Ethnicity and Gender in Museum Representations of Human Evolution: The Unquestioned and the Challenged in Learners' Meaning Making

Autor/inn/en	Piqueras, Jesús; Achiam, Marianne; Edvall, Susanna; Ek, Charlotte
Titel	Ethnicity and Gender in Museum Representations of Human Evolution: The Unquestioned and the Challenged in Learners' Meaning Making
Quelle	In: Science & Education, 31 (2022) 6, S.1517-1540 (24 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Piqueras, Jesús) ORCID (Achiam, Marianne)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0926-7220
DOI	10.1007/s11191-021-00314-y
Schlagwörter	Museums; Ethnic Groups; Sex; Evolution; Adolescents; Data Interpretation; Stereotypes; Ethnicity; Exhibits; Attitudes + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Museum; Museumswesen; Museen; Ethnie; Geschlecht; Geschlechtsverkehr; Adolescent; Adolescence; Adoleszenz; Jugend; Jugendalter; Jugendlicher; Data evaluation; Datenauswertung; Klischee; Ethnizität; Attitude; Einstellung; Verhalten
Abstract	Scientific representations of human evolution often embrace stereotypes of ethnicity and gender that are more aligned with socio-cultural discourses and norms than empirical facts. The present study has two connected aims: to understand how ethnicity and gender are represented in an exhibition about human evolution, and to understand how that representation influences learners' meaning making. First, we analysed an exhibition with realistic reconstructions of early hominids in a museum of natural history, to identify dualisms related to the representation of gender and ethnicity that have been recognised in research. Then, we studied the processes of meaning making in the exhibition during an out-of-school educational activity, in which groups of teenaged students explore and discuss the hominid reconstructions. Our results show that the exhibition displays human evolution in the form of a linear sequence from a primitive African prehistory to a more advanced European present. Behind this depiction of human evolution lies stereotypic notions of ethnicity and gender: notions that were incorporated into the students' meaning making during the educational activity. When students noticed aspects of ethnicity, their meaning making did not dispute the messages represented in the exhibition; these were accepted as scientific facts. Conversely, when the students noticed aspects related to gender, they often adopted a more critical stance and challenged the representations from different perspectives. We discuss the implications of our findings for exhibit design and evolution education more generally. In doing so, we offer our perspectives on the design of learning environments to salvage inherently sexist, racist, imperial science. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01