This summer, many science and technology museums in Jiangsu Province ushered in the peak visitor flow period. Early in the morning of August 20, there was a long queue at the entrance of Nanjing Science and Technology Museum, and the 20,000 tickets that day were basically full. With the increasing attention of the whole society to the development of science and technology, the demand for science popularization of science and technology museums has also increased. Can science and technology museums across Jiangsu meet the needs of popular science education, and how to keep up with the development trend of science and technology, so that more people can "often come to the science and technology museum"? Xinhua Daily Junction reporter investigated.
Science and technology museum "new"! Limited funds "change" new tricks
Magical wooden house dances, giant cacti spinning in an inverted space, multi-dimensional music experience in a tinkling valley... Recently, China's first interactive sensory technology art experience exhibition "Super Sense World" was unveiled at Nanjing Science and Technology Museum, and more than 30 large-scale science and art installations attracted many citizens to visit. At the scene, many tourists were surprised to find: it seems to have entered the Harry Potter movie world!
What attracts visitors to the Science and Technology Museum many times? At the scene, Nanjing citizen Ms. Wang told reporters that she brought her 6-year-old child to the science and technology museum once two years ago, and recently heard that there was a temporary exhibition, so she took her child to experience it again. Many tourists have said that the motivation that attracts them to the science and technology museum many times is that "the science and technology museum has a new experience".
Zhang Zhiqiang, director of Nanjing Science and Technology Museum, introduced that enriching the content supply is to let the audience who come to the museum in the summer have something to see and play. This summer, Nanjing Science and Technology Museum introduced three major temporary exhibitions: "Great River Travel - Colorful Life of the Yangtze River", "Super Sense World" immersive science and technology art experience exhibition and "Butiange - Galaxy Dream" astronomical science popularization exhibition, and newly built "MR Metaverse Park", "Eye Health Science Popularization Experience Center" and "AI Learning Space Station" and other exhibition items.
It is not easy for the Science and Technology Museum to keep up with the pace of technological development and update the exhibition area. The exhibition items of the science and technology museum are outdated, the equipment is broken and it is difficult to repair, and the explanation service cannot keep up... These problems not only cause problems for tourists, but the science and technology museum itself is also somewhat inadequate. It is understood that there are currently 7 city-level science and technology museums and 11 county-level science and technology museums in the province. Taking Nanjing Science and Technology Museum as an example, Nanjing Science and Technology Museum is an old museum that has been open for nearly 20 years, and has launched a step-by-step renovation plan since 2016, with an average of one exhibition area per year. Except for the local area on the first floor and the second floor, the four floors of the entire venue have been almost renovated, and in recent years, an average of about 30 exhibits have been updated every year, maintaining a renewal rate of 10%. Zhang Zhiqiang introduced, "At present, it has completed the transformation of six exhibition areas, including Robot World, Basic Science, Children's General Experience, Energy and Environment, Nanjing Primary and Secondary School Science and Technology Innovation Center, and Information and Technology. Last year, the 'Information and Technology' exhibition area was completed and opened, and 25 exhibits were renewed. This year's new exhibition areas such as the Eye Health Science Experience Center, AI Learning Space Station, and MR Metaverse Park have been opened one after another in the summer. ”
How to ensure the funding of the free science and technology museum for the renewal of exhibits? It is understood that in recent years, the free opening subsidy fund of the science and technology museum has increased year by year. In 2023, 14 science and technology museums in Jiangsu Province received a total of 34.53 million yuan in central subsidies for free opening, which were mainly used for subsidies such as the reduction of free open ticket revenue, the increase in operation guarantee, and the renewal of exhibits.
