Feasibility of An Introductory Chemistry for Cultural Heritage E-course for Museum Professionals in the Philippines

Abstract

Chemistry knowledge is fundamental in preserving and comprehending the tangible nature of museum collections. Despite chemistry’s importance in cultural heritage, a gap exists between the chemist’s knowledge and the accepted competencies of museum workers. This paper describes an initial study on introducing museum professionals with no formal scientific training in basic chemical thinking and research. A two-hour online session was conceived, comprising two separate lectures emphasizing the concepts, instrumental techniques, and example of a case study of an application of chemical analysis on a local heritage material. An open discussion and exchange of ideas followed the lectures. Feedback from the participants was very positive, and they described the online course as informative and valuable for their museum work. The qualitative evaluations obtained from this paper can serve as baseline information for developing a more extensive e-course in the future.