Emily Dawson

Towards A Contextual Turn in Visitor Studies: Evaluating Visitor Segmentation and Identity-Related Motivations

ABSTRACT This article assesses the use of audience segmentation in visitor studies by analyzing its application in the identity model of visitors proposed by J. Falk (2009) and J. Falk et al. (2007). As a leading example of visitor segmentation, the authors examine this models application in a specific case at U.S. zoos to elaborate some of its limitations. Conventional short-term, episodic approaches to visitor research should be challenged and supplemented by a more contextually sensitive framework. The authors contend that segmentation approaches, and in particular Falks theorization and operationalization of an identity model of visitors, are problematic. They argue for a contextual turn that places visitors’ experiences within a holistic and long-term framework of individual life circumstances, relationships, and trajectories. Research and theory from education, sociology, and cultural studies extends existing visitor research approaches by acknowledging complexity, change over time, and the interwoven and developmental nature of sociocultural variables influencing visitors’ appropriation of new ideas and experiences.

“Not Designed for Us”: How Science Museums and Science Centers Socially Exclude Low‐Income, Minority Ethnic Groups

This paper explores how people from low-income, minority ethnic groups perceive and experience exclusion from informal science education (ISE) institutions, such as museums and science centers. Drawing on qualitative data from four focus groups, 32 interviews, four accompanied visits to ISE institutions, and field notes, this paper presents an analysis of exclusion from science learning opportunities during visits alongside participants’ attitudes, expectations, and conclusions about participation in ISE. Participants came from four community groups in central London: a Sierra Leonean group (n = 21), a Latin American group (n = 18), a Somali group (n = 6), and an Asian group (n = 13). Using a theoretical framework based on the work of Bourdieu, the analysis suggests ISE practices were grounded in expectations about visitors’ scientific knowledge, language skills, and finances in ways that were problematic for participants and excluded them from science learning opportunities. It is argued that ISE practices reinforced participants preexisting sense that museums and science centers were “not for us.” The paper concludes with a discussion of the findings in relation to previous research on participation in ISE and the potential for developing more inclusive informal science learning opportunities.

Equity in Informal Science Education: Developing an Access and Equity Framework for Science Museums and Science Centres.

Informal science education (ISE) is a popular pursuit, with millions of people visiting science museums, science centres, zoos, botanic gardens, aquaria, science festivals and more around the world. Questions remain, however, about how accessible and inclusive ISE practices are. This article reviews research on participation in ISE through the lens of social inclusion and equity and suggests that, as a field of practice, ISE is exclusive, with relatively little empirical or theoretical research on equity compared to ‘formal’ science education. This article contributes to science education scholarship by exploring equity in ISE, bringing together international research on ISE equity issues to examine what an access and equity framework for ISE might entail. It draws on theoretical perspectives from research on social justice, social reproduction and pedagogy to adapt a three-part access framework, focusing in turn on infrastructure access, literacy and community acceptance, to develop an access and equity framework for ISE.

‘Oh yes, robots! People like robots; the robot people should do something’: perspectives and prospects in public engagement with robotics

Governmental and institutional policy making in a number of countries has embedded public engagement strategies as a primary channel to connect citizens with scientific and technological innovation. Robotics is emerging as a key site for such new technological activity and its applications are likely to be increasingly notable in our lives in coming years. Robotics researchers are investing considerable time and effort in “engaging” publics. Concentrating on the findings of 24 qualitative interviews with those actively organizing or engaging publics, across 11 public engagement activities focused on the robotics field within the United Kingdom, this article explores their conceptions of “public engagement” and its benefits and constraints. The results suggest that while the language of engagement has been embraced there remain practical, conceptual, and individual influences on the level of engagement which is experienced.

Dialogue and synthesis: developing consensus in visitor research methodology.

ABSTRACT This brief synthesis presents the main points of agreement between Dawson and Jensens article, “‘Towards a ‘Contextual Turn’ in Visitor Studies: Evaluating Visitor Segmentation and Identity-Related Motivations” (this issue) and Falks reply, “Contextualizing Falks Identity-Related Visitor Motivation Model” (this issue), and it highlights important considerations for future research.

Genetic Testing in a Drama and Discussion Workshop: Exploring Knowledge Construction.

In this pilot project, drama was used to situate genetic testing in a social and cultural context – that of the family. The drama was used to stimulate discussion about social issues relating to genetic testing, such as who has the right to know the results of the test and whether participants would want to know their ‘genetic future’. A 10-minute, open-ended drama was developed as stimulus for a further 40-minute discussion-based workshop that focused on the issues that someone considering having a genetic test might face. The drama was performed to groups of 20–60 secondary school students. These larger groups were broken down into groups of four to 10 for the discussion aspect of the workshop. Seven drama workshops were delivered to 16–19-year-olds in Bristol, Reading and Southampton. A total of 240 students participated in the workshops. The project found that the drama discussion workshop format prompted students to develop their learning about the social issues surrounding genetic testing, with an increase in comprehension and scientifically appropriate use of language and concepts over the course of the workshop. The project also found students learned socially, as a group, using the discussion time to develop their arguments and scaffold knowledge with their peers on to that delivered in the workshop.

