Summative :: Borun, M. (2008). Surviving: The Body of Evidence. [Museum Solutions] University of Pennsylvania.

last updated: 2010-05-25 23:53:03

Project Name	Surviving: The Body of Evidence
Project Lead	University of Pennsylvania
Project Website	http://www.museum.upenn.edu/new/exhibits/surviving/index.shtml
Associated Grant	NSF#0337243
Report Author(s)	Minda Borun
Evaluation Organization(s)	Museum Solutions
Download Report	Surviving_Summative_Report-1.doc

Summary

Introduction
The University of Pennsylvania Museum received a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop, install, and evaluate an exhibition on human evolution. The exhibition, entitled Surviving: The Body of Evidence, opened in May, 2008. It was produced and first exhibited in Philadelphia at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and will travel to other venues across the United States. Surviving…is a ground-breaking exhibition which looks at contemporary human beings in the context of their evolutionary history. Containing approximately 4,000 square feet of artifacts, interactives and multimedia presentations, Surviving is targeted towards visitors ages 10 and up.

Surviving shows visitors the connections between the process of evolution and their own abilities, limitations, and cultural experiences. They discover how our evolutionary past defines our bodies, our minds, our culture, and our possible destiny. Goals of the exhibit are for visitors to discover that:
• All life forms, including humans, are linked.
• Human beings are the product of an evolutionary process.
• Scientists are constantly searching for, finding, and interpreting evidence of that process.
• The evolutionary process and its outcomes have a profound impact on every aspect of our daily lives.
• Human beings, as they appear today, are not an end product – nor are they perfect.

Summative Evaluation
The University Museum contracted with Minda Borun, Museum Solutions, to conduct front-end, formative, and summative evaluation of the exhibition. The following is the report on the summative evaluation which was conducted from October through December, 2008. The summative assessment consists of two parts: 1) tracking and timing to find out which parts of the exhibition are visited and which parts are underused and 2) exit interviews to determine what meanings visitors construct for the exhibition and how they feel about it.

Sample
The majority of respondents were 15-29 years old with more females than males in the group. Visitors came in small family groups of two or three people or with a large, organized group.

Visitor Reactions
Visitors to Surviving were intrigued by many aspects of the exhibition. Only 13% of the visitors were confused by anything in the exhibition. People learned a wide variety of new information and concepts and the exhibition helped them to understand how scientists learn about human evolution.

Learning
Visitors remembered many of the differences between humans and other species. One conceptual difficulty with the Surviving exhibition was that, after viewing the exhibition, some people remained confused about “adaptation” and “evolution”. They tended to see adaptation as a change during the lifetime of an individual, rather than a change in the gene frequencies within a group. This misconception was evident in the front-end focus groups and is very resistant to change.

Design
The majority of visitors were pleased with the amount of text, number of displays, and the amount of scientific information in the Surviving exhibition. They either liked or had no opinion about the design of the exhibit. The most popular section of the exhibition was Human Anatomy and Function.

Conclusions
Surviving: The Body of Evidence is an extraordinarily rich and fascinating exhibition on human evolution. This large and varied exhibition features a diverse array of techniques. The story of human origins and development is told through multi-media presentations, hands-on interactives, artifacts, and graphic panels. Unfortunately, two accidental factors are responsible for the exhibition’s relatively low attendance. First, it is located in a far corner of the Museum building, easily missed by many. Second, the University Museum is not air-conditioned; due to the temperature requirements of the computers in the exhibition, Surviving was enclosed by glass doors. The doors gave the exhibition the look of a “back-of-house” space and some visitors did not think they were supposed to enter. It is hoped that as it travels to other venues, Surviving will receive the attention and density of visitors that this beautifully crafted exhibition deserves.

Tags