Kate's Research Question

How can Historic Sites pull upon fields outside of history, like biology, to develop a better education experience for their visitors? 

The goal of my research is to develop an educational experience that incorporates biology into the Seneca Falls Women's Rights National Historical Park in order to broaden the interests of the general public, provide more options for the type of experience guests can have when visiting, and show how biology and history are connected fields and how they both impact our culture. The exact form of the education experience has not been decided on, as it is dependent on what the Historic Park is looking for. As such, my research question will be adjusted to the specific problems and questions posed by the type of education outreach I settle on. The topic will relate to invasive species and the impact that has on commerce and culture. If this is done through the lense of a general view, or more specifically through bird or plants will be decided on what The Historic Park would like to develop.

Why it important to combine biology and history?

We tend to think of these topics as being separate, but our environment influences our history and our history alters our environment. How did the environment look during Stanton’s time? How did this impact her life?

Why is it important we talk about invasive species?

Invasive species alter the biodiversity of a region and this can impact the parts of the economy reliant on local ecology as well as altering landmarks and sites of cultural importance.

Questions, questions, questions.

Transitioning from topic to research question can be difficult. What specific aspects of the topic do you want to focus on, why does this aspect matter and how will your findings affect readers are just a few questions one must ask when developing a good research question. After reading the first two chapters of A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses and Dissertations, I’ve been able to focus on the core concept of my topic that I’m interested in, using technology in a museum setting to create a better visitor experience for individuals with autism, and do further research to develop my research question.

When looking at my project idea for a thesis (described in an earlier post), my first question had to be “why is a phone app the most effective way to execute a project like this?” In one article I read, Educational and digital inclusion for subjects with autism spectrum disorders in 1:1 technological configuration by Lucila Maria Costi Santarosa and Debora Conforto, the researchers found that phones and other personal touch screen devices were by far preferred by their subjects.

Photo: creative commons

With this fact confirmed not just by this source but several others, I knew that my project was certainly feasible and could be very useful. So, I proceeded to come up with my research question.

As per the Manual for Writers, I knew my research question needed to encompass two things: what did I want to find out about the topic and why would the answer to this question be useful to readers; or, why does this question matter? After thinking about it for a few days, I came up with the following question: How can museums utilize a downloadable app for personal devices to provide a more inclusive and sensory-friendly experience for individuals with autism?

I’m very excited to continue my research and work on my thesis. Any suggestions or comments, as always, are greatly appreciated.

Blog Post IV: Senior Thesis Project and Working Research Question

As I have mentioned in previous posts, my thesis is going to explore the ways in which museums and archives can contribute to language preservation and revitalization efforts. I believe museums and archives have a great potential to help for a variety of reasons. First, museums are tasked with being the repositories that preserve, educate, and spread awareness of different cultures, groups, movements, individuals, and more. Language is a central component of culture and tradition, and it can therefore potentially tie in with a museum’s mission. Furthermore, taking the time to highlight the importance of language will be key so that my audience/readers are invested and have a reason to care. Second, there are many challenges with teaching endangered languages compared to majority languages. There are limited speakers, most of whom may be elderly, and they aren’t trained in education. Most linguists aren’t, either. Therefore, museums and archives can be that means of supporting endangered languages and educating the general public about them beyond the classroom. Third, cultural institutions already have a great basis for contributing to these efforts. In many collections, there are oral histories, old manuscripts, and other materials that could be of use to the preservation and revitalization of languages. Museums and archives can curate exhibitions or promote programs to make use of these materials. One example is The National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages, which is a two-week long workshop where native community members from across the country come together in Washington, D.C. to research documents relating to their languages and cultures. The members are partnered with professional linguists and “navigate Smithsonian and Library of Congress archives and collections, locate and acquire documents, interpret writing systems, and transform archival materials into practical lessons for language learning” [1]. I get excited thinking about the possibilities when uncovering the efforts of museums in language revitalization. I plan on researching more about language preservation and revitalization from a linguistic perspective, other current connections to museums, and then suggesting methods for the future.

This screenshot from The National Breath of Life's page highlights the mission and includes a quote from a participant that demonstrates the positive impact projects like this have.

With all of this in mind, my working research question is: Given the missions of cultural institutions (e.g. museums, archives), their collections, and their relationships with surrounding communities, how can these institutions successfully contribute to the preservation and revitalization of endangered languages in the long-term, and how can success be evaluated? The question aims to encompass both linguistic and museum perspectives, to consider current cases while maintaining a vision for the future, and to captivate readers and encourage them to learn more about endangered languages.

Source:

[1] “About the Workshop.” National Breath of Life Archival Institute for Indigenous Languages, 2017. 

Native Peoples of the Americas, Redux: The Plan

Every thesis, or any research project, for that matter, begins with a working research question.  Now, this question may change and develop as research progresses and new information is brought to light or new ideas form, however, it helps to begin with a fairly concrete idea.  In the case of my thesis, this idea was that the Rochester Museum and Science Center’s (RMSC) history exhibits seem out of place, both within the museum’s mission and their physical space.  To narrow this down further, the Native Peoples of the Americas exhibit appears especially outdated (both in terms of theme and method of display) and incongruous when compared to other parts of the museum, even its fellow history exhibits.  This leads me to ask the following question.  In what ways can Native Peoples of the Americas be altered or redesigned to better fit with the RMSC’s mission, both present and future, and visitors’ expectations for the museum and their experience within it?

In order to answer this question, I will need to conduct research in three different areas. To begin, I will review the existing body of literature on the history of display and representation of Native Americans in science museums in order to better understand the history of this practice, as well as how other museums are adapting/changing their Native American exhibits to bring them in line with both their current missions and modern understandings of native culture.  I will then interview key members of museum staff to gain insight into what they view the future direction of the RMSC as a whole to be, and what changes they might envision for the exhibit moving forward.  Next, I will survey visitors to this exhibit about their visit experience within the exhibit, how they feel this experience fits into their overall experience at the RMSC, and what changes could occur to the exhibit to improve their experience.

The end result of this research will be a set of recommendations for the exhibitions and curatorial staff of the RMSC, synthesized from all three sources of research, regarding how best to alter and/or redesign Native Peoples of the Americas, if and when it becomes a priority to do so in the near future.