆教育正在向学术化、学科化和理论化的方向发展。     

科技藏品的多维信息与多维传播——以“解密编钟”系列教育活动为例

博物馆越来越重视“教育”目标,关注藏品的“非物质遗产”。科技藏品所承载的知识、过程、方法、态度、价值观以及社会环境等多维信息,是其教育价值所在,是设置和实现其多维教育目标的依据,需要多维的传播和教育形式来实现。中国科技馆基于战国编钟仿制品,开展“解密编钟”系列主题教育活动,通过多维设计,带领观众探索编钟的乐理发声、青铜冶铸、纹饰内涵、历史文化、社会环境等多维信息,为科技藏品的传播提供了新思路。本教育活动采用基于设计的研究方法开发教案,经过实施与评估,证明了多维传播与教育设计框架和案例的有效性。     

边界与桥梁:博物馆与全球文化和谐

数十年来,在政治、经济和技术变化支撑下,全球沟通联络越来越多,很多国家重新开始加强边界和国家认同,以便应对真实的和网络的恐怖主义和大规模移民,这些国家变得愈发保守和多疑。博物馆作为建立边界和认同的机构,对预防这种倾向非常关键,通过文化活动和国际展览维持国家之间的良好关系,建立对话平台和沟通的桥梁,促进共同理解,致力于“全球文化和谐”,从不同角度思考文化对于我们理解世界的作用。它涉及最终扫除隐藏于学院学科和艺术、现代化和博物馆等概念中的西方文化帝国主义最后残余。全球性未来关乎对文化与文化产品的本土化理解,关乎对全球文化多元性的更新性欣赏。     

When all You've Got is “The Real Thing”: Museums and Authenticity in the Networked World

As networked informatio proliferates, museums are finding that their role as the sole interpreter of their collections is being challenged. Rather than responding defesively, museums need to work together to improve access to their collections, and to differentiate their sites from the private museums created by enthusiasts. Cross-linking at all levels will enable the creation of a trusted cultural heritage web, that enables users to follow themes and associations, free of the boundaries of historical collecting patterns. In this way, museums can offer a unique interpretation of authentic material culture to a generation comfortable in an immaterial world.     

Known unknowns: research on Irish museums since 2008

ABSTRACT

In 2015–2016 the first comprehensive survey of museums in Ireland in a decade – the Irish Museums Survey 2016 – was undertaken as a collaborative project between the School of Art History and Cultural Policy, University College Dublin, and the Irish Museums Association. Since the Republic’s economic collapse in 2008 and the recession, museums have weathered significant shifts in governance and board structures, and drastic cutbacks that have affected programmes, staffing, and provision across the island. Yet, until recently we have not had an accurate picture of the “state of play” for Irish museums, hampering efforts to prioritise actions for museum support organisations, and preventing individual institutions to develop their own plans of advancement benchmarked against national data. Consequently, there has been a significant knowledge gap concerning the current state of Irish museums, stretching beyond the anecdotal, and bridging the border between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. This essay addresses the major findings of the Irish Museums Survey 2016, contextualised within the landscape of recent research on museums in the Republic and the North, and existing research infrastructures. In reviewing forms of museum provision and policy in both jurisdictions, it argues that the haphazard nature of data collection and the worrying findings of some aspects of the 2016 Survey require the enhancement of an all-island research culture, audit of national collections and institutions, and development of improved strategic planning for museums.