The giant artery: blood and blood vessels in a science museum

In order to communicate scientific knowledge of blood and to raise awareness regarding physiopathology events occurring in blood, we describe here the creation and development of an art facility built at the Brazilian Science Museum. The installation reproduces a large human artery that visitors can...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of biological education 2021-08, Vol.55 (4), p.440-458
Main Authors: Oliveira, Taiana L. C., Consort-Ribeiro, Karla, Bevilacqua, Gabriela D., Kurtenbach, Eleonora, Araujo-Jorge, Tania C., Coutinho-Silva, Robson
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
art-installation
blood vessels
non-formal education
Science museum
science-art
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In order to communicate scientific knowledge of blood and to raise awareness regarding physiopathology events occurring in blood, we describe here the creation and development of an art facility built at the Brazilian Science Museum. The installation reproduces a large human artery that visitors can walk through, designed to communicate several concepts about blood and blood vessels. It displays models of various cellular and molecular components and their characteristics: The mediation process uses analogies to express scientific content foster communication between the public and the concepts portrayed. Scenography techniques and features were used to produce models of actual blood components, including visual and sensory analogies and lighting. A survey was conducted in the form of questionnaires to 61 visitors; 99% of them very much liked the personal experience within the giant artery and 85% reported having a concrete learning experience with respect to some of the content. Our results suggest that the art installation communicates several concepts about blood and its components, conveying understanding of its characteristics and functions. The 'Giant Artery' provides visitors with a union of meanings characterised by scientific content and its associated emotions and sensations, finally resulting in an understanding of concepts.
ISSN:0021-9266
2157-6009
DOI:10.1080/00219266.2019.1707259