Butterfly Adventure: An Interactive Case Study
19 June 2024 at 5:25:00 am
W03 Workshop
75 min
Abstract
In this workshop, you will unleash your inner 5-year-old as you experience Questacon’s Butterfly Adventure program. Butterfly Adventure is a new offering from Questacon which connects First Nations story, language, and ideas with Western science communication to create an interactive role-play for early learners. Butterfly Adventure communicates the life cycle of butterflies to children aged 3-6. We first discuss how butterflies change, and then lead a role-play through a butterfly’s life cycle. Finally, we read the dreamtime story Mununja the Butterfly, as told by Ngunnawal elder Don Bell. The theme of metamorphosis is introduced and developed throughout the demonstration, role-play, and story. After experiencing the workshop, we will discuss the development of Butterfly Adventure, future directions for it and other early learning programs, and how it is one part of a broader 2-way learning and design process between Questacon and Ngunnawal people.
Presenter/s
Relevance to conference themes
The theme of the conference, Support, Connect, Grow, directly relates to the content of this work. Butterfly Adventure, which engages directly with the local Ngunnawal story of Mununja the Butterfly, is a useful case study of how to start to respectfully connect Indigenous knowledge with Western science communication. Hopefully, it can act as an inspiration for others to engage with First Nations people to encourage the incorporation of their story and knowledge as part of general science communication practice in Australia.
The workshop will support participants’ understanding of science communication for early learners. Discussion during the workshop will help them to connect the ideas presented, in order to grow their own practice.