Eva Davidsson

Using sociocultural frameworks to understand the significance of interactions at science and technology centers and museums

A possible approach in order to explore and increase the understanding of the role of interactions at Science and Technology Centres (STCs) and museums is to focus on and discuss what implications these interactions may have in relation to learning and human development. One explicit aim with such a focus is to take the rich flora of sociocultural or cultural-historical frameworks as a point of departure in order to begin to develop a theoretical model, which aims to describe and explain the significance of interactions in these contexts.

Staff Members’ Ideas about Visitors’ Learning at Science and Technology Centres

This study investigates staff members’ ideas and assumptions about visitors’ learning at science and technology centres. It also aims to explore in what ways their reasoning intersect with existing theories about learning within the field of science and technology centre research. The results of the study reveal that the staff members allude to learning processes differently by distinguishing organized from non‐organized learning, theoretical learning from practical hands‐on learning, and serious from non‐serious learning. According to most of the staff members, these also conclude with different learning outcomes. Further, a majority of the staff members state that they do not have any scientific knowledge about learning despite the fact that they work with the construction of new exhibitions. When discussing visitors’ learning, the staff members instead refer to personal experiences, professional experiences, professional education, and external references. When it comes to how they reason about the natural scientific content, nearly all express that they use references from the natural science community and researchers’ knowledge. The article moreover discusses in what ways a socio‐cultural approach may be used in order to understand how learning arises when visitors interact with exhibits.

Exploring Epistemological Trends in Students’ Understanding of Science from the Perspective of Large-Scale Studies

This paper highlights how results from large-scale studies can be used to understand students’ knowledge of science. Several scholars express critique of today’s PISA framework, especially with regard to the presentation of the results as national rankings, and suggest alternative and complementary methods. The present study has used PISA data to reveal hidden patterns in the results. The results show a general descending trend in items focusing on the nature of science and how new scientific knowledge is generated. On the other hand, there is an obvious upward trend regarding tasks that measure fact-based elementary or root knowledge. These trends are slightly differentiated at a national level, as the time and magnitude of the decline or increase may vary.

Different Images of Science at Nordic Science Centres

Science centres aim to present science in ways that will attract visitors and enhance public interest in, and knowledge of, science. But what images and different aspects of science are visitors confronted with at Nordic science centres? This study aims to explore the different aspects of science that are displayed and the ways in which these aspects constitute different images of science. In this study, staff members who work with the planning and creation of new exhibitions were asked to answer a web‐based questionnaire, identifying the extent to which different aspects of science were displayed in their latest exhibition. They were also asked to voice their opinions on what, and to what extent, they would like to display different aspects in future exhibitions. This study shows that exhibitions today, in particular, choose to display the wonders of science, presenting science in a product‐oriented and unproblematic way. The study also reveals a great discrepancy between what staff members display at their latest exhibitions and what they want to display in future exhibitions. They express a will to emphasise aspects of science on the basis of a societal and cultural perspective. This means that controversial issues, values in society, non‐western science, and scientific processes constitute important components for future exhibitions.