ABSTRACT
When we think about designing science learning environments, we attend to what the visitor brings to the encounter, what the designed environment offers, and the diversity of ways creative cognitive activity can happen in the space between them. Recent research, however, has revealed a different picture, suggesting that many exhibits do not offer unbiased and equitable science learning opportunities for visitors. Many natural history museums create their object-rich galleries with the expectation that visitors will conform to a cultural norm of quiet and subdued behavior regardless of whether this may marginalize visitors who express interest and pleasure by active movements and vocalizations. Museums have only begun to explore how to engage their visitors with scientific processes in ways that encourage individual expressions and individual differences. One can imagine that exhibit labels could speak to diverse audiences without implying that there is only one way to view the world. It is time for museum professionals to acknowledge the role that museum exhibits may play to further systemic biases.
