Natural history institutions are increasingly called on to play a critical role in preparing citizens for an uncertain future and face a series of ‘wicked problems’.

This learning research agenda is the result of six seminars held in 2014 and 2015 at the Natural History Museum (London, UK). Download the agenda below.

From the introduction:

"Although one might think about natural history institutions as being mostly about the past, they are increasingly called on to play a critical role in preparing citizens for an uncertain future. We face a series of ‘wicked problems’ ii such as climate change, biodiversity loss and food security. Helping citizens to understand and respond to these threats is one of the most important challenges for public education in the twenty-first century. Rising to this challenge requires that natural history institutions and learning researchers work together to deepen and extend our knowledge of how best to support visitor learning."

"The Natural History Museum, London, King’s College London and the University of Bristol, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, have facilitated a series of six seminars, over two years, to build a collaborative and theoretically informed learning research agenda for natural history museums. Museum learning practitioners and academics from a number of disciplines across the UK have come together to examine the complexities of learning in rich natural history environments."