‘Younger People Have Like More of an Imagination, No Offence’: Participant Perspectives on Public Engagement

A wide range of work has reported on the outcomes of public engagement activities and the views expressed by public participants towards specific areas of science and technology. Such work has rarely gone on to explore with public participants their attitudes to the engagement experienced itself, often focusing instead on more practical or quantifiable aspects. This article draws on public participants’ reactions to 11 ‘engagement’ events, occurring across the UK in 2007–2008. Reporting on 33 semi-structured interviews, we focus on their views of participation and engagement in terms of motivations, expectations and expertise. The results suggest that participants have considerable expectations in terms of information and interaction, operate with critical but respectful notions of other ‘publics’ and expertise, and may develop habitual tendencies regarding engagement.

“I’m Being a Man Here”: Urban Boys’ Performances of Masculinity and Engagement With Science During a Science Museum Visit

The importance of increasing and widening participation in post-compulsory science and informal science learning (ISL) spaces is widely recognized—particularly for working-class and minority ethnic communities. While there is a growing understanding of the intersection of femininity with class, ethnicity, and science learning across formal and informal settings, there has been little work on how masculinity may shape urban boys’ science (non)participation and (dis)engagement. This article analyzes performances of masculinity enacted by 36 urban, working-class boys (from diverse ethnic backgrounds) during school science museum visits, exploring how these performances relate to science identity and engagement. We identify three main performances of masculinity enacted during the visits (“laddishness,” “muscular intellect,” and “translocational masculinity”), and trace the implications of each for boys’ science engagement. We consider the power implications of these performances, notably the extent to which hegemonic masculinity is normalized within the science museum space, the ways in which this normalization is co-constitutive of the boys’ performances of masculinity, and the implications of the boys’ performances of masculinity for other students (notably girls and less dominant boys). The article concludes with implications for research, policy, and practice regarding how to promote equitable participation and science learning within ISL.

Reimagining publics and (non)participation: Exploring exclusion from science communication through the experiences of low-income, minority ethnic groups:

This article explores science communication from the perspective of those most at risk of exclusion, drawing on ethnographic fieldwork. I conducted five focus groups and 32 interviews with participants from low-income, minority ethnic backgrounds. Using theories of social reproduction and social justice, I argue that participation in science communication is marked by structural inequalities (particularly ethnicity and class) in two ways. First, participants’ involvement in science communication practices was narrow (limited to science media consumption). Second, their experiences of exclusion centred on cultural imperialism (misrepresentation and ‘Othering’) and powerlessness (being unable to participate or change the terms of their participation). I argue that social reproduction in science communication constructs a narrow public that reflects the shape, values and practices of dominant groups, at the expense of the marginalised. The article contributes to how we might reimagine science communication’s publics by taking inclusion/exclusion and the effects of structural inequalities into account.

Social justice and out-of-school science learning: Exploring equity in science television, science clubs and maker spaces

We cannot take access to equitable out-of-school science learning for granted. Data compiled in 2012 show that between a fifth (22% in Brazil) and half (52% in China and the United States) of people in China, Japan, South Korea, India, Malaysia, the United States, the European Union, and Brazil visited zoos, aquaria, and science museums (National Science Foundation, 2012). But research suggests participation in out-of-school science learning is far from equitable and is marked by advantage, not least the social axes of age, social class, and ethnicity (Dawson, 2014a, 2014b; National Science Foundation, 2012; OECD, 2012). For instance, in the UK data suggest that the two-thirds of the population who took part in out-of-school science learning activities1 in the previous year were more affluent (upper and middle classes) and from the White ethnic majority (Ipsos MORI, 2014). If we believe that out-of-school science learning provides valuable educational, cultural, social and political opportunities, then we must take questions of equity seriously. Ideas from social justice can help us understand how equity issues are woven through out-of-school science learning practices. In this paper, I outline how social justice theories, in combination with the concepts of infrastructure access, literacies and community acceptance, can be used to think about equity in out-of-school science learning. I apply these ideas to out-of-school science learning via television, science clubs and maker spaces, looking at research as well as illustrative examples to see how equity challenges are being addressed in practice. I argue that out-of-school science learning practices can be understood on a spectrum from weak to strong models of social justice. Thinking about social justice as a spectrum helps us think through what equitable out-of-school science learning practices might involve, both to analyze existing practices and, importantly, to imagine new, more inclusive ones. Out-of-school science learning is a broad term, used to describe quite different activities, participants, aims, and practices. It can mean enjoying science festivals, watching science documentaries, pursing science-related hobbies as well as activities focused on engineering, mathematics, or technology (see, e.g., Bonney et al., 2009; Dingwall & Aldridge, 2006; Kaiser, Durant, Levenson, Wiehe, & Linett, 2013). In this paper, I focus primarily on the contrasting worlds of television and science clubs as out-of-school science learning contexts2. I use “science” as an umbrella term for science, technology, engineering, or mathematics related subjects. However, I add a caveat to how I use the term out-of-school. Because “out-of-school” invokes the idea of school, there can be a tendency to focus on youth as participants and activities that are for, by, or with youth. But of course adults may not consider their television watching an “out-of-school” activity. Thus, I note here that I keep both adults and youth in mind when writing about equity and out-of-school science learning.