Introduction

Welcome! Conservation Science Education Online (CSEO) is an online educational resource that specifically aims to overcome challenges in teaching science in cultural heritage.

This resource is designed to aid educators teaching science by providing topic modules with examples from heritage science, such as conservation.  The aim is to develop meaningful ways of conveying complex scientific concepts that students need to understand.

The resource provides well-developed teaching strategies, case studies, laboratories, and problem-based learning examples tailored for the cultural heritage community, using images, videos and anecdotal methods proved to be valuable in teaching. Included are concepts (referred to as threshold concept) or tasks that can be difficult for students to learn or for educators to teach effectively, but that are deemed critical to the field.

This exciting new resource for science education for cultural heritage allows for an evolving collection of ideas, teaching strategies and educational successes to be housed in one location and shared worldwide. The inaugural virtual conference we held June 14-16, 2022 showcased educational materials for teaching the science of cultural heritage.  Some material from that conference is included in this resource.

If you are interested in learning more about or contributing to the resource, please contact any of the founding organizers (listed below) or write to CSEO@queensu.ca. We look forward to hearing from you.

Organizers

• Alison Murray, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Art Conservation Program, Department of Art History and Art Conservation, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
• Rebecca Ploeger, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Art Conservation Department, SUNY – Buffalo State University, Buffalo, New York, USA.
• Aaron Shugar, Ph.D., Bader Chair in Art Conservation, Art Conservation Program, Department of Art History and Art Conservation, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
• Kyna Biggs, The David Booth Conservation Science Fellow, The David Booth Conservation Department, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, New York, USA.

Version 1, March 2024