Developing global awareness among young students: A study of students’ experiences with the museum exhibition A World at stake
Doctoral thesis
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http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2588438Utgivelsesdato
2019Metadata
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- Institutt for geografi [1131]
Sammendrag
Abstract
The dissertation presents a case study of A World at Stake, a museum exhibition inspired by the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals. A World at Stake was displayed at Glomdalsmuseet in Elverum, Norway, during 2013¬–2014. The large majority of fieldwork was undertaken from January to June 2014.
Unlike many other museum exhibits, A World at Stake invited classes of young students to participate in and solve hands-on tasks related to global poverty and inequality, on a game board surface spread out over 250 square metres. The exhibition itself offered a particular and, in many ways, stereotypical representation of inequality and an unjust world. Rather than critiquing A World at Stake as such, the dissertation focuses on how young students’ engagements, particularly while ‘playing’, were fundamental to the ways the tasks were experienced and, crucially, to the potential of these experiences to develop the students’ sense of global awareness. Against this background, the main research question emphasizes the perspective of the participants in A World at Stake:
What characterises young students’ experiences with A World at Stake, and how can these experiences be related to students’ global awareness?
The dissertation responds to this overall research question through four sub-questions, addressed in four publications. These questions are:
1. How are issues of global poverty, social justice and global citizenship addressed and promoted through A World at Stake?
2. How are students’ curiosity-evoking capacities regarding global poverty and inequality as addressed in A World at Stake associated with their participation and mastery experiences in the exhibition?
3. What is the role of affect and emotion in students’ experiences of A World at Stake, and in what ways does the exhibition affect students’ understandings of ‘poor others’?
4. How do young students engage in images of social inequality in A World at Stake, and in what ways do these engagements demonstrate how they negotiate their own lives and develop a sense of global awareness?
Together, these publications analyse different parts of the exhibition and how they mobilize different types of experiences. The dissertation applies both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and concludes that A World at Stake contributes to developing students’ sense of global awareness to some degree. The conclusion rests on the argument that students’ experiences of mastery, their affective and emotional engagement and their negotiation of identity in A World at Stake in different ways can be related to the three following dimensions of global awareness: ‘multiple perspectives on the world’, ‘knowledge of global issues’, and ‘the world as interrelated systems’. The following book chapter and journal articles are included in the dissertation:
Nielsen, S. & Klein, J. 2015. A World at Stake – Global citizenship, justice, and the role of museums. Thoresen, V.W., Robert, D., Klein, J. & Declan, D. (eds.). Responsible living - Concepts, Education and Future Perspectives, 217–232. London: Springer.
Nielsen, S.S. 2016. Stimulating curiosity for global poverty and inequality - An explorative study of students’ experiences with the exhibition A World at Stake. Nordisk Museologi 2, 41–59.
Nielsen, S.S. & Aitken, S.C. (Pending editor’s decision). Affect and emotion with ‘A World at Stake’. GeoHumanities.
Nielsen, S.S., Setten, G. & Klein, J. (Under review). Producing global awareness? A visual analysis of young students’ negotiations of images in a museum exhibition. Children’s Geographies. Sammendrag
Denne avhandlingen presenterer en case studie av En verden på spill, en museumsutstilling inspirert av FNs tusenårsmål. En verden på spill ble vist ved Glomdalsmuseet i Elverum i perioden 2013-2014. Feltarbeidet ble i all hovedsak utført fra januar til juni 2014.
En verden på spill inviterte skoleelever til å løse praktiske oppgaver relatert til fattigdom og ulikhet. I motsetning til mange andre museumsutstillinger deltok elevene i aktiviteter fordelt over en 250 kvadratmeter spilleflate. Utstillingen fremstilte ulikhet og en urettferdig verden på en distinkt og potensielt stereotyp måte. I stedet for å kritisere fremstillingen i En verden på spill, fokuserer avhandlingen på hvordan elevenes engasjement, særlig under spillforløpet, påvirket deres erfaringer med innholdet, og hvorvidt disse erfaringene har potensiale til å utvikle global bevissthet hos elevene. Den overordnede problemstillingen vektlegger derfor deltagernes perspektiv i En verden på spill:
Hva karakteriserer elevenes erfaringer med En verden på spill, og hvordan kan disse erfaringene relateres til utvikling av elevenes globale bevissthet?
Avhandlingen svarer på problemstillingen gjennom fire underproblemstillinger i fire publikasjoner. Problemstillingene er:
1. Hvordan adresseres og promoteres tema om global fattigdom, sosial rettferdighet, og globalt medborgerskap i En verden på spill?
2. På hvilke måter er elevenes nysgjerrighet for global fattigdom og ulikhet slik det fremstilles i En verden på spill relatert til deres deltagelse i og mestringserfaringer med utstillingen?
3. Hvilken rolle spiller affekt og følelser for elevenes erfaringer med En verden på spill, og på hvilke måter påvirker utstillingen studentenes forståelser av de ‘fattige andre’?
4. På hvilke måter engasjerer elever seg i representasjoner av sosial ulikhet i En verden på spill, og på hvilke måter viser deres engasjement en forhandling av elevenes egne liv og utvikling av global bevissthet?
Til sammen analyserer artiklene hvordan ulike deler av utstillingen mobiliserer ulike typer erfaringer hos elevene. Avhandlingen anvender både kvantitative og kvalitative metodologier, og konkluderer med at utstillingen til en viss grad bidrar til å utvikle elevenes global bevissthet. Konklusjonen bygger på at elevenes mestringserfaringer, deres affektive og følelsesmessige engasjement, og forhandling av identitet i En verden på spill på ulike måter kan relateres til tre dimensjoner ved global bevissthet: “multiple perspektiv på verden”, “kunnskap om globale tema”, og “verden som sammenvevede systemer”. Avhandlingen inneholder følgende bokkapittel og artikler:
Nielsen, S. & Klein, J. 2015. A World at Stake – Global citizenship, justice, and the role of museums. Thoresen, V.W., Robert, D., Klein, J. & Declan, D. (eds.). Responsible living - Concepts, Education and Future Perspectives, 217–232. London: Springer.
Nielsen, S.S. (2016). Stimulating curiosity for global poverty and inequality - An explorative study of students’ experiences with the exhibition A World at Stake. Nordisk Museologi (2), 41-59.
Nielsen, S.S. & Aitken, S.C. (Avventer redaktørens beslutning). Affect and emotion with ‘A World at Stake’. GeoHumanities.
Nielsen, S. S., Setten, G. & Klein, J. (Til vurdering). Producing global awareness? A visual analysis of young students’ negotiations of images in a museum exhibition. Children’s Geographies.
Består av
Paper 1: Nielsen, Sigurd; Klein, Jørgen. A World at Stake -Global Citizenship, Justice, and the Role of Museums.. I: Responsible Living: Concepts, Education and Future Perspectives. Springer 2015 ISBN 9783319153049. s. 217-233Paper 2: Nielsen, Sigurd. Stimulating curiosity for global poverty and inequality : an explorative study of students' experiences with the exhibition A world at stake. Nordisk Museologi 2016 (2) s. 41-59 http://dx.doi.org/10.5617/nm.4411
Paper 3: Nielsen, Sigurd; Aitken, Stuart C. Affect and emotion with a world at stake. - The final published version is avialable in GeoHumanities Volume 5, 2019, issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1080/2373566X.2019.1575760
Paper 4: Nielsen, Sigurd; Setten,Gunhild; Klein, Jørgen. Producing global awareness? A visual analysis of young students' negotiations of images in a museum exhibition. This paper is awaiting publication and is not included in NTNU Open