Scientific method in the transformation from students to professionals

Henderson, Jane ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3027-8452 2009. Scientific method in the transformation from students to professionals. Presented at: Conservation in Wales The Role of Science in Conservation: The Oakdale Institute, Museum of National History, St Fagans, Cardiff, UK, 18 June 2009. Published in: Henderson, Jane ed. Conservation in Wales: The role of science in conservation. Conservation Matters in Wales Cardiff: The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales and National Museum Wales, pp. 7-11.

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Abstract

What Does Science Offer Conservation? Rarely in conservation do we deal with certainty. It is often uncertain what the best conservation approach is, although it is often a lot easier to be certain what is not a good approach. Science can provide information to conservators about the materials being considered and it offers an understanding of processes especially when variables are limited, but it does not resolve the certainty problem. So what does science offer? Is the biggest contribution that science has to offer conservation scientific method? As this paper is about teaching students, the definition used for the purposes of this paper has been sourced on ‘wikipedia’. Scientific method: ‘systematic pursuit of knowledge involving the recognition and formulation of a problem, the collection of data through observation and experiment, and the formulation and testing of hypotheses’ (Wikipedia 2009) The original source of this quote preceded the statement by noting that method involved the identification and formulation of a problem. This definition has been adapted to illustrate method in conservation (table 1). The paper will examine this process and how it is taught and learned.

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Published
Schools:	History, Archaeology and Religion
Subjects:	A General Works > AM Museums (General). Collectors and collecting (General)
Publisher:	The Federation of Museums and Art Galleries of Wales and National Museum Wales
ISBN:	9780750457576
Funders:	Welsh Government, Welsh Government
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	18 July 2018
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2022 14:13
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/113071

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