In this era of pandemics, economic crises and civil unrest, science centres and museums have an opportunity to become truly relevant resources to society. This paper summarises a number of critical lessons from the PISEA International Symposium, a conference held the at the Austrian Museum of Folk Life and Folk Art in Vienna from the 17th–18th of October 2019. The purpose of this event was to share, learn, and discuss ways in which engagement with migrants and refugee populations might be improved within informal science learning spaces. Issues around integration, inclusive art-science practice, and shifting institutional policy and language were all explored. This paper also calls for the committed reform of informal science spaces, and a renewed commitment to responsive, equitable, and inclusive practice.

This paper presents a unique method for documenting and reflecting learning in interdisciplinary science learning settings, which prioritises the perspectives of marginalised learners and which may be used across cultural contexts. Short for “magazine” or “fanzine,” zines are small DIY booklets which can contain poetry, narrative, drawings, comics, collage and more. Often associated with radical or alternative cultures, they can become a kind of self-made soapbox for the creator, a material artifact that, by its very deconstructed and deconstructing nature, encourages a personalised remixing of ideas. Within this paper, we examine the practical and pedagogical positioning of zines within a STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) context. As both a visual and text-based artifact, a zine is uniquely capable of capturing broad responses to diverse learning experiences which blur disciplinary boundaries and offers an inclusive and firmly emancipatory approach to reflective practice.

<p>Tech Scéal, an Irish initiative, exploring algorithmic justice, robotics, and the future of planetary science with migrant and refugee families. The topics and approaches were directly informed by the learners themselves through informal discussions held during the plenary period of the project. From these conversations, a series emerged which focused on creative coding and robotics as cultural tools and ways to imagine, create, and claim a more just and joyful technological future. Grounded in story work and a based on a role playing tabletop gaming format, learners set out to remake relationships with with technology in a way that leveraged and contributed to the cultural practices of their communities. This research project also supported playful intergenerational learning opportunities during the pandemic, where families could gather online to share stories and create new knowledge around subjects of personal interest. Results including the impacts on the identity, attitudes, and learnings of participants will be shared as well as key takeaways of working with participants from diverse migration backgrounds.</p>