Museums as spaces and times for learning and social participation

Abstract

ContextualizationChildren and teenagers' school holidays are much larger than adults' holidays, raising difficulties for parents. Grandparents or other relatives are not always available to stay with them. Families have to find somewhere to leave them, especially during the summer. It is not just about occupying their time, but about promoting their development of abilities and competences, knowledge appropriation and literacy, particularly scientific literacy. That is why holiday programmes, offered by a variety of institutions, have emerged. Museums are aware of their publics' needs and aim to act towards promoting social development (Moutinho, 2007,2010; Santos 1996). They offer exhibitions and suggest diversified tasks through programmes especially designed for the school public, during the holidays.In Portugal the educational services of the museums, that design these programmes for target-publics, began in 1953 (Cavaco, 2002; Leal, 2007). In 1969 an innovative holiday programme was created, aimed at 14-20-year-old teenagers (Leal, 2007). Since then, the offers of museums have grown and diversified. The National Museum of Natural History and Science (Museu Nacional de Historia Natural e da Ciencia), where this study took place, created educational services in the early 1990s. The programme Holidays in the Museum began in 2002, when there were still two museums -- the Natural History Museum (Museu de Historia Natural) and the Science Museum (Museu da Ciencia) --, a situation that remained until recently, when these museums merged into one. These programmes have been very positively assessed by the public, for children and teenagers repeat the programme in consecutive years, and some participate in more than one week per year. This means that, to better respond to the target-public's needs, this programme suggests different tasks each week, thus allowing whoever repeats it to develop different activities. This diversity is considered an asset.Theoretical backgroundMuseums and literacyMuseums are institutions that keep, communicate and investigate collective memories and History. History provides access to representations of the past, that is, to interpretations about that past, by sharing collective memories (Wertsch, 2004). Through the choices they make regarding their organization and the collections made available, museums grant several entities and individuals a voice(s) (Wertsch, 1991). They enable dialogue between the collections and the public, choosing how this mediation maybe facilitated (Wertsch, 1985,2004).Collective memory illustrates the existence of different social and cultural groups (Wertsch, 2004; Wertsch, del Rio, & Alvarez, 1995). It tends to focus on the stability and continuity of a group, which often resists recognizing it has changed. Many times we forget that one of the features of human beings is that they adapt to new challenges. This illuminates the importance of social interactions with those who are different, who participate in other cultures (Cesar, 2013a, 2013b). Just like History, collective memory also changes over time. This change derives from the need to create a usable past, which varies with time and space, that is, just as in the case of learning, collective memory is a situated phenomenon (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Vygotsky, 1931/1985). What constitutes a usable past, in a given socio-cultural context, is different from whatever happens in another socio-cultural context (Wertsch, 2004).Through their collection, exhibitions and events, museums communicate with the surrounding population, promoting their development and their literacy. The museum is no longer directed only towards the school public, but to the general public, with its inherent diversity (Dodd, 1999). Using objects of the collections of museums is advantageous, facilitating the visitors motivation for non-formal learning. People are fascinated by instruments and artefacts (McRainey & Russick, 2010; Russick, 2010). …