Nights at the museum: integrated arts and microbiology public engagement events enhance understanding of science whilst increasing community diversity and inclusion

Abstract

This study uses integrated art and science events to explore a blended approach in improving public understanding of current scientific topics and widening participation within the local community. The events were a Halloween-inspired microbiology-themed series of interactive exhibitions hosted within a national museum as part of an existing series of adult education evenings. A representative sample of 102 mixed methods exit questionnaires, based on determining (i) audience diversity and (ii) understanding of scientific topics, were analysed by qualitative and quantitative approaches, and a post-attendance focus group was carried out to determine longer term impact of the event. Participants were grouped as 'Science', 'Arts', 'Both' or 'Neither', according to their past experience and engagement. These events welcomed more participants from the Arts and Neither subsections hence engaging a group of people who would not usually visit science public engagement events or comparative events hosted in traditional academic settings, highlighting the importance of venue choice in reaching new audiences and widening participation. An increase in perceived understanding of science was observed by all groups of participants with reported enjoyment focused around the science talks, presentations and blended art-science activities. A putative impact in science capital is observed with participants reporting an increased likelihood of attending science events in the future. Furthermore, increased discussion and awareness of science in society is evidenced by participants. Blended art and microbiology exhibitions enhance the accessibly of science public engagement events and is likely to increase science capital; the impact of this on cognitive polyphasia is also discussed.

Keywords: impact; museums; public engagement in science; science communication; science outreach; widening participation.

Fig. 1.

Variety of activities at Live Lates events. (a) Interactive light box which formed part of the ‘meet your microbiome’ exhibit, (b) ‘making poo’ section of the experimental zone; this stall enabled visitors to mimic the digestion process by adding food and chemicals to an artificial stomach and then squeeze out the contents, (c) the mini-lecture series ran parallel to the interactive exhibits and provided the scientific background to the Live Lates, matching the event themes and (d) the urine and urinary tract infection activity where visitors could test simulation urine for markers of disease and infection.

Fig. 2.

Effect of visiting event on perceived knowledge, Year 1. The amount of perceived knowledge participants gained during The Horror Within event in the six science content areas was ranked from 1 (nothing) to 5 (a lot). Responses were categorised by participant type: Arts; n=13, Science; n=4, Both; n=26, Neither; n=8. Data shown are mean±standard deviation, * indicates P≤0.05, ** indicates P≤0.01, *** indicates P≤0.001 in a Wilcoxon signed rank test.

Fig. 3.

Effect of visiting event on perceived knowledge, Year 2. The amount of perceived knowledge participants gained during The Science of Science Fiction event in the five science content areas was ranked from 1 (nothing) to 5 (a lot). Responses were categorised by participant type: Art; n=21, Science; n=4, Both; n=18, Neither; n=8. Data shown are mean±standard deviation * indicates P≤0.05 in a Wilcoxon signed rank test.