fbpx Designing for gender diversity | Ecsite

Designing for gender diversity

Find this session's presentations here.

Never have science centres and museums been more aware of their obligation to be ‘for everyone’. At the same time, recent discoveries in science education research have pointed out just how subtle exclusion mechanisms can be, even among institutions that take conscious, active steps to be inclusive. Moreover, the exclusion mechanisms can be located at institutional or societal levels beyond the reach of individual science educators.

This workshop will introduce participants to a guiding framework and engage them in identifying gender exclusion mechanisms at the micro, meso, and macro levels in concrete cases from science centres and museums. Participants will work intensively in groups to generate suggestions for resolving or remedying these issues, utilising their considerable expertise in combination with the framework. Finally, an expert panel will offer perspectives on the participants' discussions and the framework’s implications for science centre and museum practice.

Facilitator

Executive Manager
Vienna
Austria

Session speakers

Marianne Achiam
Associate professor
Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Denmark
Recent research in gender and STEM education shows how subtle gender exclusion mechanisms can be, and at the same time, how pervasive they are. Marianne Achiam will give participants a brief overview of the latest gender research to frame the workshop, and then engage participants in group-work. Based on concrete cases, participants will work in groups to identify and generate solutions to gender exclusion problems in science centres and science museums.
Senior Researcher
As a discussant, Toni Dancstep’s strong background in engaging underserved audiences and the relationship between exhibit characteristics and visitor interactions will allow her to give qualified and forward-looking perspectives on the discussions of the workshop participants, and to situate those discussions in the larger science centre and museum gender discourse.
Associate Professor
University College London
London
United Kingdom
As a discussant, Emily Dawson will contribute to the framing and discussion of the workshop’s outcomes. Her seminal work on social inclusion and science centres and museums will allow her to focus on the social equity and social justice implications of the framework.
Professor of science and environmental education
London
United Kingdom
As a discussant, Justin Dillon’s experience with science education in museums, science centres and botanical gardens in the UK, continental Europe and elsewhere gives him a strong vantage point from which to reflect on the presented gender inclusion framework and its implications for practice.