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The Surrey School District has sponsored a District elementary schools science fair (grades 4-7) for 21 years and voluntary participation has increased throughout this time. Despite this popularity, no studies have been conducted regarding the science fair. A survey of the elementary schools in the Surrey School District was conducted. The four areas identified for investigation were: (a) participation in school and district science fairs (b) organization of school science fairs (c) relationship between science instruction and science fair participation, (d) teacher participation in science fairs. Two questionnaires were developed. One was distributed to all elementary teachers in Surrey and the other was distributed to all elementary principals in Surrey. Response rates were 77% (teacher's questionnaire, n=346) and 88% (principal's questionnaire, n=59). Data analysis was in the form of frequencies of response expressed in percentages. Some crosstabulatons were calculated. The major findings of the study were: (a) most schools (95%) participate in the science fair, (b) most schools (85%) Include primary students in the science fair, (c) 4 827 Intermediate students (83%) completed a science fair project, (d) all schools encourage public viewing of their science fair, (e) teachers do not vary their science Instructional activities, lnstructonal materials, or their instructonal time, from the fall to the spring, (f) teachers provide extra instructional time and extra-curricular time to assist students with preparation of science fair projects, (g) teachers evaluate science fair product and not the process of completing a science fair project, (h) most teachers (75%) reported a willingness to attend science fair inservice, (i) teachers and principals have very similar attitudes toward science fair, (j) many teachers (n=89) and principals (n=39) made general comments about the science fair. The study recommends that the Surrey Elementary Schools Science Fair be continued and that further study be conducted regarding the type and amount of assistance that elementary students require to complete a science fair project satisfactorily. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

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Body Worlds is a traveling exhibition of plastinated human cadavers that offers the general public an opportunity to experience the human body in a unique way. It has been met with controversy and awe; public reactions and responses have been mixed. This case study research explored visitor responses to this controversial science exhibition, and examined the meaning visitors made of their experience. Specifically, the following research questions directed this study: Within the context of the Body Worlds exhibition: (a) What meaning did visitors make and how did they respond to the exhibits? (b) What tensions and issues arose for visitors? and (c) What did this type of exhibition convey about the changing role of science centres and the nature of their exhibitions? The primary sources of data for this study were 46 semi-structured interviews with visitors to the exhibition, observation notes, and 10 comment books including approximately 20 000 comments. Data suggested that the personal, physical, and sociocultural contexts (Falk & Dierking, 2000) contributed to visitor meaning meaning-making. The use of plastinated human cadavers within this exhibition raised ethical and moral questions and controversies about body procurement, use of human cadavers in display, representations of the bodies, and issues related to the sanctity of life. The tensions and issues identified by visitors demonstrated that messages (intended or unintended) located within Body Worlds were critically examined by visitors and called into question. Finally, data from this study suggested that an interdisciplinary approach to the presentation of science served to enhance accessibility for the viewer. This exhibition demonstrated that visitors responded positively and made personal connections when the arts, spirituality, edutainment, issues, and a combination of historical and contemporary museum practices were used to present science.

Body Worlds is a traveling exhibition of plastinated human cadavers that offers the general public an opportunity to experience the human body in a unique way. It has been met with controversy and awe; public reactions and responses have been mixed. This case study research explored visitor responses to this controversial science exhibition, and examined the meaning visitors made of their experience. Specifically, the following research questions directed this study: Within the context of the Body Worlds exhibition: (a) What meaning did visitors make and how did they respond to the exhibits? (b) What tensions and issues arose for visitors? and (c) What did this type of exhibition convey about the changing role of science centres and the nature of their exhibitions? The primary sources of data for this study were 46 semi-structured interviews with visitors to the exhibition, observation notes, and 10 comment books including approximately 20 000 comments. Data suggested that the personal, physical, and sociocultural contexts (Falk & Dierking, 2000) contributed to visitor meaning meaning-making. The use of plastinated human cadavers within this exhibition raised ethical and moral questions and controversies about body procurement, use of human cadavers in display, representations of the bodies, and issues related to the sanctity of life. The tensions and issues identified by visitors demonstrated that messages (intended or unintended) located within Body Worlds were critically examined by visitors and called into question. Finally, data from this study suggested that an interdisciplinary approach to the presentation of science served to enhance accessibility for the viewer. This exhibition demonstrated that visitors responded positively and made personal connections when the arts, spirituality, edutainment, issues, and a combination of historical and contemporary museum practices were used to present science.

In 1993, facing a future of escalating land-use controversies and a less than sympathetic public attitude towards mining, major corporations in the British Columbia mining industry and the provincial government invested in a public education project: Vancouver's Science World's Mine Games exhibit. This thesis will examine two pedagogical highlights of the Mine Games exhibit promoted by Science World and its sponsors. They are the interactivity of the exhibit (as evidenced by the hands-on stations and the computer games) and the decision-making or 'consensus-building' process experienced in the simulated town-meeting, Hotseat! One of the virtues of an exhibition that explicitly makes a case for its merits and attempts to tell an important story is that it encourages debate and makes possible the suggestion of other stories. In this thesis, I critique Mine Games on the claims it has made for itself. The thesis adopts a comparative approach, contrasting the pedagogical goals and content of the Mine Games exhibit with school based mining curriculum. I argue that the narrative and museological conventions of the exhibit reveal the story of Mine Games for what it is — a specific, comedic story that excludes other stories. Hidden under the facade of high-tech displays and computer games is a traditional approach used both in schools and museums to exercise control and deliver a non-threatening message: environmental controversies are resolvable, all it takes is reasoned compromise.