However, the waiver funding does not fully meet the needs of the Science and Technology Museum renewal. Lu Jianqing, director of Taicang Science and Technology Museum, said frankly that in order to meet the public's demand for the continuous renewal of science and technology museums, according to the frequency of updating a science and technology museum exhibition item in 10 years, the capital investment for the renewal and transformation of exhibits is not enough. However, it is worth noting that the "free opening central financial subsidy fund for the science and technology museum" of the Taicang Science and Technology Museum has increased from 500,000 yuan in 2019 to 1.3 million yuan in 2023, which will be used for daily operation guarantee subsidies and exhibition equipment maintenance and renewal subsidies. She explained that during the four years from 2019 to 2022, Taicang Science and Technology Museum renovated the original exhibition areas such as deconstructing nature, chemical exploration, information technology, etc., and through four years of renovation, the 13 major exhibition areas in 2017 were updated to 12 major exhibition areas, covering scientific content such as "sound, light, electricity, magnetism, and force", with a total of 116 (sets) of exhibits, with more reasonable exhibit divisions and more distinct themes.
Can limited funds make the pavilion more innovative? Xu Chunning, director of Yancheng Science and Technology Museum, believes that the renewal of the exhibition hall can start from local popular science resources and become more distinctive. Yancheng Yellow Sea Wetland is an irreplaceable habitat for millions of migratory birds, where the Yellow Beach is vast and magnificent, the lake wetland is vibrant, the Yellow River is ancient and modern, rich in biodiversity, Yancheng Science and Technology Museum has carried out a variety of wetland science popularization activities, so that science popularization activities and local natural characteristics are fully integrated, to create a natural, open science and technology museum.
"Borrowing power to update", science and technology museums in various places have come up one after another
For small and medium-sized science and technology museums, the large-scale renewal of the exhibition area is not only financially unbearable, but also the area of the science and technology museum is not enough to place more new exhibits? Lu Jianqing has a clever trick: open the science and technology museum outside the museum! She introduced that in 2021, Taicang Science and Technology Museum began to try to open the museum, combined with the actual situation of Taicang, fully integrated science popularization resources, on the basis of the original museum-school cooperation, innovatively carried out the "exploration and amazement - walking classroom" museum-school cooperation activities, in the Taicang Water Bureau Taicang Water Saving Education Base, Taicang Municipal Health Commission's Health and Health Commission's Health and Health Pavilion, Taicang Urban Management Bureau's garbage classification and other theme science popularization hall, Taicang City Institute of Technology "Future Three Airlines People", Wu Jianxiong Exhibition Hall and other popular science education bases to set up Taicang Science and Technology Museum branches. Integrate Taicang's popular science resources and conduct course research and development on their exhibits.
Opening the science and technology museum to the campus can effectively supplement the space for youth science education. Xu Chunning introduced that Yancheng Science and Technology Museum signed an agreement with Yancheng Mechanical and Electrical Higher Vocational and Technical School to build Yancheng's first "campus science and technology museum", and more than 500 wetland and marine specimens continued to play their popular science value in the school.
"If there is no extra funds, find a way to graft the resources of Tai Kwun." Xu Chunning introduced that after the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum was closed and upgraded, the Yancheng Science and Technology Museum took over some of the exhibits to reuse the science and technology exhibits. In May 2021, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum cooperated with Yancheng Science and Technology Museum in Jiangsu Province, Jiaxing Science and Technology Museum in Zhejiang Province, and Lu'an Science and Technology Museum in Anhui Province to jointly build and sign a signing event. After the signing of the four halls, the exhibition and teaching staff of the partner will help each other and communicate regularly, so as to achieve common improvement in exhibition and education activities, science performances, popular science dramas, joint exhibitions, and co-construction and sharing of digital resources. In addition, Yancheng Science and Technology Museum also forms a "three-hall linkage" with Yangzhou Science and Technology Museum and Taizhou Science and Technology Museum, respectively bringing characteristic popular science resources to other two cities for tours, and jointly researching development products and declaring projects, etc., which can not only reduce costs, but also revitalize popular science resources.
With the help of the power of the alliance, the science and technology museum can also be kept open and always new. Zhang Zhiqiang introduced that the Nanjing Association for Science and Technology initiated the establishment of the "Nanjing Modern Science Popularization Venue Alliance" to gather and integrate the city's popular science resources and build a platform for the joint construction and sharing of popular science resources. At present, the total number of member units of the alliance has reached 62, including 15 national-level science popularization education bases, 43 provincial-level and 3 municipal-level science education bases, and 1 national-level scientist spiritual education base, covering 11 districts of the city, initially forming a high-quality science popularization infrastructure system covering all districts of Nanjing.
