perform: guidelines for including values related to science …€¦ · knowledge motivation, the...

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PERFORM:Guidelinesforincludingvaluesrelatedtoscienceusingperformance-basedsciencecommunicationinmuseums

In the PERFORM project, we have designed a methodology to include students'concerns, perceptions and interests about STEM careers and values related toscience (ethics, critical thinking, gender issues and societal challenges) inperformance-based activities. We designed a toolkit to implement thismethodologythatcanbeconsultedhere.We adapted thismethodology to be used in the context of a science museum.Throughareviewoftheactivitiescurrentlyconductedatthesciencemuseum,aswell as a knowledge transfer workshop and a training with science museumfacilitatorsandmembersofthePERFORMteam,wedevelopedaseriesofstepstotransmitanddisseminatenotonlyscientificcontent,butalsothevaluesrelatedtoscience in science museums (i.e. i.e. How Science is related with EU - SocietalChallenges, Critical Thinking in STEM, and Ethical issues and gender barriers inSTEM),usingadrama-basedsciencecommunicationapproach.If you want to convert your science museum activities into drama-basedactivitiesaddressingsomeofthekeyvaluesrelatedtoscience(i.e.HowScienceisrelatedwithEU-SocietalChallenges,CriticalThinkinginSTEM,andEthicalissuesandgenderbarriersinSTEM),followthenextsteps.Let’sPERFORM!1.- ScienceMuseums for new societal challenges: reframing the scientificcontent.Museumsarespacesthatcanpromotefree,criticalandcomplexthinkingrequiredformodern citizens; they can stimulate new ideas aswell as intellectual, criticaland ethical enrichment. A good opportunity is to “reframe” and redefine thecontent of some of the activities carried out in Science Museums to match realcontextualperspectiveinviewofpresentandfuturesocietalchallengesandethicalcontroversiesofscientificandtechnologicaldevelopments.Museumshavetheroletoprovideafundamentalcontributiontopublicknowledgeandculture.Thus,theycan be powerful resources to raise awareness and address solutions for societalchallenges by their activities, topics and relationship with communities and thepublic. Surprisingly,most activities reviewed for thepurposeof these guidelinesare not yet thinking explicitly about societal challenges and/or ethical issuesneither promoting a critical thinking. The scientific content of these activitiesshouldaddresshowtomeettheexpectationsoffast-changingsocieties.Here, we propose amethodology to design activities to be developed at sciencemuseumsexhibitionsthatnotonlyincludeSTEMcontent,butalsovaluesrelatedtoscience.

Deliverable2.3GuidelinesforPERSEIAadaptationtosciencemuseums 2

PERFORM · Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme · GA 665826

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1) Thefirststepistoselectanactivitythatisrunninginasciencemuseum.Itcanbeahands-onactivity,asciencetalkoraguidedtour.

2) Onceyouhaveselectedtheactivity,thinkaboutthecorescientificconceptsthatyouaimtodeliver.Itmaybeusefultoanswerthefollowingquestioninjustonesentence:whatwillmyaudiencelearntoday?

3) Nowit’stimetoincludesciencerelatedvalues(ethics,societalchallenges,genderissues,criticalthinking) inyouractivity.Thoseshouldberelatedtoyour scientific concepts.Asamuseum facilitator, youcanplaya fundamentalrole in in drawing the attention ofmuseum visitors to these science relatedvaluesbyproposingcontroversialtopics,inquiringquestions,etc.Hereisalistofideas:

-Includeinyourspeechadiscussionaboutsomeofthesesocietalchallengesü Health,demographicchangeandwellbeingü Climateaction,andenvironmentü Securesocieties,freedomandsecurity

-Includeinyourspeechadiscussionaboutethicalissuesintheresearchprocess

ü Good/badconsiderationsaboutgeneticallymodifiedorganism(GMO),ArtificialIntelligence(AI),Robots,medicaladvances(cloning,geneticmodificationsinhumans)

ü Discoveriesthatimprove/impairtheenvironmentalqualityü Socialinclusive/exclusivenewtechnologies

-Introduceinyourspeechnewideasandrolemodelsthatcanbreaksciencerelatedstereotypesrelatedtogender

ü Breaksocialrelatedstereotypesaboutscientists:highlightpositiveconsiderationsofscienceandscientists,likeexternalrecognition,knowledgemotivation,the“powerofknowledge”…

ü Breakgenderrelatedstereotypesaboutscientists:Givespecialmentiontofemalephysicists,engineersandcomputationalscientists.

-Promotecriticalthinkingamongyouraudienceü Includecontroversialscientificclaimsandpromotedebatesanddiscussions

onhowthescienceknowledgeisgenerating,tacklingimportantconceptsas:

o Whoismakingtheclaim?o Whatisthescientificevidencefortheclaim?o Howdoestheclaimfitwithestablishedscience?



