Publ. Astron. Soc. Aust., 2000, 17, 275–281 Impact of Observatory Visitor Centres on the Public’s Understanding of Astronomy Kimberly Burtnyk Manager of Evaluations, California Science Centre, 700 State Drive, Los Angeles, CA 90037, USA Received 1999 October 15, accepted 2000 September 4 Abstract: In recent years, formal astronomy education has become an issue of great interest. Indeed, some boards of education now officially include astronomy in their curricula. While formal astronomy education continues to gain attention, informal astronomy education for the general public has rarely been addressed. One valuable source of informal astronomy education is the observatory ‘visitor centre’. Observatories draw thousands of visitors each year, and as such represent a golden opportunity for the astronomical community to communicate directly with the public. This paper summarises an exploratory study of the cognitive and affective impacts of a visit to the visitor centres located at Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories. Keywords: astronomy education—observatory visitor centres—informal education 1 Introduction Mount Stromlo Observatory is one of Australia’s Throughout history, astronomy has connected people oldest observatories. Nestled in the Brindabella Range together, spiritually, scientifically, and even literally, in on the outskirts of Canberra, it is home to five tele- the realisation that we are all stardust. In this regard, scopes, the largest of which has a modest 1.9 metre astronomy is truly a science for all people. The power of diameter primary mirror—Australia’s third largest astronomy lies in its aesthetic appeal, but the continuing telescope. loss of the night to the lights of civilisation means that The visitor centres at both observatories are located people today are exposed less and less to a beautiful in the immediate vicinity of the largest telescopes on star-filled sky. Yet, while the stars are disappearing, the site. Visitors can view these telescopes from ‘galleries’ keen interest in all things astronomical, among many located in each of the domes. Mount Stromlo also con- people, is not. Subsequently, there are now myriad ways ducts regularly scheduled slide shows and guided tours for people wishing to learn more about astronomy to of two telescopes on site, including the 1.9 m. access information from books, magazines, specialty An important difference between the two visitor television programs, planetaria and the internet. centres is their respective ages: Siding Spring’s is 25 These are all valuable resources for astronomy years old, and Mount Stromlo’s is just three years old. education for a wide audience. Yet while they play a The content and design of the exhibitions therefore role in educating the public they are not the only such reflects the eras in which they were constructed. Siding sources of astronomy for the interested individual. In Spring boasts a primarily text based (museum like) fact, one resource for astronomy information and edu- exhibition that was common at the time of its construc- cation that has rarely received formal research attention tion; Mount Stromlo boasts new and highly interactive are the visitor interpretive centres located on-site at exhibits, common in modern science centres. many of the world’s observatories. Two such visitor centres associated with Australian observatories are the 3 The Research Method ‘Exploratory’ exhibitions at Mount Stromlo Observatory This research took place between May 1998 and April (MSO) in Canberra, and at Siding Spring Observatory 1999. The initial phase of the study took the form of (SSO) near Coonabarabran, New South Wales. on-site open-ended interviews where adult visitors to Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring observatories were 2 The Setting randomly selected upon entry into the Exploratory Siding Spring Observatory is located in scenic Warrum- exhibitions, unobtrusively observed throughout their bungle National Park in northern New South Wales, visit, and interviewed upon exit. Adults chosen for Australia. It is blessed with some of the darkest and interviews were alone or in pairs, and without young clearest skies anywhere, and astronomers from around children. Childless respondents were chosen since the the world use its eight telescopes. The most famous desired interview data required that visitors had not been resident of the observatory is the Anglo-Australian influenced by the needs of children during their visit. In Telescope (AAT). With a primary mirror nearly four total 51 Siding Spring and 28 Mount Stromlo visitors metres in diameter it is the largest optical telescope in were interviewed. Interview questions related to exhibits Australia. on which visitors spent some time, as well as questions © Astronomical Society of Australia 2000 10.1071/AS00043 1323-3580/00/030275$05.00 276 K. Burtnyk relating to the entire visit experience. Cognitive and Once the decision had been made to visit the obser- affective responses were sought. vatory more than