The Pleasures and Pitfalls of Teaching Human Evolution in the Museum

Abstract

As natural history museums are increasingly challenged to represent the complexities of human evolution, new innovations are required to create dynamic, dialogic experiences between museum scientists and museum audiences. After the opening of the Spitzer Hall of Human Origins in 2006, I had the opportunity to take my academic experience in physical anthropology to public education in the Sackler Educational Laboratory for Comparative Genomics and Human Origins. In the lab, I was able to intervene in museum visitors' preconceptions of human evolution in a novel, informal educational setting.