Explainers of science centers and museums: a study of professionals working in Latin America

Abstract

In this article, our objective is to know the professionals who carried out the mediation between the exhibitions, activities and initiatives offered by Latin American science museums and the public. An online survey was used, with 42 closed and open questions, answered by 780 people from 134 institutions in 13 countries in the region. Our data suggest that the majority of these professionals are young people between 20 and 29 years old, who have completed higher education, have worked in the field for less than two years and work on a temporary contract. That is, there is a high turnover of these professionals in science museums in the region, which makes the professionalization of mediation an important challenge. The results suggest an advance in the training of these social actors, with 60% of them claiming to have received some training before starting their mediation activities. We believe that our study will bring valuable information about the professionals who mediate between the exhibitions, activities and initiatives offered by museums and science centers, which can assist in the creation of training and capacity building courses.