Informal Learning Review: A New Role for Science Centers and Museums During the Pandemic

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A Publication of Informal Learning Experiences, INC

Informal Learning Review No. 165 January/February 2021 ISSN 2642-7419

Inside: Engaging Latinx Audiences Through the

Cultural Roots of STEM Plus: Public Library Response to COVID Part 2, Transforming Undergraduate Education, and MORE!

In this Issue: 3

Engaging Latinx Audiences Through the Cultural Roots of STEM

By Isabel Hawkins and María ávila Vera

10

Public Library Response to COVID: Part 2

By Stephanie Vierow-Fields, Anne Holland and Paul Dusenbery

17

A pair of Unique Dinosaurs to Take Off in North Carolina

By Robert Mac West

Transforming Undergraduate STEM Education via Informal Learning

22

By David A. Ucko

24

A New Role for Science Centers and Museums During the Pandemic

By Sarah Reed

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A New Role for Science Centers and Museums During the Pandemic

By Sarah Reed When Life Science Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, closed its doors after the October school holidays, they had to remain closed; this part of the country was back under tight restrictions introduced by the UK Government following a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, ahead of the current nationwide lockdown. However, during its temporary

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closure, the venue has found a new purpose and a new way to deliver on its mission – reopening as a COVID-19 large vaccination center.

A NEW LEASE OF LIFE In early November, interim results of the Pfizer/BioNTech

vaccine were starting to emerge, with much excitement about the efficacy figures. Positive news of the clinical trials of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine followed later that same month. The findings dominated newspaper headlines and government briefings around the world. Meanwhile, behind-the-scenes, plans were already being made for the most ambitious vaccination program to date.

In the UK, with the promise of a vaccine on the horizon, executives from the National Health Service (NHS) were already scoping out high-capacity commercial venues to enable speedy delivery of the vaccine.

Linda Conlon, Chief Executive of the International Centre for Life (Life) – the science village that is home to Life Science Centre – was first approached by the NHS in early November about the possibility of leasing the organization’s meetings and events spaces. The enquiry struck the right chord. In these difficult times, it would bring in some welcome revenue for the charity. More importantly, the mission of Life is to inspire everyone in North East England to explore and enjoy science and to discover its relevance to their own lives – Linda considered, ‘what could be more relevant to people in this crisis than a life-saving vaccine?’.

NHS England. (The UK has four health systems, with an NHS for the devolved governments of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.) The large vaccination center at Life is helping to deliver the vaccine to people living across North East England and Cumbria, with up to 1,000 people vaccinated daily, seven days per week.

A LOGICAL CHOICE From a logistical and operational point of view, Life ticked all of the boxes for the NHS: its city-center location is both easily accessible by car and public transport; it has a private service road for the all-important vaccine deliveries; the science center’s 10,000 square feet meetings and events space has a dedicated street-access entrance; and, crucially, the spaces were available for the NHS to use until fall, with the possibility of an extension.

Moreover, Life has a long history of partnering with the NHS and is already home to two permanent NHS clinics that offer treatment for fertility issues and genetic diseases. The NHS logo is proudly displayed on the exterior of Life’s buildings, offering the perfect backdrop for any media interviews the NHS may wish to arrange.

By the time the first COVID-19 vaccine was approved by the UK regulator, MHRA, on 2 December, Life’s spaces had already been transformed into a vaccination center, meaning it was ready to start vaccinating frontline health workers soon after.

The operations were scaled up over the next month, with the vaccination center at Life and six others officially launched by Prime Minister Boris Johnson on 11 January – the first cohort of large vaccination centers planned by

Figure 2: As a partner of Life, the NHS logo is proudly displayed on its buildings.

NHS clinical treatment at Life sits alongside on-site biomedical research, as well as public engagement and education in the science center, creating synergy as scientists, clinicians, science communicators and educators work side-by-side.

Life is home to the research team that created the world’s first cloned human embryo; the first fertility clinic in the world licensed to treat patients using mitochondrial replacement therapy, which was also researched and developed on-site; and a pioneering stem cell treatment that has restored the sight of many people.

Figure 1: Life’s conferencing suite has been transformed into a large vaccination center.

Adding to its accolades, Life is now believed to be the first science center in the world to be used as a COVID-19 large vaccination center. The Thackray Museum of Medicine in Leeds, UK, whilst not running at the scale of a large vac-

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cination center, has also been operating as a vaccination clinic since December. Joining the small cohort of science centers and museums being used in the vaccination program, the Francis Crick Institute in London announced in late January that it is also now home to a large vaccination center.

Life and the Francis Crick Institute stand apart from the other large vaccination centers in England, if not worldwide, for their strong links to healthcare and life sciences.

The only other cultural venue that has currently been chosen to be the site of a large vaccination center in England is the Black Country Living Museum, with others predominantly occupying sports grounds or purpose-built conference centers.

REPUTATION MATTERS Life was proud to share the news about being chosen as the site for a large vaccination center. With the science center only open for 58 days since mid-March of last year (with engagement activities moving to digital formats), the vaccination center created a new way for Life to play an important role in the community. The public response was also overwhelmingly positive, which was especially evident on social media channels.

After a relatively quiet period for the science center, suddenly Life was splashed across national and international news stories, as well as thousands of mentions in regional newspapers across the UK. For the official opening, TV broadcasters turned up to capture footage of the seven large vaccination centers in action – a moment that promised to mark a turning point in the pandemic.

From the outset, the common misperception that Life is involved in the operations of the vaccination center were apparent. For instance, quotes from a representative of the vaccine center were incorrectly attributed in newspaper articles to Life. For the most part, such misunderstandings are inconsequential and are often to Life’s benefit in raising the profile of the organization.

However, with the good comes the bad, and any problems or concerns raised about the vaccination center impact directly on Life’s reputation. On the second day of full operation, for example, the vaccination center suffered from some teething problems, with long queues forming outside. This was apparently caused by people arriving well in advance of their appointment times. The media returned in full force, but the positive coverage of the launch was now replaced with images of elderly and vulnerable people (those at the top of the vaccine priority list) queuing in icy cold conditions. Despite not being involved in the center’s operations, the Life team stepped in to help, of course.

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Aside from the reputational damage, Life’s team were understandably concerned for the welfare of the people visiting the vaccination center. By the following day, some of the exhibition spaces of the science center had been opened up to allow for indoor queuing until the visitor attraction hopefully reopens in spring – by which time, it is hoped everyone over the age of 70 who wants the vaccine will have been vaccinated, and the weather should be more pleasant.

INFORMAL ENGAGEMENT In addition to offering a public service by introducing indoor queuing lanes inside the science center (no fee was charged for this space other than to cover energy and cleaning costs), this offered an opportunity for informal science engagement. Digital screens were installed in the queuing area displaying a slideshow of interesting science facts. People also have the opportunity to view from the queue a display of LEGO® brick models about human ingenuity.

Figure 3 (above): Screen displaying science facts in the queuing area for the vaccination center inside Life Science Centre.

Figure 4 (below): A display of LEGO® brick models can be viewed from the queuing lanes in Life Science Centre.

The queuing lanes also snake past the science center’s Brain Zone, Science Theatre, the Making Studios, and its newest exhibition, Space Zone – giving a tantalizing view of the planetarium and life-size replica of part of the Interna-

tional Space Station. Whilst these exhibitions and areas are currently closed, could a sneak peek of what is available in the science center translate into new visitors when the science center reopens?

It’s an interesting prospect, and this idea of attracting new audiences appears to be something on the minds of the team at the contemporary art museum Castello di Rivoli, near Turin in Italy. The museum is currently transforming its third floor into a large vaccination center, which is expected to open in March or April. In addition to the museum’s public exhibition program expected to run as normal on the lower two floors, once lockdown restrictions are eased, an installation of murals by the Swiss artist Claudia Comte will be visible while patients wait for their vaccine appointments, with a new audio piece created by the artist with the vaccination center specifically in mind.

Having a vaccination center on-site at Life has also led to a sharp rise in the number of people visiting the organization’s website, creating additional opportunities to engage new audiences. The average daily unique visitors to Life’s homepage in January after the official opening (for the period 12-27 January, to remove the anomalous spike in website visits on the launch day) showed a 140% increase on average figures for November and December.

It is believed many of these new visitors are flocking to the website looking for information about the vaccination center and how to book appointments. (Once again, an effect of the blurred lines in public perception of Life’s involvement in running the vaccination center.) Whilst there’s prominent messaging on the website advising people they need to contact the NHS directly for this type of information, there’s evidence in the website analytics that suggests some continue browsing the website and explore the science content.

In particular, Life’s COVID-19 Hub – a repository on the website for the best resources to learn about the science of the virus and vaccines, the misinformation that is spreading online and news stories about local COVID-19 research – has been accessed on average by an additional 270 unique visitors each day in January after the opening of the vaccination center (for the period 12-27 January), compared to November and December. This appetite for scientific information on the pandemic supports research published by Ipsos MORI (Skinner, Garrett and Shah, 2020), which found more than twice as many people thought they saw and heard too little scientific information about COVID-19 (34%) than thought there was too much (13%).

on the importance of science centers to policy makers.

Many policy makers, especially in the UK, still don’t understand what a science center is – a fact that has led to regional science centers in the UK sliding between the cracks when it comes to financial support from the Government.

While other cultural venues – including theaters, galleries and museums – were able to apply for a share of the £1.6bn available in the Cultural Recovery Fund, science centers were deemed ineligible. Regional science centers in the UK have been shunned during the pandemic by the Government solely because they focus on science and technology – subjects that have an incredible impact on shaping modern culture, and never more so than now. In a letter published in the Financial Times newspaper (Conlon, 2020), Life’s Chief Executive said: “It is ironic that this government constantly references science in its attempts to control the pandemic, yet chooses to slam the door shut on places that exist to promote it.”

Looking beyond the unfairness of the situation, regional science centers play an important role in communicating science to communities and increasing science capital.

Research has shown that increasing science capital builds public trust in science (BEIS, 2020). From vaccine hesitancy to anti-lockdown protests, the world would greatly benefit from a bit more trust in science. *LEGO® is a trademark of the LEGO® Group of companies which does not sponsor, authorize or endorse this exhibition.

REFERENCES BEIS. Public Attitudes to Science 2019. 2020.

Conlon, Linda. 2020. Letter: Give science centres the arts funding treatment. Financial Times, November 5, 2020.

Skinner, Gideon; Garrett, Cameron; and Shah, Jayesh Navin.

2020. How has COVID-19 affected trust in scientists? Ipsos MORI.

Sarah Reed is the Communications Manager at the International Centre for Life. She can be reached at sarah.reed@life.org.uk.

LASTING LEGACY There is an opportunity to use this moment to shine a light

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The Informal Learning Review 1776 Krameria Street, Denver, Colorado 80220

On the cover: Architect and engineer Don Victoriano Arizapana Huallhua crossing his community’s woven bridge (Q’eswachaka} in Peru. Learn more about engaging Latinx audiences through the cultural roots of STEM on page 3.