[Reading Science] Shadows Cast Over the National Science Museum, a Science Powerhouse

Science Museums Falling Behind in the AI Era
Clear Decline in Visitors Mainly Among Elementary Students
Urgent Need for Change Through Operational Improvements

On the 16th, I visited the site to cover an event held at the National Science Museum in Daejeon. Even though it was late afternoon, it was difficult to find visitors. The science museum was filled only with the voices of officials from government-funded research institutes who had come from all over the country for the event.

Minister Yoo Sang-im of the Ministry of Science and ICT, who visited the National Science Museum to attend the event, also toured the exhibition halls. Even at the moment when Minister Yoo, a materials engineer, was intently observing the only iron meteorite discovered in Korea, it was hard to find other visitors in the museum.

The National Science Museum is a science viewing facility representing Korea beyond Daejeon. It was relocated from Seoul to Daejeon in 1990 and opened, and its importance and status have remained unchanged since then. However, in the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the world is changing rapidly every day, but organizational change is slow. The situation of the National Science Museum is exactly like that.

The problem of our science museum starts with the limitation of being mainly for elementary school students. When the students leave in the afternoon, it becomes extremely quiet. It is difficult to expect middle and high school students to visit the science museum in an education environment focused on entrance exam preparation. The declining birth rate also accelerates the crisis of the science museum. The main customers who visit the museum decrease every year, but there are no clear countermeasures. In the 1960s and 70s, when science was a hope, the museum was crowded with visitors, but now that Korea has become a science powerhouse, there is actually an abundance of things to see and experience, and government-run science museums are falling behind in competition with private facilities.

Even when trying to make changes, obstacles arise everywhere. Due to budget shortages, it is difficult to introduce new exhibits. The prices of exhibits are also soaring. A science museum official said, "Popular natural history artifacts have skyrocketing prices, so it is difficult to secure exhibits that can attract visitors' attention with the current budget. Even if we try to introduce new exhibits, the investment cost is high. The absence of young children should be filled by adults, but it is not easy to fill with new content."

This reality was pointed out at the National Assembly audit on the 19th, the day after Minister Yoo's visit. According to data submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT to Assemblyman Lee Sang-hwi, the number of visitors to five national science museums under the ministry's jurisdiction has decreased by an average of about 30.4% over the past five years. The situation at the National Science Museum was the most severe. The visitor decline rate was as high as 42%. The National Science Museum had 1.45 million visitors in 2019 before COVID-19, but last year it was only 835,000. It barely maintained its reputation as the central science museum with a difference of just 7,000 visitors from the National Gwacheon Science Museum.

When the National Science Museum moved to Daedeok, it was legally assigned the mission of overseeing the collection, preservation, research, exhibition, and education related to materials on engineering, industrial technology, history of science and technology, and natural history. It should play the role of Korea's representative science museum, but there are criticisms that laws and administrative support for this have been insufficient. It is also questionable whether the various government-funded research institutes located in the Daedeok Research and Development Special Zone actively cooperated to promote research achievements.

We also need to consider how long the government will continue to manage the science museum. Even if the government supports part of the budget, it is time to leverage private sector power. The American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan, New York, is famous for its realistic exhibits. There are many artists who try to translate exhibits that rival real objects into paintings. This is thanks to highly trained experts who create top-level exhibits. The era when free admission alone attracted visitors is already over. Operation of the science museum that matches the eye level of visitors and the national power of a G7-level country is necessary.