The Science Center Movement: contexts, practice, next challenges

Abstract

As the science center movement expands worldwide, the time seems ripe to stimulate an informed debate centered on the purpose, practices, and achievements of science centers, together with the challenges they face in the next decade. The first section of this paper focuses on current practice, drawing dimensions from artifact to education, from didactic to empowering, from tutti-frutti to story line, from museum to Disney. Programs beyond the exhibition, and links with the formal education system and the local community, are also considered. The second section deals with the diversity of contexts within which science centers operate—cultural, political, financial, educational—and coins the acronym ASSET: Alternative Settings for Science, Engineering, and Technology. The final section looks to the future, identifying funding gaps, the need for longitudinal evaluation studies, and the challenge of new information technologies. Finally, in the spirit of international challenge, the authors pose three leading questions: What lies beyond the existing-exhibit clone? Can an Art/Science divide be defined? How can we communicate contemporary science and scientific issues?