half of Mount Stromlo and Siding The last phase of the study took the form of follow- Spring visitors expressed that their motivation for up telephone interviews, which were conducted between visiting the site was to see a telescope. Furthermore, six weeks and ten months after initial visit experiences. many visitors at both locations expressed a desire to Follow-up interviews were used to reveal the robustness look through a telescope, as the following examples and longevity of visitor recollections, behaviour and/or illustrate [in the excerpts, M/F denotes the gender of the attitude changes resulting from the visit, and cognitive respondent, I denotes ‘interviewer’, R denotes ‘respond- and affective outcomes. In total, 39 follow-up interviews ent’, and the number denotes the respondent’s age were conducted: 26 from Siding Spring, and 13 from group]: Mount Stromlo, representing roughly half of all visitors F 30s [MSO] interviewed at each observatory. I would have liked to have seen, been able to look through, even the one that was up here, it would have been nice to have actually been able to look and see out 4 Research Findings into space, I was looking forward to that. M 60s [SSO] 4.1 Who visits Observatories and why? I’d like to look through a telescope like this one! Visitors to both observatories possessed a wide range of It deserves mentioning that Mount Stromlo conducts interest and knowledge levels. Some considered their a public observing program and Siding Spring does not. knowledge to be nearly non-existent, while others It is also important to note that the Stromlo Exploratory expressed a more serious interest, demonstrated by houses a 14 inch telescope that is to be used when describing their use (recently or in the past) of field planets and the moon are visible in daytime skies. (This guides, binoculars, or even telescopes while looking at is the instrument being referred to by the first visitor the night sky, and by expressing an interest in various above.) However, over the course of this study, that sources of astronomical information. Perhaps surpris- instrument was never seen to be in use. ingly, no visitors were found to have any extensive formal astronomy educational training, nor would be described (nor did they describe themselves) as ‘amateur 4.2 Results of Follow-up Interviews astronomers’. Following the example of museum researchers (Falk & Most visitors were tourists, and in the case of Siding Dierking 1992), the first question on the follow-up Spring, were taking a break on a much longer driving questionnaire was simply: ‘Tell me everything you journey. No visitors were in the area deliberately and remember from your visit’. This approach encourages exclusively to see SSO and no visitor was found to be a unprompted, unbiased, open-ended responses involving resident of any of the communities immediately both cognitive and affective recollections. Visitors were surrounding the observatory. This is not surprising given also asked to recall which memories were clearest in the remote location of the observatory, and the low their minds, specific exhibits, and whether or not they population density in surrounding areas. Accordingly, ‘learned’ anything new. the situation was quite different for Mount Stromlo, Responses to these questions revealed surprising where half of all interviews involved at least one diversity. Besides specific exhibits, visitors also recalled resident of Canberra who was escorting visiting relat- a wide variety of miscellaneous memories from their ives. The other half of MSO’s visitors was either local or visit (see Table 1). Affective responses like ‘we had a out of town tourists who (unlike SSO visitors) had great time’, ‘we had an enjoyable day’, weather con- deliberately set out to visit the observatory on that ditions, or events not directly related to the observatory particular day. visit itself, were also frequently part of the ‘memories’ At both observatories, the most commonly quoted recalled by visitors. reason for stopping was curiosity; some visitors were Not surprisingly, the most oft-quoted memories from curious because they had heard of Mount Stromlo or both locations were the telescopes. When then asked Siding Spring and wanted to see it, while others were which memories were clearest in their minds, the tele- curious because they had not heard of the observatory scopes, in both locations, were also mentioned the most. and wanted to know what it was. Some Siding Spring Over the course of the entire follow-up interview, visitors saw the dome of the AAT from afar and decided visitors frequently recalled specific exhibits. Table 2 to take a closer look. Others dropped in only after seeing reveals that fourteen SSO exhibits and ten MSO exhibits a sign for the observatory upon their arrival in were mentioned. Of those SSO exhibits mentioned, Coonabarabran. In fact, some had never heard of Siding seven were text-based displays, and seven were hands- Spring until they arrived in town. The case was similar on or interactive exhibits.