Orientador: Marcelo Knobel / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-20T11:32:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Moura_EltonAlissomde_M.pdf: 1494637 bytes, checksum: 5794c392d1c9acdd86a164cee5ed5ea3 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Nos últimos anos começou a ser inaugurado no Brasil um expressivo número de museus e centros interativos de ciência e cultura, com maior predominância na região Sudeste, como o Museu Exploratório de Ciências da Unicamp, o Museu do Futebol, o Museu da Língua Portuguesa, o Espaço Catavento Cultural e o Museu do Amanhã, que deverá abrir suas portas em 2014. Paralelamente a esse movimento, também se observa nos últimos cinco anos uma forte tendência de realização de exposições científicas e tecnológicas interativas e independentes no País, em um movimento da saída dessas exposições científicas de seus "habitats naturais". Criadas por museus, centros de ciência e tecnologia e promotoras de eventos internacionais célebres por basearem suas propostas museológicas nos modelos hands-on, essas exposições estão sendo trazidas ao País depois de se tornarem fenômenos de público no exterior por recém criadas empresas multinacionais atuantes nas áreas de entretenimento e marketing cultural. Neste projeto de pesquisa são analisadas as razões pelas quais esses museus e centros interativos de ciência e as exposições científicas e culturais independentes e interativas vêm sendo criadas em maior proporção no País nos últimos anos, além de suas relações com grandes exposições de artes que ocorreram no Brasil no final dos anos 1990 e início de 2000, e como artistas e cientistas envolvidos na concepção desses empreendimentos científicos vêm adaptando e reformulando seus conteúdos, dando origem a um modelo original e próprio que começou a ser exportado. A relevância do projeto é atribuída à importância que essas exposições científicas e interativas, a exemplo dos centros de museus e tecnologias, vêm ganhando em diversos países como programas culturais e de lazer propícios ao engajamento público com a ciência e a tecnologia / Abstract: In recent years it started to be inaugurated in Brazil an expressive number of museums and interactive centers of science and culture, with bigger predominance in the Southeastern region, as the Museu Exploratório de Ciências of the Unicamp, Museum of Football, Museum of the Portuguese Language, Espaço Catavento Cultural and Museum of Tomorrow, that it will have to open its doors in 2014. Simultaneously to this movement, also one strong trend of accomplishment of interactive and independent scientific and technological expositions in the country is observed in the last five years, in a movement of the exit of these natural scientific expositions of its "habitats". Created for museums, centers of science and technology and promoters of international events you celebrate for basing its proposals in the models hands-on, these expositions are being brought to the country, after if becoming phenomena of public in the world, for just created companies operating multinationals in the entertainment areas and cultural marketing. In this project of research the reasons are analyzed for which these museums and interactive centers of science and the independent and interactive scientific and cultural expositions come in recent years being bred in bigger ratio in the country, beyond its relations with great expositions of arts that had occurred in Brazil in the end of the years 1990 and beginning of 2000, and as involved artists and scientists in the conception of these scientific enterprises they come reformulating its contents, giving origin to an original and proper model, that starts to be exported. The relevance of the project is attributed to the importance that these scientific and interactive expositions, the example of the centers of museums and technologies, they come earning in diverse countries as propitious cultural programs and of leisure to the public enrollment with science and the technology / Mestrado / Divulgação Científica e Cultural / Mestre em Divulgação Científica e Cultural

In 1993, facing a future of escalating land-use controversies and a less than sympathetic public attitude towards mining, major corporations in the British Columbia mining industry and the provincial government invested in a public education project: Vancouver's Science World's Mine Games exhibit. This thesis will examine two pedagogical highlights of the Mine Games exhibit promoted by Science World and its sponsors. They are the interactivity of the exhibit (as evidenced by the hands-on stations and the computer games) and the decision-making or 'consensus-building' process experienced in the simulated town-meeting, Hotseat! One of the virtues of an exhibition that explicitly makes a case for its merits and attempts to tell an important story is that it encourages debate and makes possible the suggestion of other stories. In this thesis, I critique Mine Games on the claims it has made for itself. The thesis adopts a comparative approach, contrasting the pedagogical goals and content of the Mine Games exhibit with school based mining curriculum. I argue that the narrative and museological conventions of the exhibit reveal the story of Mine Games for what it is — a specific, comedic story that excludes other stories. Hidden under the facade of high-tech displays and computer games is a traditional approach used both in schools and museums to exercise control and deliver a non-threatening message: environmental controversies are resolvable, all it takes is reasoned compromise. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate