Ocean Turning blue color: an interactive exhibition designed between scientists and museum professionals in Argentina

DÍAZ COSTANZO GUADALUPE; LOMOVASKY BETINA J.; ALDEROQUI SILVIA

Lima

Simposio; 5TH INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE OCEAN IN A HIGH CO2 WORLD; 2022

Argentina has a coastline that is more than 6,000 km long and a marine platform thatis twice its continental territory. However, the country is known for its agriculturalactivities both nationally and internationally. The Cultural Center for Science (C3) is apublic national science museum that depends on the Ministry of Science,Technology and Innovation. The C3 develops different science engagementprograms using a STEAM education approach by carefully combining Science,Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics for stimulating visitors’ inquiry,dialogue about science and critical thinking. Aligned with scientific policies, in 2021the interactive exhibition “Ocean. Turning blue color” was opened after closecooperation with marine scientists from along the country receiving 50,000 visitors todate. The exhibition design process involved different methodologies: from visitor surveysthat helped to understand their previous ideas about the ocean, to co-creationstrategies with scientists that turned out to be fundamental to define the narrative ofthe exhibition. “Ocean” interconnects our lives with the ocean by focusing on currenthuman activities; “Ocean” has people and human activities at its core. In order to doso, the exhibition brings together different scientific disciplines and technologicaldevelopments around the ocean from a social perspective. Indeed, four topics guidethe narrative: climate change, marine biodiversity, marine pollution and society.Installations that evoke personal experiences are identified as the most successfulstrategies since they bring up visitor conversations, memories and anecdotes.Among them, we find Patagonian Scallops, which are easily recognized by theirshapes and known as traditional seafood, as a great example to show how oceanacidification affects marine biodiversity. (We performed artificial erosion with aceticacid). Observations and post-visit surveys reveal that students and families talk andreflect about their connections to the Argentinean Sea and bring back their ownmemories related to it