Doctoral Dissertation Research: Rain Forest Exhibits and Public Understanding of Science

9320248 Lewenstein为了让民主国家的公民对科学和技术政策做出明智的决定，他们必须对科学和技术的工作方式有一定的基本了解。 提供这样的理解是国家科学基金会的任务之一。 本论文旨在研究科学家试图向公众传达其研究成果的一种方式：即在科学和自然历史博物馆中的展览。 Steven Allison在Lewenstein博士的指导下，正在探索科学研究与自然知识的公共表达之间的关系。 他正在调查四个不同博物馆的科学家如何试图向公众传达他们对热带雨林生态的理解。 艾利森先生研究的主要案例在史密森尼博物馆。 他正在跟踪一个热带雨林展览，该展览始于1960年，计划建造一个植物学大厅，在20世纪60年代后期转变为生态系统展览厅，并最终于1974年建成，作为环保运动的临时展览。 他的初步研究显示，“生态”定义的改变、展览发展过程的专业化、环保运动的兴起，都塑造了展览形式和内容的变化。 大英博物馆（自然历史）的两个展览提供了与史密森尼案例进行比较的机会。 1961年的植物学大厅提供了一个例子，比史密森尼植物学家计划为他们的大厅更多的教学展品，而1989年的展览“生态学”部署了视觉和口头演示，这与20世纪70年代史密森尼的最后一次展览非常相似。 他还对纽约的美国自然历史博物馆、丹佛自然历史博物馆和1992年国家动物园的“亚马逊”展览进行了不太详细的比较。 这些个案承诺作出重大贡献，不仅对自然历史研究的历史，但更广泛的问题，公众对科学的理解。 历史和当代展览之间的相似之处提出了关于博物馆在科学，特别是环境问题的公众传播中的作用的问题。 ***

9320248 Lewenstein In order for citizens in a democracy to make informed decisions about science and technology policy, they must have a certain basic understanding of how science and technology work. Providing such an understanding is one of the tasks given to the National Science Foundation. This dissertation aims to study one way that scientists attempt to communicate to the general public the results of their research: i.e. exhibits in science and natural history museums. Steven Allison, under the direction of Dr. Lewenstein, is exploring the relationships between scientific research and the public representation of natural knowledge. He is investigating how scientists in four different museums have attempted to communicate to the public their understanding of the ecology of tropical rain forests. The major case for Mr. Allison's study is at the Smithsonian. He is following how a tropical rain forest exhibit which began in 1960 with plans for a Hall of Botany was transformed in the late 1960's into an exhibit hall on ecosystems and was finally built in 1974 as a temporary exhibit motivated by the environmental movement. His preliminary research has shown that changes in the definition of "ecology," professionalization of the exhibit development process, and the rise of the environmentalist movement all shaped the changing form and content of the exhibit. Two exhibitions at the British Museum (Natural History) offer the opportunity for comparison to the Smithsonian case. The 1961 botany hall provides an example of more didactic exhibits than the Smithsonian botanists planned for their hall, while the 1989 exhibition "Ecology" deploys visual and verbal presentations that are very similar to the final Smithsonian exhibit in the 1970's. He is also making less detailed comparisons of exhibition practice at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Denver Museum of Natural History, and the 1992 "Amazonia" exhibit at the National Zoologica l Park. These individual cases promise to make significant contributions not only to the history of natural history research but to broader issues of concern for public understanding of science. Parallels between the historical and contemporary exhibitions raise questions about the role of museums in the public communication of science, especially environmental issues. ***