Final Report Editor Ulrike Felt June 2003

Museums and science centres in the UK 265
• What kinds of understandings of science are available? (MacDonald, 1995:8).
Questions have also emerged from public constituencies directly. The Parliamentary
and Scientific Committee organised a discussion meeting on "Communicating Science:
The role of museums and science centres" on 17 July 2000, which attracted a diverse
audience.
At a reception following this meeting, several teenagers, who had sat largely in silence
during the discussions in the imposing Grand Committee Room of the Palace of
Westminster, were invited to offer their opinions of science museums in a more
informal setting. These young people, most of whom were planning to go into science,
made the point, quite forcefully, that most science museums seemed designed "for
kids". In other words, for children aged 15 and older, there wasn't enough of the sort of
information they were interested in. What they would prefer, they said, was an
opportunity to meet real scientists, to have them explain their work through exhibits and
hands-on experiments, and to be able to ask them questions.
The Natural History Museum
The Natural History Museum in South Kensington has been credited with leading the
way towards developing more innovative engagement with the PUS agenda as an
academic curatorial style has increasingly given way to more popular presentations of
its collections. (House of Lords, 2000). Sterile display cases with row upon row of rocks
and minerals, difficult for most adults to cope with let alone children, have been
replaced by rather more exciting, dynamic displays that are more accessible,
imaginative and entertaining. This has been accompanied by other innovations in the
museum's provisions for the public (see Bloomfield: 63):
• Making science ‘fun’ and popular – most notably in the context of encouraging
interest by younger people through careful design of exhibitions and linking
classroom work to exhibitions, providing worksheets etc.
• Opening access – recent shifts have seen attempts to provide much greater
access to the archives and to the museum as a whole by providing ‘behinds the
scenes’ tours where the public are given an opportunity to meet scientists and
curators that are involved in developing the exhibitions.
• Providing a basic framework for understanding science as a process though the
development of thematic exhibitions
• Providing knowledge resources – examples here include lecture programmes
and courses for self motivated adults; contributions to tertiary education and
post graduate training (see Bloomfield: 63). The National History museum has