Gkouskou, E; Tunnicliffe, SD; (2017) Natural History Dioramas: An opportunity for children to observe physical Science in action in a moment of time. Science Education International , 28 (2) pp. 97-103.

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Abstract

The nature of scientific research goes beyond the learning of concepts and basic manipulation to the key factors of engaging students in identifying relevant evidence and reflecting on its interpretation. It is argued that young children have the ability to acquire viable realistic concepts of the living world when involved in relevant activities (Tunnicliffe, 2000). Visiting a museum of natural history is an educational experience, which offers, children experiences that cannot be obtained within the classroom and research found that museums are excellent sources of cognitive experiences that complement and / or enrich the curriculum of formal education (Dillon et al., 2016). Dioramas have specific context, which give visitors the opportunity to be creative and have more learning opportunities when they engage with them (Achiam et al., 2014). This paper draws upon data that were gathered at a natural history museum. These data were the spontaneous conversations of child visitors and a workshop with structured educational activities with a pre- and post-test research design, which provided the opportunity for children to observe Science in action in a moment of time. These data focused on aspects of historical and experimental aspects of Science in action shown in the positions and environments of the animals featured which may be identified in natural history dioramas.

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