Museum staff perspectives about a sustainability exhibition: what do they tell us about scientific literacy?

Abstract

Science museums are beginning to see themselves as important players in a number of scientific, social, cultural and political contexts. They are embracing broader societal issues, especially in a time of population and environmental stress. In this paper, we focus on museum staff perspectives about the exhibition Our World (Canada), that delves into issues of water, food and energy consumption, and waste. Specifically, we sought to explore expectations and tensions that framed the renovation of the exhibit and to interpret them through theory related to scientific literacy and exhibition typologies. Using case study, we relied primarily on semi-structured interviews with museum staff, and secondarily on observations, field notes, and documents. Our findings are organized around: the renovation of narratives and forms of representation, and the ways in which the visitor experience is reimagined. The (re)conceptualization of this gallery illustrates an attempt to move from a pedagogical to critical and agential emphases, through which progressive views of scientific literacy could be at play. Our discussion examines the role of information, the in-between positions that museum staffers experienced and pathways towards civic responsibility. Concluding thoughts centre around the concept of productive struggle, the role of knowledge and issues of neutrality.