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2.-Promoteparticipation:listentowhatvisitorshavetosay.Sciencemuseums and science centres have a long history of interactive displaytechniques,whichmakesthemnaturallysuitedtoencouragevisitorparticipation.ThePERFORMprojectwantstogobeyondthe"facilitatorasexpert"-approach,inwhichthevisitorisonlyfocusedonfollowingprotocols,toa“facilitatorlistenstoopinionsandcontributions fromaudiences”-approach, inwhichvisitorscanhaveanopinionaboutthepresentandfutureofSTEM&Societalchallenges.Nevertheless, we have identified twomain barriers for visitors’ participation insciencedialogueatsciencemuseums:Barrier1:Visitors’expectations:Somevisitorsshyawayfromcontroversialtopicsthatmight be perceived as too complicated.This can be the casewith groups ofteenagers.Toovercomethisbarrier,weproposetopromoteparticipationwithactivitiesthatincludegamesorhands-onactivities.Someexamplesare:Cardgames.-Cardscanfeaturedifferentscientistsprofiles.Thefacilitatorcanasktheaudiencetoplaytheroleofa“Scientist”toexplainhow,withhis/herskills,heorshecancontributetoaddresssomesocietalchallenges(someexamplesinannex1).Cardscanalsofeatureorganismscontainedwithinthemuseum.Audiencecanplay the interactions between them.Whatwill happen if one of these organismsdisappears?Performing activities.- Visitors can play different roles and discuss certainscientifictopics.Forexample,inaClimateChangeAlliance,halfofthevisitorscouldplaytheroleofbusinessmenoftheautomobileindustryandtheotherhalftheroleofindigenouspopulationsinSouthAmerica.Breaking News.- Present the visitors opposite pieces of science news about achosentopic.Trytohavelivenews.Askyouraudience:Whichoneismorereliable?Why?What clues does themuseum give us to say so? It can be a good start todiscusssciencereliability.-Barrier2:Theatmosphereofasciencemuseum:Sciencemuseumsnormallyhaveabusyandnoisyatmosphereandcanbedifficulttofindquietspacestopromoteself-reflectionandparticipationindialogues.Toovercomethisbarrier,it’simportanttokeepinmindthequietspaceswithinthesciencemuseum.Visit themwithyouraudienceandpromotedialoguedeliveringtheactivitiesproposedintheprevioussection.



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3.-Integratedrama-basedactivity.ForthePERFORMproject,oneofthekeyideasistoengagevisitorsbygeneratingadrama-based story that catches their attentionwhiledeveloping an activity.Thestorywillallowsciencemuseumfacilitatorstomaintaintheconceptualcoherenceandtoconnectwiththeyoungaudience,humanisingthescientifictopicsexplainedandtacklethevaluesrelatedtoscience.Togenerateastory,followthesesimplesteps:

• Look for an introduction that catches the attention of the visitors. It isimportant to take into account who they are (visitors can be students,families, kids…), using something related to their daily life that they caneasilyidentifywith.

• Combine the scientific explanations in the standswith emotional contentembeddedinthestory.Itwillbeusefultotellstoriesaboutrealscientists,fictional characters or maybe stories that happened directly tomuseumfacilitators. Talk and reflect about important topics and values, such associetalchallenges,stereotypesinSTEM,genderbarriersinscience,ethicalissuesintheresearchprocessorSTEMcareersjobopportunities.Thiswillcatch the attention of the visitors by connecting with issues they cancommenton.

• Allowthevisitorstoactivelyparticipateinthestory.Werecommendaskingquestions that they can easily answer, not related to science content butrelatedtoemotions.Someexamplesare:Haveyouevertriedtohaveabathinicedwater?Wouldyouliketofly?Whatwouldyoudoinmyplace?

Practicalexample

Exhibitionname:Fossils(permanentexhibitionatCosmoCaixa)

Stand

ScienceContent

Fossils can tell usabout…feedinghabits

…locomotion. …naturaldisasters.---evolution.



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Sciencecontent(keyconceptstobedelivered).Bystudyingthefossilrecordwecantellhowlifewasinthepastandusethisinformationtofindoutaboutancientenvironments.

Possiblediscussionaboutsciencerelatedvalues.Societalchallenges:Climaticchangesarerecordedinfossils.Doyouthinktheclimatechangenowadaysisalsoduetonaturalconditions?How do you think fossils in the future can register our currentclimatechange?Stereotypes:Talkaboutrealscientistswhoworkreconstructing thehistoryoffossils.Thinkaboutwomen(ex.NievesLópezMartínez).

Possiblestory.

What can an old photograph tell us? Show a photograph of yourgrandmother:

or

Whatkindof informationcanyouextract fromthisphoto?(clothes,technology,culturalcontext,behaviour…)Comparefossilswiththeoldphotosofyourgrandparents.Fossilsaremore ancient photographs, imprinted in sediments, instead ofphotograph paper.What kind of information can we extract fromfossils?(feedinghabits,wayofmovement,naturaldisastersetc.)

4.-Rehearse,performandrehearseagain.GenerationofaPERSEIAisatrialanderrorprocess.Allowyoutocreate,toexplore,andtomakemistakes.CreateyourPERSEIAasalivingprocess.Rehearsefirstwith



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your sciencemuseumcolleagues, andwhenyoudeliver it to realvisitors, donothesitate to change and update the story, according to their reactions. This is thebestwaytogetanauthenticPERSEIA.LET’[email protected]

AUTHORS

OriolMarimon,HelenaGonzález.Designer:AdriánGarcía.

TheBigVanTheory(BigVanScience)

OCTOBER2018ThisresourceislicensedunderaCreativeCommonsBYPERFORMlicenc



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ANNEX11.-Examplesofcardstobeusedtopromoteparticipation

perform: guidelines for including values related to science …€¦ · knowledge motivation, the...

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