The multisensory aspect of the museum, while neglected for many years, is undergoing a resurgence as museum workers have begun to push towards re-establishing the senses as a major component of museum pedagogy. However, for many museums a major roadblock lies in the need to conserve rare objects, a need that prevents visitors from being able to interact with many objects in a meaningful way. This issue can be potentially overcome by the rapidly evolving field of 3D printing, which allows museum visitors to handle authentic replicas without damaging the originals. However, little is known about how museum visitors consider this approach, how they understand it and whether these surrogates are welcome within museums. A front-end evaluation of this approach is presented, finding that visitors were enthusiastic about interacting with touchable 3D printed replicas, highlighting potential educational benefits among other considerations. Suggestions about the presentation of touchable 3D printed replicas are also discussed. Paul F. Wilson (P.Wilson.4@warwick.ac.uk 07701333142): PhD Student, Warwick Manufacturing

Teach people to think critically about claims and comparisons using these concepts, urge Andrew D. Oxman and an alliance of 24 researchers -they will make better decisions. A child holds a sign protesting against genetically modified crops during a demonstration in Bulgaria.VASSIL DONEV/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK 1 5 A U G U S T 2 0 1 9 | V O L 5 7 2 | N A T U R E | 3 0 3 COMMENT © 2 0 1 9 S p r i n g e r N a t u r e L i m i t e d . A l l r i g h t s r e s e r v e d .

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This article reports on Connecting Museums: leadership, innovation and education in Science Museums, an international conference involving three university museums: Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (MCT-PUCRS), the Great North Museum: Hancock (GNM), at Newcastle University (NU), and the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH). The partnership started with a project to develop a joint exhibition on the theme of evolution organised by MCT-PUCRS and GNM, supported by the British Council’s Newton Fund (Institutional Skills 2016). The two museums shared the project at the UK University Museums Group (UMG) conference in 2016, where it came to the attention of colleagues at OUMNH. Following the UMG conference, the leadership and education teams of the three museums opened a dialogue to exchange knowledge and experience on leadership, innovation and education in science museums. This culminated in the first Connecting Museums conference in Porto Alegre, Brazil in October 2017. The conference was attended by 81 professionals, researchers, undergraduate and graduate students with interests in museology, the natural sciences and related areas. *** Connecting Museums: um estudo de caso sobre liderança, inovação e educação em museus de ciências universitários liderando projetos de internacionalização ***Este artigo constitui-se de um relato sobre o Connecting Museums: liderança, inovação e educação em Museus de Ciências, uma conferência internacional envolvendo três museus universitários: o Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia da Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (MCT-PUCRS), o Great North Museum: Hancock (GNM), da Newcastle University (NU) e o Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH). A parceria entre as instituições iniciou-se a partir de um projeto para o desenvolvimento de uma exposição conjunta, organizada pelo MCT-PUCRS e pelo GNM financiada pelo Newton Fund por meio do edital Institutional Skills 2016 promovido pelo British Council. Os dois museus apresentaram o projeto na conferência do University Museum Group (UMG) em 2016 no Reino Unido, despertando a atenção de colegas do OUMNH. Após a conferência, as equipes de gestão e de educação dos três museus iniciaram um diálogo que culminou na troca de conhecimentos e experiências nas áreas de liderança, inovação e educação em museus de ciências. Este diálogo resultou na primeira edição da conferência Connecting Museums em Porto Alegre, Brasil, em outubro de 2017. Participaram do evento 81 profissionais, entre pesquisadores e alunos de graduação e pós-graduação, cujo interesse estava relacionado à museologia, ciências naturais e áreas correlatas.Palavras-chave: Museus de ciência. Liderança. Inovação. Educação em ciências. Internacionalização.

In late 2018, Iain Chalmers, Andy Oxman and others from the Informed Health Choices team convened a cross-field forum to develop a generic framework of key concepts for thinking critically about claims, research and choices about interventions, with the aim of supporting ‘informed choices’. We define an informed choice as one that is based on critical understanding of the relevant available evidence. This paper describes the process of that cross-field engagement, and reflects on how consensus was reached on the generic framework. Working in an alliance of 24 researchers from across fields to develop the Key Concepts for Informed Choices framework, we learned three lessons about cross-field working: (1) there was much agreement, despite diversity of views and experiences; (2) the applications of our work were broader than we could have imagined; and (3) we identified a wide range of problems that we have in common when making informed choices. Here we describe our experience of working together to develop the framework, and draw out lessons for others who may be involved in similar cross-field initiatives.

Combining existing knowledge of museum exhibition visitor experience with concepts of User Experience (UX), a model for Museum Exhibition User Experience (MEUX) is presented. The model was developed from research interviews and surveys with UK museum professionals and presents the museum exhibition experience from both museum and visitor perspectives. Its use as an evaluation tool for visitor experience is explored at Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH). In comparing results with those from staff, a disconnect emerged between museum and visitor preferences on motivations for visiting and what outcomes emerge from visits. The incorporation of the theoretical MEUX model into museum practice enables holistic conceptualization of the visitor experience through the pragmatic and hedonic qualities of an exhibition. With the development of further evaluation tools, this framework and methodology accurately captures institutional and visitor preferences and can evaluate how the development decisions of museums influence and impact the visitor experience.