Strengthening the connection of science popularization resources is conducive to forming a joint force of regional science communication. This year, Nanjing Science and Technology Museum, together with Underwater World, Porpoise Aquatic Organisms Protection Association, Purple Mountain Nature Academy and Insect Museum, launched "Earth Day" and other activities, released 6 popular science tour routes, and jointly planned the "Venue Alliance Open Course" with Nanjing Primary and Secondary School Science and Technology Innovation Center, and 5 special courses were included in the "Fall in Love with Technology" summer camp. During the Science Popularization Week, activities such as "2023 Science Popularization Venue Alliance Science Education and Science Popularization Resources Exhibition", "The 2nd Nanjing Science Popularization Industry Development Forum" and "The Launching Ceremony of Science Popularization in Jianye District, Five Institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Nanjing" were planned.
In the wave of scientific and technological development, technology companies often stand at the head of the tide, and cooperation with science and technology enterprises is a "shortcut" for science and technology museums. Among the member units of the "Nanjing Modern Science Popularization Venue Alliance", many are science and technology enterprises.
In the Nanjing Science and Technology Museum, the reporter saw that the iFLYTEK AI exhibition area was crowded, and many teenagers were talking to AI, practicing AI painting, and playing backgammon with AI... Zhang Zhiqiang said that the Nanjing Science and Technology Museum has cooperated with the industry-renowned Hefei Panshi Technology Co., Ltd. to introduce high-quality commercial temporary exhibitions, and this summer's cooperation with the curator of "Super Sense World" is the second time, and last year's cooperation "Mechanical Phantom City" temporary exhibition is also very popular.
On August 18, the 2023 "Chasing Dreams and Flying into the Future" space-themed joint action jointly organized by Taicang Science and Technology Museum, Zhejiang Linping Science and Technology Museum and Shanghai Songjiang Science and Technology Museum was launched at Taicang Science and Technology Museum. More than 100 teenagers from Taicang and Shanghai Songjiang walked into the Taicang Science and Technology Museum together, visited permanent exhibition areas such as "Candy Paradise", "Birth of the Universe" and "Electromagnetic Mysteries", as well as the special exhibition of traditional Chinese wood art "Into the Wood Three Points", watched the science show "Vortex Air Cannon", experienced the wood art theme science course "Fun Shavings", made "water rockets", turned into a small aerospace engineer, and explored the mystery of rocket liftoff. In the outdoor square of the Science and Technology Museum, the "water rocket" drew an arc in the air, and the teenagers' space dreams also took off.
"In the future, the three county-level science and technology museums in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai will continue to work together, actively explore the direction and path suitable for the development of small and medium-sized science popularization venues, and work together to make valuable innovative practices for the Yangtze River Delta Science Popularization Venue Alliance." Combined with the actual situation, deeply integrate and optimize the popular science resources of the three places, improve the efficiency of the utilization of popular science resources, improve the energy efficiency of the popular science circle services, and jointly cultivate excellent scientific and technological counselors. Lu Jianqing said.
How about visiting a science and technology museum than a playground? The "preservation" of the Science and Technology Museum has a long way to go
"Sometimes it's better to go to the science and technology museum than to go to the amusement park." In a science and technology museum, a tourist complained. Some exhibits are too old, the equipment is broken and cannot be experienced, there are not enough fresh exhibits, and the supporting services are not perfect enough... These problems have basically become a common problem for small and medium-sized science and technology museums. How to attract tourists to come to the science and technology museum often and have a fresh experience in the museum has become a problem.
The reporter learned from some small and medium-sized science and technology museums in the province that many scientific and educational activities cannot be carried out due to insufficient staff in some science and technology museums. In order to solve the problem of "stretched manpower", Haimen Science and Technology Museum continues to carry out high-quality science education activities by purchasing the overall operation services of the third-party team, and the third-party team completes the tasks of exhibition and display, research and development of popular science projects, educational activities, and daily maintenance in accordance with the contract.
