Qualitative Content analysis of the science representation in the Mechanics Gallery of Iranian National Museum of Science and Technology in terms of the nature of science

Ojagh, Z.; Ahmadi, F.; Hedayati, M.

doi:10.22061/tej.2022.8594.2692

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

¹ Department of Communication of Science and Technology, Faculty of Cultural Studies and Communication, Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

² Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22061/tej.2022.8594.2692

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Making developmental changes in a society requires systematic modifications. Education is a powerful driving force behind it. Due to the limitation of budget and space in most Iranian schools and time-consuming nature of fundamental changes in teaching methods, the capacity of non-formal education should be considered to compensate for these shortcomings in order to achieve the educational goals of students. Museums and science centers are part of these opportunities. Iranian Museum of Science and Technology (INMOST) was established as an institution in the science and innovation system of the country and can play an important role in non-formal education by adopting different methods in representing science, and by communicating science and society, it can nurture and promote the students’ understanding of the nature of science along with the institution of formal education. To understand how this function is performed, the relationship between science museums and the concepts of science and science education must be studied from different perspectives. Due to the novelty of scientific studies in this field, the present study analyzes INMOST from the perspective of the nature of science and how it represents by museum exhibits. In this regard, the purpose of this research is to understand the status of representation of the nature of science in the Mechanics Gallery of the INMOST to clarify how educational visits to this museum help formal education.
Methods: For this purpose, the concept of "nature of science" is described and the classification of Chiappetta, Fillman and Sethna (1991) is used as a conceptual framework. In this classification, the nature of science includes four categories: Science as a body of knowledge, Science as investigative nature of science, Science as a way of thinking, Science as interaction of science, technology and society. To understand the presence of features of the nature of science in museum exhibitions, deductive qualitative content analysis is conducted so, the statistical sample of the research are (1) all the labels explaining the displays and objects that are in the Mechanics Gallery of the National Museum of Science and Technology and (2) all the oral explanations of the museum guides to the visitors which were collected and analyzed. Therefore, purposive sampling was utilized.
Findings: Analysis of the content of 14 devices in the Mechanics Gallery of the INMOST shows that each device has some components and lacks some other components, and there are fewer devices in this gallery that have all four components of the nature of science. This also is true for the descriptions of the guides. Comparison of the data shows that both in the description of the guide and in the labels, the level of attention to the dimension of "interaction of science with society and technology" is less than other dimensions. The highest extent of attention is paid to “Science as a research method” and “Science as a set of knowledge” in the labels and the guides’ descriptions, respectively.
Conclusion: Science museums as a non-formal education institution can play a vital role in increasing scientific literacy, scientific understanding and improving the process of non-formal science education in society and contributing to the formal education. The INMOST can meet this expectation when museum exhibits, labels, and oral explanations are represented, designed and compiled based on communication principles, museum exhibits, and informal design instruction.

Keywords

20.1001.1.20080441.1401.16.4.9.7

Main Subjects

Materials Evaluatio

COPYRIGHTS
©2022 The author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.

References

[1] Filippoupoliti, Anastasia, Koliopoulos, Dimitris. Informal and Non-formal Education: History of Science in Museums. In: M.R. Matthews (ed.) International Handbook of Research in History, Philosophy and Science Teaching. Springer; 2014.

[2] Plakitsi K. Teaching Science in Science Museums and Science Centers. In: Plakitsi K. (eds) Activity Theory in Formal and Informal Science Education. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers: Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Science Education (Research Dialogs); 2013.

[3] Abdolmaleki S, Dorrani K, Karamdust N, Sadrolashrafi M. [The Nature of Science: Case Study of University of Tehran Undergraduate Students’ Attitude]. CSTP. 2015; 3(5): 133-152. Persian.

[4] Sasson Irit. The role of Informal science centers in science education: Attitudes, Skills, and Self-efficacy. Journal of Technology and Science Education. 4(3): 167-179.

[5] Saeedi M, Vesali M. Studying the views of middle school students and teachers on science and its nature [master’s Thesis]. Physics Department, Faculty of Science: Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University; 2010

[6] Hoseinifa H. Identifying and Survey of high school students' perceptions of the nature of science [master’s Thesis]. Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University; 2011

[7] Garcia TD. An analysis of earth science textbooks for presentation of aspects of scientific literacy. [dissertation]. University of Houston; 1985.

[8] Chiappetta EL, Sethna GH, Fillman DA. Do middle school life science textbooks provide a balance of scientific literacy themes? Journal of research in science teaching. 1993; 30(7): 787-797.

[9] Chiappetta E, Sethna G, Fillman D. A quantitative analysis of high school chemistry textbooks for scientific literacy themes and expository learning aids. Journal of Research in Science Teaching. 1991c; 28(10): 939-951.

[10] Chiappetta EL, Fillman DA, Sethna GH. A method to qualify major themes of scientific literacy in science textbooks. Journal of research in science teaching. 1991b; 280: 713-725.

[11] Lumpe AT, Beck J. A profile of high school biology textbooks using scientific literacy recommendations. The American Biology Teacher. 1996; 58(3): 147-153.

[12] Ramnarain U, Padayachee K. A comparative analysis of South African Life Sciences and Biology textbooks for inclusion of the nature of science. South African Journal of Education. 2015; 35(1): 948.

[13] Liaghat S, Niknam Z, Bagheri S. The Nature of Science in Science Education: Content Analysis of 8th Grade Science Textbook. Journal of Curriculum Studies. 2013; 8(29): 89-116. Persian.

[14] Razavi A, Vesali M. Investigating the new generation of science education standards from the perspective of the nature of science [master’s Thesis]. Physics Department , Faculty of Science: Shahid Rajaee Teacher Training University; 2013

[15] Behnia R, Ahmadi F, Vesali M. Review on Knight and Halliday Basic Physics Books Based on the Approach to the Nature of Science in Thermodynamics. The 10^th National Conference on Educaion with Cognitive Science Approach: 2018 May 9-10: Tehran, Iran.

[16] Mahmoodi F, Hoseinnejad. Content analysis of the physics textbook (Volume I) based on the components of scientific literacy. Second International Confernce on Scientific Approach in Humanities: 2018 June 20: Pars International Center of Conferences Development: Tehran, Iran.

[17] Çakıcı Y. Exploring Turkish Upper Primary Level Science Textbooks' Coverage of Scientific Literacy Themes. Eurasian Journal of Educational Research (EJER). 2012; 12(49): 81-102.

[18] Boujaoude S. Balance of scientific literacy themes in science curricula: The case of Lebanon. International Journal of Science Education. 2002; 24(2): 139-156.