TY - JOUR
T1 - Storytelling, Science, and Religion
T2 - Promoting Reflection and Conversation about Societal Issues
AU - Ostman, Rae
AU - Zirulnik, Michael L.
AU - McCullough Cosgrove, Jenny
N1 - Funding Information:
Lee Gutkind and Daniel Sarewitz at Arizona State University led the Think Write Publish–Science & Religion project. We are grateful for their vision in including the public programming component of the project. Rae Ostman led the museum programming effort. Michael Zirulnik served as project director. Jenny McCullough Cosgrove conducted the project evaluation. The educators who developed and implemented the public programs were Jeannie Colton at Arizona State University, Emily Hostetler at Museum of Science, Stephanie Long at Science Museum of Minnesota, Darrell Porcello at Children's Creativity Museum, and Mitchell Sava at the Museum of Life and Science. Project support was provided by the John Templeton Foundation. An overview of the approach and findings of the Science & Religion project was presented by the project team at the Visitor Studies Association annual conference, July 19, 2018, and at the Association of Science-Technology Centers annual conference, October 1, 2018. The complete documentation for each program, as well as the summary evaluation report, are available online: https://scienceandreligion.thinkwritepublish.org/resources/
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - The Science & Religion project explored the relationship of science and religion through creative nonfiction stories and public programs. The overarching goal of this work was to investigate whether and how museums can encourage reflection and conversation around big, important, and difficult questions. In this paper, we contextualize the project in the movement to address societal issues in museums, describe some of the design and delivery strategies we used to create public programs that were inclusive of diverse points of view, report the programs’ impact on participants, and offer lessons learned for museum practitioners interested in similar programmatic approaches or topics. We also reflect on our own attitudes and preconceptions as museum educators, considering why we felt this was a controversial topic and why we were surprised to discover that audiences were so receptive to it.
AB - The Science & Religion project explored the relationship of science and religion through creative nonfiction stories and public programs. The overarching goal of this work was to investigate whether and how museums can encourage reflection and conversation around big, important, and difficult questions. In this paper, we contextualize the project in the movement to address societal issues in museums, describe some of the design and delivery strategies we used to create public programs that were inclusive of diverse points of view, report the programs’ impact on participants, and offer lessons learned for museum practitioners interested in similar programmatic approaches or topics. We also reflect on our own attitudes and preconceptions as museum educators, considering why we felt this was a controversial topic and why we were surprised to discover that audiences were so receptive to it.
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U2 - 10.1111/cura.12301
DO - 10.1111/cura.12301
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85079484676
SN - 2151-6952
VL - 62
SP - 117
EP - 134
JO - Curator
JF - Curator
IS - 2
ER -