"Many small and medium-sized science and technology museums will face the problem of 'new museum effect', and the passenger flow will face a decline after one or two years of new museum opening." Lu Jianqing believes that in order to break the "curse" of the "new museum effect", Taicang Science and Technology Museum has done enough in "school-museum cooperation". From March 2019, the library-school cooperation project was launched to do a good job in the function of the second classroom of the school and play a role in popular science education. "In more than four years, we have received 62 schools in Taicang, with a total of more than 76,000 people."
"Have you ever thought about what changes need to be made to let tourists come once and then want to come a second, third or even more times?" This is a question that Jin Lei, director of the Science Popularization Department of the Provincial Association for Science and Technology, often asks the directors of science and technology museums in various places. He believes that if science and technology museums want to remain attractive for a long time, they usually need to upgrade their products in 3 to 5 years. Science and technology museums should have more interactive, experiential and immersive projects. For example, the cinema in the Science and Technology Museum needs to be replaced with new films frequently, showing science fiction movies to attract more people. At the same time, it is also necessary to have brand service support, such as organizing youth science and technology competitions and holding quarterly activities to cultivate a group of loyal tourists. "If the science and technology museum wants to attract popularity, it must be grounded, not only to work on the exhibits, but also to develop derivative services. For example, the development of cultural and creative products of the Science and Technology Museum, various experience projects, etc., to provide users with diversified services. ”
Nanjing Science and Technology Museum has carried out active exploration and attempts in this regard, and the "double reduction" scientific hosting camp launched this summer vacation includes learning, play, lunch... A variety of types of courses are arranged every day, including aerospace, astronomy, in-depth explanations in the exhibition area, drone flight training, paddleboard sports, etc., interspersed with movies, popular science activities and other links during the course to achieve the purpose of edutainment. Since its launch in February 2022, the "Double Reduction" Science Hosting Camp brand activity has been carried out for more than 60 sessions, including 14 different themes such as picture book story meetings, art handicrafts, non-genetic inheritance, astronomy, geography, drones, bionic robots, aerospace, biodiversity, protecting the Yangtze River, and Earth Day, with an audience of nearly 2,000 people.
Only by "user portrait" can we retain the "heart" of users in accurate services. From the perspective of the geographical distribution of visitors from science and technology museums in Jiangsu Province, they are mainly local, and extend to surrounding cities and some cities in the Yangtze River Delta. Zhang Zhiqiang introduced that Nanjing Science and Technology Museum accounts for more than 60% of tourists in this province, followed by tourists from Anhui, Zhejiang and other places, and in the portraits of tourists, parent-child group tours account for more than 70%, indicating that Nanjing Science and Technology Museum is more attractive to parent-child families.
How can the speed of science popularization in science and technology museums catch up with the speed of scientific and technological development? Zhang Zhiqiang believes that the construction of the science and technology museum should reflect both the historical and the epochal nature in terms of content, and let the public understand the ins and outs of scientific and technological development in the process of tracing history and experiencing the present, so as to trigger people's imagination of the future.
"The science and technology museum should fully explore the history of scientific and technological development and display scientific and technological achievements and figures in history, such as the basic science exhibition area." At the same time, the Science and Technology Museum should keep pace with the times and pay attention to the latest developments in scientific and technological development, constantly update the popular science content of the Science and Technology Museum, display the latest scientific and technological achievements and technologies, and let the public understand the latest development of science and technology, such as the information and technology exhibition area, MR metaverse park, AI learning space station, etc. He said frankly that the construction of the exhibition area is often objectively affected by the lag in the popularization of funds and scientific and technological products, and it is indeed difficult to catch up with the speed of scientific and technological development. This requires our popular science activities to keep up with in a timely manner, present new technologies through popular science lectures, popular science exhibitions, popular science practices, etc., and keep the science and technology museum always at the same frequency as the development of science and technology. ”
Xinhua Daily Intersection Reporter Cheng Xiaolin, Cai Shuwen Zhang Xuan
Image source: Respondents