Building a Collaborative Learning Research Agenda for Natural History Museums in the UK

为英国自然历史博物馆构建协作学习研究议程是由两个国际知名的英国机构——伦敦国王学院（KCL）和伦敦自然历史博物馆（NHM）组织的一系列工作研讨会。该系列研讨会汇集了博物馆教育从业者、杰出学者和资助机构，以解开自然历史环境中学习的复杂性，并制定一项研究议程，以解决英国自然历史博物馆中学习的关键问题。研讨会的目的是制定和传播合作学习研究议程，以告知自然历史博物馆如何最好地利用其资源支持21世纪的学习。在这些地方学习的研究和理论都不足，阻碍了该领域解决政策和更广泛的影响问题的能力。研究议程一旦得到解决，将有助于改变自然历史博物馆为其观众所做的事情。我们将明确和优先考虑自然历史博物馆最需要解决的主题和问题，以服务于不同的观众。这些主题可能包括：非正式科学学习的现状；促进公众与博物馆教育工作者、科学家和策展人之间互动的模式；学习对象和真实性在学习计划中的作用；受众调研，更全面地了解受众及其需求；探索、学习和社会参与的新技术。美国的博物馆和学者已经开始围绕这些主题提出问题，但在英国，这方面的研究仍然不足。这个系列研讨会是对英国自然历史对象学习的紧急问题的及时回应。在资助期间，我们将在NHM举办六次研讨会。参加人数将限制在30-35人，以促进高质量、深入的参与。与会者将包括艺术、人文和学习研究人员以及博物馆和教育专业人士。一个咨询小组还将在每次研讨会之后举行会议，以支持将讨论内容转化为紧急研究议程，并帮助制定后续的研讨会。制定这一研究议程对学者和博物馆从业者都具有战略意义，因为它探索和扩展了相关的理论观点，这些理论观点有可能改变我们对博物馆部门学习的理解。与以前的会议相比，该系列将来自更广泛的学术和非正式环境的个人聚集在一起，从而为探索理论观点提供了富有成效的基础，以支持发展中的研究议程。来自社会学和人类学等领域的观点将为研究议程本身的发展提供信息，并将强调非常适合探索潜在研究问题的新方法。该系列和后续的研究将有利于博物馆从业者和对非正式环境和博物馆学以及社会学和人类学等相关领域的学习感兴趣的学者。凭借其多种理论和方法的观点，这些研讨会最终产生的研究将有助于该领域回答有关在博物馆学习自然历史收藏和其他博物馆的问题。*“博物馆”一词用于指自然历史收藏的场所（主要是自然历史博物馆，但不完全是自然历史博物馆），但也可以包括动物园，作为保存自然历史教育标本的机构。

Building a Collaborative Learning Research Agenda for Natural History Museums in the UK is a series of working seminars organised by two internationally significant UK institutions - King's College London (KCL) and the Natural History Museum, London (NHM). The seminar series brings together museum education practitioners, pre-eminent academics and funding bodies to unpick the complexities of learning in natural history environments and to develop a research agenda that will address critical questions around learning in natural history museums* within the UK.The purpose of the seminars is to develop and disseminate a collaborative learning research agenda to inform how natural history museums can best use their resources to support learning in the 21st century. Learning in such places has been under-researched and under-theorised, hampering the field's ability to address policy and broader concerns around impact. When addressed, the research agenda will help transform what natural history museums do for and with their audiences. We will articulate and prioritise topics and issues that natural history museums most need to address in order to serve diverse audiences. These topics are likely to include:The current landscape of informal science learning;Models for facilitation/interaction between the public and museum educators, scientists and curators;Learning from objects and the role of authenticity in learning programmes;Audience research to more fully understand audiences and their needs; and,New technologies for discovery, learning and social engagement.Museums and academics in the US have begun to address questions surrounding these topics but they remain under-researched in the UK. This seminar series is a timely response to urgent issues surrounding learning from natural history objects in the UK context. We will hold six seminars at the NHM during the course of the grant. Numbers will be limited to 30-35 participants in order to facilitate high quality, in-depth participation. Attendees will include arts, humanities and learning researchers as well as museum and educational professionals. An advisory group will also meet following each seminar to support translation of the discussions into the emergent research agenda, as well as to help develop subsequent seminars. Developing this research agenda is of strategic benefit both to academics and to museum practitioners, as it explores and extends relevant theoretical perspectives that have the potential to transform our understanding of learning within the museum sector. The series brings together individuals from a wider range of both academic and informal settings than have previous meetings, thus providing fruitful ground for the exploration of theoretical perspectives to underpin the developing research agenda. Perspectives from fields such as sociology and anthropology will inform the development of the research agenda itself and will highlight new methodologies well suited to exploring potential research questions.The series and subsequent research will benefit museum practitioners and academics with interests in learning in informal settings and museology, as well as in related fields, such as sociology and anthropology. With its multiple theoretical and methodological perspectives, the research ultimately emerging from these seminars will help the field respond to questions about learning in museums with natural history collections and in other museums as well.*The term 'museum' is used to refer to settings with natural history collections (primarily, but not exclusively natural history museums), but can incorporate zoos, as institutions that hold specimens for natural history education.