This year, many museums will celebrate the enduring legacy of Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution by natural selection is one of the most powerful ideas in the history of human thought, illuminating our interdependence with other species.
No scientific theory has been more scrutinised than Darwin's since it was published 150 years ago. No scientific evidence falsifies it.
However, it still hits the headlines. In a 2006 Ipsos Mori survey, only 48 per cent of respondents said that natural selection was the best explanation for the diversity of life. This suggests a lack of understanding of the scientific processes driving life on earth; worrying when evolutionary science is critical to issues from bird flu to responses to climate change.
With the work of more than 350 museum scientists underpinned by evolutionary science, this theory fundamentally affects how we communicate and operate at the Natural History Museum.
Engaging visitors with evolution is a great opportunity to reveal how science works. It is also a challenge because the evidence for evolution can conflict with people's faith, and also many people feel distaste for the social misappropriations of Darwin's theory.
As a museum of science, we are committed to engaging the most diverse audience possible with scientific evidence. We recognise that there are faith-based views of the development of life, but we do not promote these as alternative narratives. Where visitors raise faith-based views in conversation with our educators, we present the scientific evidence in a respectful way.
In our galleries, visitors find compelling evidence for evolution - from the pentadactyl limb to the evolution of ammonites. This enables visitors to form and test their own hypotheses. The Darwin exhibition goes further by following the clues that helped Darwin develop his ideas, and exploring how he tested his hypothesis.
While specimens and their interpretation invite reflection on evolution, it is the conversations between educators and visitors that offer great potential for stimulating interactions about evolution - and a great risk of misunderstanding.
During Darwin Year, hundreds of spontaneous conversations will take place between visitors and gallery educators, and we have devoted a lot of energy to ensure that staff are confident in engaging visitors with the evidence for evolution in potentially difficult situations.
We needed to agree an approach to conversations on evolution in the galleries. We constructed scenarios including teachers asking gallery educators not to mention the fossil record in a workshop on evolution, or visitors telling gallery educators that they did not believe in evolution.
We worked through the scenarios to develop responses that would uphold our scientific credibility and retain visitors' engagement, giving them the evidence to come to their own conclusions. It became clear that the quality of conversations would depend on our educators' ability to communicate the evidence for evolution and their skill in avoiding arguments.
Feedback suggests that the investment of time, thought and training has been valuable. Our educators feel confident and have already had conversations with proponents of intelligent design where they have felt able to point out scientific errors in their assumptions and present scientific evidence.
It is a crucial part of the museum's work to explore the relationship between science and society. In relation to the theory of evolution, this means providing opportunities to explore its social and cultural impact.
Along with Oxford University Museum of Natural History, which developed this workshop, we run sessions for 14- to 16-year-old science students which re-create the Great Debate of 1860. Groups of students scour the galleries for evidence to support the theories of either Owen, Wilberforce, Huxley or Darwin, and then present and discuss them.
This enables them to understand the relationship between theory and evidence, and provides an insight into what is, and is not, science. Observation of specimens, and understanding a seminal moment in the history of ideas, leads to real engagement with the process of science, and passionate debate.
We have also developed a series of events to investigate Darwin's legacy, including opportunities to debate science and faith.
Developing a clear position on discussing evolution through our public programme has been a challenging and rewarding process. Not every interaction will be perfect - and we will learn from our experiences.
As Darwin Year begins, we are ready to engage thousands of visitors with evolution, providing them with the evidence, building the skills to make up their own minds, and creating a space for debate about the relationship between science and society.
Honor Gay is the head of learning at the Natural History Museum, London
No scientific theory has been more scrutinised than Darwin's since it was published 150 years ago. No scientific evidence falsifies it.
However, it still hits the headlines. In a 2006 Ipsos Mori survey, only 48 per cent of respondents said that natural selection was the best explanation for the diversity of life. This suggests a lack of understanding of the scientific processes driving life on earth; worrying when evolutionary science is critical to issues from bird flu to responses to climate change.
With the work of more than 350 museum scientists underpinned by evolutionary science, this theory fundamentally affects how we communicate and operate at the Natural History Museum.
Engaging visitors with evolution is a great opportunity to reveal how science works. It is also a challenge because the evidence for evolution can conflict with people's faith, and also many people feel distaste for the social misappropriations of Darwin's theory.
As a museum of science, we are committed to engaging the most diverse audience possible with scientific evidence. We recognise that there are faith-based views of the development of life, but we do not promote these as alternative narratives. Where visitors raise faith-based views in conversation with our educators, we present the scientific evidence in a respectful way.
In our galleries, visitors find compelling evidence for evolution - from the pentadactyl limb to the evolution of ammonites. This enables visitors to form and test their own hypotheses. The Darwin exhibition goes further by following the clues that helped Darwin develop his ideas, and exploring how he tested his hypothesis.
While specimens and their interpretation invite reflection on evolution, it is the conversations between educators and visitors that offer great potential for stimulating interactions about evolution - and a great risk of misunderstanding.
During Darwin Year, hundreds of spontaneous conversations will take place between visitors and gallery educators, and we have devoted a lot of energy to ensure that staff are confident in engaging visitors with the evidence for evolution in potentially difficult situations.
We needed to agree an approach to conversations on evolution in the galleries. We constructed scenarios including teachers asking gallery educators not to mention the fossil record in a workshop on evolution, or visitors telling gallery educators that they did not believe in evolution.
We worked through the scenarios to develop responses that would uphold our scientific credibility and retain visitors' engagement, giving them the evidence to come to their own conclusions. It became clear that the quality of conversations would depend on our educators' ability to communicate the evidence for evolution and their skill in avoiding arguments.
Feedback suggests that the investment of time, thought and training has been valuable. Our educators feel confident and have already had conversations with proponents of intelligent design where they have felt able to point out scientific errors in their assumptions and present scientific evidence.
It is a crucial part of the museum's work to explore the relationship between science and society. In relation to the theory of evolution, this means providing opportunities to explore its social and cultural impact.
Along with Oxford University Museum of Natural History, which developed this workshop, we run sessions for 14- to 16-year-old science students which re-create the Great Debate of 1860. Groups of students scour the galleries for evidence to support the theories of either Owen, Wilberforce, Huxley or Darwin, and then present and discuss them.
This enables them to understand the relationship between theory and evidence, and provides an insight into what is, and is not, science. Observation of specimens, and understanding a seminal moment in the history of ideas, leads to real engagement with the process of science, and passionate debate.
We have also developed a series of events to investigate Darwin's legacy, including opportunities to debate science and faith.
Developing a clear position on discussing evolution through our public programme has been a challenging and rewarding process. Not every interaction will be perfect - and we will learn from our experiences.
As Darwin Year begins, we are ready to engage thousands of visitors with evolution, providing them with the evidence, building the skills to make up their own minds, and creating a space for debate about the relationship between science and society.
Honor Gay is the head of learning at the Natural History Museum, London
