Skip to main content
COMMUNITY:
Peer-reviewed article

Science is not for me. Visitors’ attitudes to learning in an Italian science centre

June 21, 2006 | Exhibitions
Following the example of the Exploratorium in San Francisco, interactive science museums are meant to be informal and enjoyable places where visitors, regardless of their age and background, are stimulated to practice their abilities to explore the world from a scientific point of view or to reacquire it in the case of adults who are far from science for professional reasons. Our study, which belongs to a relatively recent, but increasingly richer and complex tradition of researches on this topic, aims at contributing to answering the question whether, within the context of hands-on museums, this desired reacquisition of scientific exploration actually occurs for all visitors; more precisely, it aims at contributing to the discussion resulting from this question with reference to both possible answers and methods to find them. The study described below was carried out for a Science Communication Master thesis in Trieste (student: Monia Cardella, supervisor: Paola Rodari) and, therefore, it is inevitably limited: in fact, in order to deal with such a complex issue and to perform more detailed investigations on the field longer time and more resources would have been necessary. However, both methods used and results obtained from it, although provisional, are significant enough to deserve our attention.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Monia Cardella
    Author
    SISSA
  • Citation

    ISSN : 1824-2049
    Publication Name: Journal of Science Communication
    Volume: 5
    Number: 2
    Resource Type: Research Products
    Discipline: General STEM | Nature of science | Physics
    Audience: General Public | Museum/ISE Professionals
    Environment Type: Exhibitions | Museum and Science Center Exhibits

    If you would like to edit a resource, please email us to submit your request.