Once dominated by a focus on collecting and preserving, and later communicating science through hands-on experiences, science museums are slowly reshaping their identities and purposes to explicitly include and promote active citizenship, social responsibility, engagement with complex science and technology issues, and agency. Informed by progressive views of scientific literacy and dialogic and participatory models of communication, science museums are beginning to re-imagine their spaces and practices to embrace broader goals. This theoretical paper explores and discusses the changing roles and identities of these institutions through the emergence of what we identify as fourth-generation science museums and their six defining drivers (Pedretti & Navas Iannini, 2020). We argue science museums can become places that (1) embrace change and transformation; (2) promote productive struggle; (3) develop allyship; (4) foster empathy; (5) support epistemic democracy; and (6) act as a hybrid third space.Résumé Autrefois axés essentiellement sur la collecte et la préservation, puis sur la communication de la science par le biais d'expériences pratiques, les musées scientifiques remodèlent lentement leurs identités et leurs objectifs pour inclure et promouvoir explicitement la citoyenneté active, la responsabilité sociale, l'engagement dans des questions scientifiques et technologiques complexes et l'agentivité. Éclairés par une vision progressiste de la culture scientifique et des modèles dialogiques et participatifs de communication, les musées scientifiques commencent à réimaginer leurs espaces et leurs pratiques pour adopter des objectifs plus larges. Cet article théorique explore et discute les rôles et identités changeants de ces institutions à travers l'émergence de ce que nous identifions comme desmuséesdessciencesdequatrièmegénérationetleurssixmoteursdéterminants (Pedretti&NavasIannini,2020). Nous soutenons que les musées scientifiques peuvent devenir des lieux qui : 1) accueillent le changement et la transformation ; 2) promeuvent l'effort productif ; 3) établissent d'alliances ; 4) favorisent l'empathie ; 5) soutiennent la démocratie épistémique ; et 6) agissent comme un troisième espace hybride.
In this article, we explore how children of late elementary to middle school age, from low‐income communities in an East‐Central metropolitan area of Canada, described their interests in and attitudes toward science in an out‐of‐school science club program. We used the children's descriptions of emotional engagement to gain insights into the identity work being carried out in the science club. Our analysis was based on survey responses from 202 children enrolled for at least one academic year in the science club program at 21 different club sites and focus group commentary from a subset of 45 children attending 14 of the clubs. We added context to the children's perspectives by including commentary from semistructured interviews with nine science club staffers and insights from field notes made after club promotional events. Analysis revealed the enthusiasm of children and/or their families for science education prior to engaging with the clubs. The children's anticipation that club science would reflect their school‐based science experiences was quickly dispelled by the hands‐on nature of club activities and the positive relationships built with club staffers. Of concern was the finding that staff and children frequently reinforced a rigid dichotomy between school and club science. This distinction meant that, although children described themselves as improving their performance in school science, they often found it difficult to relate the fun enacted during club sessions to the learning that is required during school science classes. This finding is problematic given the club's focus on keeping children's options in formal and informal science education open for as long as possible. The paper concludes by using the insights provided by children and club staffers to propose ways of enhancing the club/school/home science connection to better support transfer of the positive outcomes of the club‐based science identity work.
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