Chinese Science Museum Educators’ Perspectives on the Contradictions between Their Practice and Visitors’ Expectations

Abstract

Science museum educators’ perceptions of the relationship between their professional practices and visitors’ expectations affect the formulation of their self-identity and their educational practices as museum education professionals. Situated in the sociocultural context of Chinese science museums this phenomenological study explored the perceived contradictions between museum educators’ and visitors’ expectations from the educators’ standpoint. In this study, 23 museum educators from five Chinese science museums participated in face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Informed by Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) the outcomes suggest four thematic contradictions within the activity systems composed of museum educators and visitors. This study demonstrates the sociocultural complexities of educator-visitor relationships and offers suggestions for building a collaborative learning community for museum education in Chinese science museums. Moreover, the outcomes have relevance for other museums situated in similar cultures around the world where science museums and museum education are a relatively new and developing enterprise.

Keywords:

• Chinese science museum educators
• contradictions
• educator-visitor community
• professional expectations
• social interaction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1 Mian zi: in Chinese 面子, “representing a person’s reputation and feelings of prestige (both real and imagined) within their workplace, society, their family unit and among their friends” (Upton-McLaughlin, 2013).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (2012WZD05) and Hunan Social Science Foundation, China (19YBQ108).

Notes on contributors

Jiao Ji

Jiao Ji is an Associate Professor at Central South University, China. Her academic work is located in the field of museum education and visitor studies, and she is a member in the Academic Committee of Children’s Museum Research Center, China. Her research interests include museum education and visitor studies.

David Anderson

David Anderson is a Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. His academic work is situated in the fields of Museum Education and Science Education, and is he the Director of the Master of Museum Education (MMEd) degree program at UBC. He is a Japan Foundation, Ritsumeikan, and Unversitas 21 Research Fellow, and his research interests include educational reform, professional development, long-term memory, and emotional affect in informal settings.

Xinchun Wu

Xinchun Wu is a Professor at Beijing Normal University, China. His academic specialization is in the field of educational psychology and mental health studies.