WHEN SCIENCE IS CONTROVERSIAL MUSEUMS CAN MEDIATE WITH COMPELLING EXHIBITIONS AND PROGRAMMING FOR DIVERSE AUDIENCES

Museums can be powerful communicators of controversial science. Audiences come with a high level of trust in the accuracy and objectivity of content presented within museums; museums also afford access to collections and scientists, providing the real objects and real people that can help clarify controversy.

Over the past six years The American Museum of Natural History has featured a set of temporary and permanent exhibitions on topics infused with scientific controversy, such as DARWIN, The Hall of Human Origins; Water: H2O = Life, and Climate Change: The threat to life and a new energy future. For example, the Water exhibition presents the reality of too little water, and too many lives depending on water; it asks: “ all too often we mistreat that precious fraction…and there is no more…Can we learn to become better stewards of water? Is there really a choice?” And the Climate Change exhibition seeks to convince visitors that: ”this time is different...Can we avoid disastrous climate change by altering the way we live? How would it affect us here in NYC? What are people around the globe doing about it? Will it take a worldwide effort, lasting generations and what do we do personally about it right now?” Family programs such as AMNH’s annual International Polar Year weekend event, and the integration of special media (such as NOAA visualizations), further help audiences connect with controversial science.

Our quantitative and qualitative evaluation studies show how museums can communicate controversial science to a variety of audiences. We found that these exhibitions made people think about their everyday lives and the future. Experiencing these exhibitions expanded people’s views of global water and climate change issues – increasing interest in some people (especially those not already environmentally ‘active’), giving some people a different understanding of life in developing countries, and helping some people see more connections between water and global warming. Findings also show how different exhibition components made challenging topics more explicit and relevant to a wide range of audiences - from those already interested in and knowledgeable about the topic, to audiences of families on weekends, and middle school students new to the English language.