Natural History Museum Of Funchal Research Articles

Lessons Learned on Engaging Teenage Visitors in Museums with Story-Based and Game-Based Strategies

While museums are designed to engage and interest various audiences, teenagers are often a neglected segment. Without digital interactivity, it is challenging for a museum to remain exciting and relevant to a young, tech-savvy audience. Games can benefit museums by fostering positive attitudes towards museum spaces and creating more joyful destinations to promote meaningful informal learning combined with entertainment. We developed a dual-gamified mobile experience targeted at teenagers, for the Natural History Museum of Funchal, Portugal: a story-based strategy ( Memories of Carvalhal's Palace — Turning Point) and a game-based strategy ( Memories of Carvalhal's Palace — Haunted Encounters ). These strategies were studied in depth with 159 teenagers (15–19 years old) to understand how gamified strategies might enhance their user experience in a museum. On one hand, game-based strategies, in which game mechanics predominate, can catch a visitor's attention by displaying challenging questions that promote competition. On the other hand, story-based strategies, in which storytelling is prominent, can promote an emotional connection with the museum and exhibits and facilitate awareness of historical facts by including an engaging plot with high-quality media and tightly edited stories. This article reports on lessons learned that museum experience designers and curators can use in designing enjoyable, interactive experiences for teenage visitors.

An annotated dataset of bioacoustic sensing and features of mosquitoes

As vectors of malaria, dengue, zika, and yellow fever, mosquitoes are considered one of the more severe worldwide health hazards. Widespread surveillance of mosquitoes is essential for understanding their complex ecology and behaviour, and also for predicting and formulating effective control strategies against mosquito-borne diseases. One technique involves using bioacoustics to automatically identify different species from their wing-beat sounds during flight. In this dataset, we collect sounds of three species of mosquitoes: Aedes Aegypti, Culex Quinquefasciatus & Pipiens, and Culiseta. These species were collected and reproduced in the laboratory of the Natural History Museum of Funchal, in Portugal, by entomologists trained to recognize and classify mosquitoes. For collecting the samples, we used a microcontroller and a mobile phone. The dataset presents audio samples collected with different sampling rates, where 34 audio features characterize each sound file, making it is possible to observe how mosquito populations vary heterogeneously. This dataset provides the basis for feature extraction and classification of flapping-wing flight sounds that could be used to identify different species.

Funchal Marine Biology Station: 20 years of research and promotion of Madeiran and Macaronesian marine biodiversity (NE Atlantic Ocean)

Event Abstract Back to Event Funchal Marine Biology Station: 20 years of research and promotion of Madeiran and Macaronesian marine biodiversity (NE Atlantic Ocean) Mafalda Freitas1, 2, 3, 4* and Manuel J. Biscoito1, 2, 3, 4 1 Estação de Biologia Marinha do Funchal, Portugal 2 Other, Portugal 3 Center for Marine and Environmental Sciences (MARE), Portugal 4 Observatório Oceânico da Madeira (OOM), Portugal The Funchal Marine Biology Station, on the Portuguese island of Madeira, is a research centre owned by the Municipality of Funchal and dedicated to research and education in marine sciences. It was inaugurated on September 28th, 1999 and its main goals are to develop the sciences and technologies of the sea, particularly, biology and ecology of coastal and deep sea waters. The Station is the base for the Marine Biology team of the Natural History Museum of Funchal and the Faculty of Life Sciences of the University of Madeira. These two teams participate in several research projects including studies on the fish and crustacean diversity of Macaronesian deep waters, coastal biology and ecology, biology and migration of sea turtles and marine pelagic birds’ biology and migration. Simultaneously, the Station also carries out educational activities to promote knowledge about sea habitats and environmental education, either in an institutional way, or working in collaboration with other public and private entities. During the last 20 years the Station has contributed with 46 scientific papers, 20 research projects, 30 scientific campaigns and expeditions, 14 didactic publications, 2 temporary exhibitions, and has received more than 12,000 visitors in guided tours. The didactic activities in 2018 are the object of this presentation. Keywords: Funchal Marine Biology Station, research, promotion, Madeira Island, Marine Biodiversity, Didactic activities Conference: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) , Braga, Portugal, 9 Sep - 12 Sep, 2019. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Ecotourism, Environmental Education, Citizen Science and Dissemination of Science Citation: Freitas M and Biscoito MJ (2019). Funchal Marine Biology Station: 20 years of research and promotion of Madeiran and Macaronesian marine biodiversity (NE Atlantic Ocean). Front. Mar. Sci. Conference Abstract: XX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies (SIEBM XX) . doi: 10.3389/conf.fmars.2019.08.00033 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 30 Apr 2019; Published Online: 27 Sep 2019. * Correspondence: Mx. Mafalda Freitas, Estação de Biologia Marinha do Funchal, Funchal, Portugal, mafalda.freitas@cm-funchal.pt Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Mafalda Freitas Manuel J Biscoito Google Mafalda Freitas Manuel J Biscoito Google Scholar Mafalda Freitas Manuel J Biscoito PubMed Mafalda Freitas Manuel J Biscoito Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.

Deep-sea sharks as by-catch of an experimental fishing survey for black scabbardfishes (<em>Aphanopus spp.</em>) off the Canary Islands (NE Atlantic)

The deep-sea sharks associated as by-catch of the Madeiran midwater drifting longline fishery for scabbardfishes (Aphanopus spp.) were investigated by means of an experimental survey at 800-1200 m depth within the Canary Islands Exclusive Economic Zone, whose fishing grounds have been exploited during the past 15 years. Nine species of chondrichthyans were identified, belonging to five families: Pseudotriakidae, Centrophoridae, Etmopteridae, Somniosidae and Chimaeridae. Data on length, weight and sex ratio for the 436 chondrichthyan individuals caught in the March 2009 survey are given. Several voucher specimens of each species caught were deposited in the collections of the Natural History Museum of Funchal.