Explainers & visitor services
Stories are a powerful tool, but exhibitions with firm storylines raise questions about visitors’ freedom to explore content on their own. Should science exhibitions suggest paths or simply let visitors create their own journeys? What motivates...
Exhibit development
Do visitors learn in science museum exhibitions? Evaluation is one way of determining whether an exhibition or program meets its goals, however, a research approach is necessary to gauge if, and how much, learning takes place. When we observe...
Networking & Partnerships
The Lisbon Treaty commits the EU to the “development of a special relationship with neighbouring countries aiming to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness, founded on the values of the Union and characterised by close and...
Science in Society
When raising important social issues in science centres and museums there is often a question about how far we can or should go in presenting an issue, stating an opinion and asking visitors to take an active role. This approach is viewed by some...
Science in Society
The world of health bombards us with information, experts, opinions, fashions and fads. This panel will present three experimental projects that have engaged patients and young people by offering them the freedom to question and the freedom to...
Explainers & visitor services
Science centres and museums are not only places for celebrating scientific achievements and displaying science. They are also an ideal locations to engage the public with real scientific research. Our institutions are capable of generating their...
Education
Training teachers at the science centre or at the science museum is not always easy. Teachers are one of the main protagonists in schools (the other one are the students!) and they are the ‘specialists’ of teaching. Furthermore, very often they...
Science in Society
How can science centres and museums use current events in scientific research to engage their visitors? Should they be a conduit for research research institutions to reach their public? And how can science centres encourage visitors to...
Education
Recent studies have shown that children should play outside in natural environments to ensure healthy physical and emotional development. Science centres and museums are designing exhibit spaces using real and artificial representations of nature...
Education
The main goal of science centres is to captivate a broad audience through science and technology within the confines of the centre. However, this in itself is not enough to sustain relevance in the long run. More and more science centres are...
Science & Arts
Cultures of innovation and creativity call for their citizens to participate, collaborate, network, and experiment. The debate about freedom and collective creativity is controversial and touches many cultural and social issues. In what way is...
Human Resources
Explainers – also known as mediators, museum educators, science communicators, edutainers, pilots, and others – have a strategic role in science centres and museums as facilitators of visitors’ learning, and more recently, as mediators in the...