Abstract
Observing natural history dioramas provides learners with opportunities to identify various aspects of biological science, captured in the moment of time portrayed in a given diorama, such as behaviour, taxonomy, adaptation to the habitat including anatomical specialisations and camouflage colouring. However, such observations also afford opportunities to observe other science phenomena, such as earth science in the geology of the habitat or the weather portrayed. This chapter focuses on aspects of physical science in action shown in the animals featured, and basic ideas such as shape, size, colours and patterns, as well as basic numeracy for earliest learners. Older primary children can explore flight, and floating and sinking principles, much featured in these natural history dioramas. Basic forces, balance and centre of mass are shown in most dioramas, especially those with terrestrial vertebrates, as well as sound and light. Effective learning strategies involve knowing the foundation knowledge that the children possess. This chapter focuses on the aspects of physical science which may be identified in natural history dioramas and the responses of some primary children to identifying such for themselves in a Natural History Museum in the south of England. The dioramas focus on African and Indian animals and their natural environments. Demographics of the schools, where applicable, were noted and relevant permissions obtained. Transcripts of the dialogues in workshops and at the dioramas were collected and analysed through a read-re-read iterative process through which categories of comments emerged. Simple counts were made of responses. These workshops led to children being able to identify the basic physics concepts in action.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Carey, S. (1985). Conceptual change in childhood. Cambridge, MA: Bradford Books, MIT Press.
Driver, R., Giene, E., & Tiberghien, A. (1985). Children’s ideas in science. Buckingham: Open University Press.
Gatt, S., Tunnicliffe, S. D., Borg, K., & Lautier, K. (2007). Young Maltese children’s ideas about plants. Journal of Biological Education, 41, 117–121.
Hadzigeorgiou, Y. (2015). Young children’s ideas about physical science concepts. In K. C. Trundle & M. Sackes (Eds.), Research in early childhood science (Vol. 67). Dordrecht: Springer.
Harlen, W. (2015). Working with big ideas of science education. Science Education programmed (SEP) of IAP. intteracademies.net/activities/projects/12250.aspx. Accessed 20 Feb 2016.
Inagaki, K., & Hatano, G. (2008). Conceptual change in naive biology. In S. Vosniadou (Ed.), International handbook of research on conceptual change (pp. 240–262). New York: Routledge.
Lloyd, E., Edmonds, C., Downs, C., Crutchley, R., & Paffard, F. (2016). Talking everyday science to very young children: A study involving parents and practitioners in an early childhood centre. Early Child Develoment and Care, 187(2), 244. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2016.1226355.
Osborne, R. J., Bell, B. F., & Gilbert, J. K. (1983). Science teaching and children’s views of the World. European Journal of Science Education, 5, 1–5.
Parliament UK. (2014). Answer to house of commons written question 218919. Retrieved from http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Commons/2014-12-16/218919/. Last Accessed 15 Dec 2017.
Patrick, G. P., & Tunnicliffe, S. D. (2013). Zoo talk. New York: Springer.
Powell-Cotton Museum. (2015a). Gallery 1. Retrieved from http://www.quexpark.co.uk/museum/museum-galleries/gallery-1.html. Last Accessed 15 Dec 2017.
Powell-Cotton Museum. (2015b). Gallery 2. Retrieved from http://www.quexpark.co.uk/museum/museum-galleries/gallery-2.html. Last Accessed 15 Dec 2017.
Powell-Cotton Museum. (2015c). Gallery 3. Retrieved from http://www.quexpark.co.uk/museum/museum-galleries/gallery-3.html. Last Accessed 15 Dec 2017.
Reiss, M., & Tunnicliffe, S. D. (2011). Dioramas as depictions of reality and opportunities for learning in biology. Curator the Museum Journal, 54(4), 447–459.
Tomkins, S., & Tunnicliffe, S. D. (2007). Nature tables: Stimulating children’s interest in natural objects. Journal of Biological Education, 41(4), 150–155.
Wellcome Trust. (2013). The deployment of science and maths leaders in primary schools. A study for the Wellcome Trust.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tunnicliffe, S.D., Gazey, R., Gkouskou, E. (2019). Learning in Physical Science Opportunities at Natural History Dioramas. In: Scheersoi, A., Tunnicliffe, S. (eds) Natural History Dioramas – Traditional Exhibits for Current Educational Themes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00175-9_12
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00175-9_12
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-00174-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-00175-9
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)