Promoting space culture among population from disadvantageous backgrounds: The experience of Expo Ingenio - The Space in Chiapas, Mexico, 2015.
- Paper number
IAC-16,E1,7,4,x32300
- Coauthor
Mr. Raul Mendoza Azpiri, Mexico
- Year
2016
- Abstract
During November 2015, a civil organization based in Chiapas, México (Germinalia A.C., member of the global network “Reimagine learning through play” of the Lego Foundation) held a public event about space arts and sciences, called “Expo Ingenio-The Space”. More than 3,000 people from urban and rural contexts of the Highlands of Chiapas lived an educational experience at a temporary interactive exhibition of 13 rooms featuring astronomy, astrophysics, space exploration, theories about the universe, space technology, and space arts. It had a complete program of conferences and workshops with more than 16 institutions dedicated to space arts and sciences in Mexico, US and Europe. The presentation at the IAF will describe some relevant results from the evaluation, that made it a special socio-educational approach that effectively achieved the appropriation of space knowledge and culture among non-specialized publics: a) The contents, museographical materials and interactive devices were developed from an non-formal educational center in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas: EL INGENIO, Center of learning and creativity development, subsidiary of Germinalia A.C. b) Kids, youth, scientist, artists, amateurs and educators gathered together to design, build and operate an original immersion that promoted playful and artistic ways for public access to space culture. c) Interactive devices and informative materials were built out of local and recycled materials, combined with digital technologies. d) The exhibition was accompanied by educational workshops were the public built rockets, airplanes, digital interfaces, and constructed meaningful learnings around current theories for understanding our universe. e) More than 15 conferences and public events were held, featuring astronauts, space artists, astrophysicists, pilots and space doctors, who interacted with the audiences and created public interest about their fields. f) There were mobile planetariums, art performances and cinema projections in different locations of the city. g) The event developed innovative mediation techniques and atmospheres that effectively paved the emotional and cognitive contexts for scientific appropriation among a population not used to these contents. h) The event was friendly for all audiences, with proper spaces for every age, from early child to adults. The relevance of the experience, beyond its direct impact on non traditional population (who showed very positive results at the evaluation), was its contribution to non-traditional space educational approaches, by an integral model that combined creativity, research, collective construction of knowledge, museographic production, equalitarian dialogue, child and youth participation, appropriate and inexpensive technologies, and a deep interdisciplinary and interinstitutional work.
- Abstract document
- Manuscript document
(absent)