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Natural History Dioramas – Traditional Exhibits for Current Educational Themes pp 185–200Cite as

Teaching and Learning Biodiversity with Dioramas

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Abstract

Museums are recognized as important areas of education, and one of their most important challenges is to disseminate issues related to biodiversity in ways that can arouse interest in visitors and promote their understanding. In this chapter we discuss the potential of dioramas to present and disseminate aspects of biodiversity. Further, we will share empirical findings of the biodiversity understanding constructed by adult audiences to diorama-based exhibitions. These findings are based on data collected in two zoological museums, one in Brazil and one in Denmark, and analysed in two ways. In one case, we use the data to elucidate the potential of dioramas to disseminate ideas about biodiversity, by way of the theoretical framework of the Anthropological Theory of Didactics (ATD). In the other case, we use categories of biodiversity approaches to analyse which conceptual perspectives of biodiversity the audience understands while interacting with dioramas. Together, these two analyses inform our discussion of the educational role of museums when presenting topics related to biodiversity and its conservation aspects.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Martha Marandino & Carolina Laurini

  2. Government of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Juliana Bueno

  3. University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Marianne Achiam

Authors
  1. Martha Marandino
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  2. Juliana Bueno
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  3. Marianne Achiam
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  4. Carolina Laurini
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martha Marandino .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Annette Scheersoi

  2. University College London (UCL), Institute of Education, London, UK

    Sue Dale Tunnicliffe

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Marandino, M., Bueno, J., Achiam, M., Laurini, C. (2019). Teaching and Learning Biodiversity with Dioramas. In: Scheersoi, A., Tunnicliffe, S. (eds) Natural History Dioramas – Traditional Exhibits for Current Educational Themes. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00208-4_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00208-4_13

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-00207-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-00208-4

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