Abstract:

To examine the learning support for visitors to a museum exhibition room, it is necessary to understand the philosophy behind its development and function. It is also important to consider the child’s development stage when conceiving the learning support in the museum. However, science education research clarifying the philosophy behind the establishment of the exhibition room for early childhood and the type of exhibition developed to realise that philosophy remains limited.

In this study, we attempted to clarify how the philosophy was reflected in the development of an exhibition room for early childhood by taking up the ‘ComPaSS’ exhibition room in the National Museum of Nature and Science and one of its characteristic exhibits, ‘Miru-Miru Table’, as a case study. The ‘Miru-Miru Table’ is one of the main exhibits of Compass, consisting of approximately 100 resin-encapsulated specimens of various insects, plants, or aquatic animals.

We conducted individual semi-structured interviews on three employees of the National Museum of Nature and Science who had taken to develop the ComPaSS. Participants were interviewed for approximately 60 to 90 minutes in March and October 2020. To facilitate the ease of response during the interviews, questions were sent by e-mail in advance, and some of them were answered in writing, also by e-mail. The written responses were confirmed orally during the interviews. The data analysed in this study consisted of transcriptions of oral responses obtained in the interviews and the written e-mail responses.

Analysis of the data from the interviews revealed that one of the philosophies of Compass is to cultivate scientific literacy during early childhood by ‘feeling’ and ‘thinking’. To realise this philosophy, the ‘Miru-Miru Table’ uses specimens encapsulated in a rectangular cube of resin. Children are able to hold the specimens in their hands and observe them from different angles. They can also examine the specimens under magnification using monitors and loupes. The children are encouraged to collect and arrange the specimens according to the same species. In the museum, researchers compare, classify, and collect objects, and at the ‘Miru-Miru Table’, children can experience these processes. Therefore, the philosophy of cultivating scientific literacy during early childhood by ‘thinking’ is realised. On the other hand, children can play with the resin cubes as if they were blocks of wood, or they can collect and arrange them according to colour. Even children who are not interested in specimens will encounter a variety of them during their play. This realises the philosophy of cultivating scientific literacy during early childhood by ‘feeling’.

In an interview, the developers of ComPaSS said that with the ‘Miru-Miru Table’, they wanted to create a space that allowed for different methods of playing, in which one tool could be used in a variety of ways. This approach led to the development of an exhibition that cultivates both the ‘feeling’ and ‘thinking’ aspects of scientific literacy.

Keywords:

Early childhood education, science museum, scientific literacy, museum education.