International Conference: The Integration of Science Centres with Natural History Museums for Imparting Informal Education

支持和维持公众的科学素养和参与是全世界非正规科学教育机构的重要目标。虽然有证据表明，科学中心和自然历史博物馆都对公众的科学素养和参与度产生了积极影响，但这两类机构之间存在显著差异。这次关于整合科学中心和自然历史博物馆以传授非正规教育的国际研讨会通过召集来自南亚和东南亚9个国家以及美国的主要科学中心和自然历史博物馆专业人员来探讨这些机构的资产、理念和战略的优势和局限性。除了科学中心和自然历史博物馆专业人士将获得的好处外，这一努力还将极大地促进美国和国际社会关于科学中心和自然历史博物馆以及其他类似博物馆的、科学丰富的非正式教育机构在这些地区和其他地区的未来的讨论。特别是，支持个人和文化的相关性一直是全球非正式科学教育组织的主要关注点，会议提出的建议将极大地促进这种对话，并有助于在非正式科学教育的学科领域取得进展。这一国际研讨会在马来西亚主办，由学习创新研究所的研究人员推动，召集了40名科学中心和自然历史博物馆专业人员，探讨科学中心和自然历史博物馆展览、项目、外展工作和网站等的负担和限制。会议旨在研究整合关键设计原则的机会、挑战和障碍，这些设计原则融合了最好的科学中心和自然历史博物馆，同时引导创建21世纪非正规科学教育机构的新形式。其他目标探讨如何使非正式科学教育机构在文化和个人方面与21世纪的公众更相关，并促进科学中心和自然历史博物馆专业人员之间的内部和国际合作。为此，所有与会者将致力于完成会议前的任务；积极筹备和参与会议；并协助传播项目结果。主要成果将是一份白皮书，介绍会议成果和利用这些机构的有效性和相关性的关键设计原则。白皮书将以硬拷贝和电子形式出版，并在所有参与国的自然历史博物馆和科学中心更广泛地传播。电子表格将通过创新学习研究所和促进非正规科学教育中心(CAISE)的网站托管和下载，并提供与所有参与机构的链接。该项目由美国国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室(OISE)和非正规STEM教育进展(AISL)计划共同支持。

Supporting and sustaining public science literacy and engagement are important goals of informal science education institutions worldwide. Although there is evidence that both science centers and natural history museums positively influence public science literacy and engagement, significant differences exist between these two types of institutions. This international workshop on Integration of Science Centers with Natural History Museums for Imparting Informal Education addresses this issue by convening key science center and natural history museum professionals from 9 countries in South and Southeast Asia, as well as the United States, to explore the strengths and limitations of the assets, philosophies and strategies of these institutions. Beyond the benefits science center and natural history museum professionals attending will receive, the effort will significantly contribute to the broader US and international conversation about the future of science centers and natural history museums, as well as other museum-like, science-rich informal education institutions, in these regions and beyond. In particular, supporting personal and cultural relevance has been a major focus of informal science education organizations globally, and the recommendations that emerge from the meeting will significantly contribute to this dialogue and help to make advances in the disciplinary field of informal science education.This international workshop, hosted in Malaysia and facilitated by researchers from the Institute for Learning Innovation, convenes 40 science center and natural history museum professionals to explore the affordances and constraints of science centers and natural history museum exhibitions, programs, outreach efforts, websites, etc. The conference is designed to examine the opportunities, challenges and barriers to integrating key design principles that blend the best of science centers and natural history museums, while guiding the creation of new forms of 21st century informal science education institutions. Additional goals explore how to make informal science education institutions in general more relevant to 21st century publics, both culturally and personally, as well as foster intra- and international collaborations between science center and natural history museum professionals. Toward these ends, all conference participants will commit to the completion of pre-conference assignments; active preparation and involvement at the meeting; and, assistance with the dissemination of project findings. The major deliverable will be a Whitepaper describing the outcomes of the meeting and the key design principles that leverage the effectiveness and relevance of each of these institutions. The Whitepaper will be produced in both hard copy and electronic form and more broadly disseminated throughout the natural history museum and science center fields in all participating countries. The electronic form will be hosted and available for download through the website of the Institute for Learning Innovation and the Center for Advancing Informal Science Education (CAISE) with links to all participating institutions. This project is supported jointly by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) and the Advances in Informal STEM Education (AISL) program.