Interacting with … what? Exploring children's social and sensory practices in a science discovery centre

Abstract

This paper presents findings from a qualitative UK study exploring the social practices of schoolchildren visiting an interactive science discovery centre. It is promoted as a place for 'learning through doing', but the multi-modal, ethnographic methods adopted suggest that children were primarily engaged in (1) sensory pleasure-taking and (2) playing out shifting relations of affect and sociality. In discussing this, the paper does not ask what children are learning, but rather what they are doing Á and how this does or does not relate to the scientific principles presented to them. The paper confirms studies suggesting that discovery centres are highly social spaces in which cognitive processing is only one aspect but goes further in suggesting that the twin dimensions of the social and the sensory are so paramount in governing children's responses to exhibits as to eclipse thoughts of science. The findings suggest that old-style live demonstrations are more effective than technologically interactive exhibits in foregrounding scientific concepts.

Licking planets and stomping on buildings: children’s interactions with curated spaces in virtual reality

“……that discovery centres are highly social spaces in which cognitive processing is only one aspect…[and] that the twin dimensions of the social and the sensory are also paramount in governing children's responses to exhibits. (Dicks, 2013, p.301) The remainder of this article is divided into two sections to provide more in depth illustration and discussion of how the VR study findings support those of Dicks (2013) that as with physical spaces (1) social and (2) sensory means were also paramount to the ways in which children engaged with virtual spaces and content.…”

Metaphors we experiment with in multimodal ethnography

“…Multimodal ethnography, and the analysis of multimedia data artefacts, made an appearance as a named research practice in the social sciences in the mid-2000s with a publication by Dicks, Soyinka, and Coffey (2006), 'Multimodal ethnography'. Possibly on account of the article's subject matter (children's experiences of a science exhibition) children, young people and education are focal topics in research carried out since this publication that describes itself as 'multimodal ethnography' (Clark, 2011;Dicks, 2013aDicks, , 2013bDomingo, 2014;Falchi, Axelrod, & Genishi, 2014;Flewitt, 2011;Gallagher, Wessels, & Ntelioglou, 2013;Hackett, Pahl, & Pool, 2017;Hudley & Dicks, 2011;Pah, 2009). Multimodal ethnographic practices also emerge in research on space and identity as well as the overlap between the two (Bartos, 2013;Darbyshire, MacDougall, & Schiler, 2005).…”