Planning Activity: Using contemporary evolution to teach about the nature of science to underserved audiences

华盛顿州立大学、普吉特海湾大学、华盛顿大学、三个博物馆组成的联盟以及一个帮助西北地区家庭学校教师的全州特许学校系统正在合作开发新的战略，通过互动式博物馆展览教育和告知公众进化论。将通过重点小组讨论和调查收集背景资料和基线知识。将从家庭-学校环境中的家长和学生以及信仰团体的教师那里寻求信息。规划工作是实际展览开发的前奏，需要告知PI如何最有效地帮助公众最好地学习进化的关键概念。提供基线信息和概念知识的同一组将被用来以迭代的方式判断博物馆的发展。这项奋进的第二个目标是促进区域博物馆之间的合作。该项目的参与者将是来自西雅图伯克自然历史和文化博物馆、华盛顿普尔曼康纳博物馆、华盛顿塔科马斯莱特自然历史博物馆、内布拉斯加州博物馆和爱达荷州远程教育学院的工作人员。 一个咨询委员会包括进化科学家，科学哲学家和神职人员。该项目将从独特的家庭-学校和信仰为基础的社区获得关于进化的基线观点，描述当代进化故事的互动展览，比较这些参与团体是否在展览发展中提供有用的策略，以及当代的内容展览是否比更传统的例子更好地解释了进化。

Washington State University, the University of Puget Sound, the University of Washington, a consortium of three museums, and a state-wide charter school system that assists home-school teachers in the Northwest are collaborating to develop new strategies to educate and inform the public about evolution through interactive museum exhibits. Background information and baseline knowledge will be garnered through focus group discussions and surveys. Information will be sought from parents and students in home-school environments and teachers of faith-based groups. The planning work is the prelude to development of the actual exhibition and is needed to inform the PIs how most effectively to help the public best learn key concepts of evolution. The same groups that supply the baseline information and knowledge of concepts will be used to judge museum development in an iterative manner.A second objective in this endeavor is to catalyze collaboration among regional museums. Participants in the project will be staff from the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle, Conner Museum in Pullman, Washington, Slater Museum of Natural History in Tacoma, Washington, Nebraska State Museum, and Idaho Distance Education Academy. An advisory committee includes evolutionary scientists, philosophers of science, and members of the clergy.This project will derive baseline perspectives on evolution from the unique home-school and faith-based communities, piloted interactive exhibits describing contemporary evolution stories, comparative knowledge on whether these participating groups provide useful strategies in the exhibit development, and whether contemporary content exhibits are better at explanations of evolution than the more traditional examples.