Teaching in the Art Museum investigates the mission, history, theory, practice, and future prospects of museum education. In this book Rika Burnham and Elliott Kai-Kee define and articulate a new approach to gallery teaching, one that offers groups of visitors deep and meaningful experiences of interpreting art works through a process of intense, sustained looking and thoughtfully facilitated dialogue.--[book cover].
This groundbreaking book explores why and how to encourage physical and sensory engagement with works of art. An essential resource for museum professionals, teachers, and students, the award-winning Teaching in the Art Museum (Getty Publications, 2011) set a new standard in the field of gallery education. This follow-up book blends theory and practice to help educators—from teachers and docents to curators and parents—create meaningful interpretive activities for children and adults. Written by a team of veteran museum educators, Activity-Based Teaching in the Art Museum offers diverse perspectives on embodiment, emotions, empathy, and mindfulness to inspire imaginative, spontaneous interactions that are firmly grounded in history and theory. The authors begin by surveying the emergence of activity-based teaching in the 1960s and 1970s and move on to articulate a theory of play as the cornerstone of their innovative methodology. The volume is replete with sidebars describing activities facilitated with museum visitors of all ages.
Milo is excited about her class trip to the museum. The docent leads them on a tour and afterward Milo has time to look around on her own. But something doesn't feel right, and Milo gradually realizes that the people from her community are missing from the museum. When her aunt urges her to find a solution, Milo takes matters into her own hands and opens her own museum!
"Education departments in museums of all kinds serve millions of students and adult learners every year, using the objects and other resources of the museum to teach and inspire. The rapidly growing field of museum education provides hands-on, experiential learning, with museum educators often working closely with local school boards to supplement and enhance public school curricula. In Teaching the Museum, twenty contributors from across the exciting field of museum education offer innovative insights, anecdotes, and advice for best practices on how to realize the museum's full potential as an educational institution. From the balance between education and entertainment; to meeting the needs of both one's audience and the collection; to understanding connections between how we learn and how exhibits and programming are designed; this book will appeal to museum educators, students, and teachers seeking to learn more about the field"--Publisher.
This timely book provides a critical look at one of the staples of museum education programming: the "field trip" for school groups. The K-12 audience is of major importance to museums: not only does reaching students relate directly to the educational mission of museums, but also our institutions rely on the revenue generated by school groups.
Teaching History with Museums, Second Edition provides an introduction and overview of the rich pedagogical power of museums and historic sites. With a collection of practical strategies and case studies, the authors provide educators with the tools needed to create successful learning experiences for students. The cases are designed to be adapted to any classroom, encouraging students to consider museums as historical accounts to be examined, questioned, and discussed. Key updates to this revised edition and chapter features include: New Chapter 9 captures the importance of art museums when teaching about the past. Updated Chapter 10 addresses issues of technology, focused on visitors’ experiences in both physical and virtual museums. New coverage of smaller, lesser known museums to allow readers to adapt cases to any of their own local sites. Specific pre-visit, during visit, and post-visit activities for students at each museum. Case reflections analyzing pitfalls and possibilities that can be applied more broadly to similar museums. A listing of resources unique to the museum and history content for each chapter. With this valuable textbook, educators will learn how to promote instruction in support of rigorous inquiry into the past and the goals of democratic values of tolerance and citizenship in the present.
Reculturing Museums takes a unified sociocultural theoretical approach to analyze the many conflicts museums experience in the 21st century. Embracing conflict, Ash asks: What can practitioners and researchers do to create the change they want to see when old systems remain stubbornly in place? Using a unified sociocultural, cultural-historical, activity-theoretical approach to analyzing historically bound conflicts that plague museums, each chapter is organized around a central contradiction, including finances ("Who will pay for museums?"), demographic shifts ("Who will come to museums?"), the roles of narratives ("Whose story is it?"), ownership of objects ("Who owns the artifact?"), and learning and teaching ("What is learning and how can we teach equitably?"). The reculturing stance taken by Ash promotes social justice and equity, ‘making change’ first, within museums, called inreach, rather than outside the museum, called outreach; challenges existing norms; is sensitive to neoliberal and deficit ideologies; and pays attention to the structure agency dialectic. Reculturing Museums will be essential reading for academics, students, museum practitioners, educational researchers, and others who care about museums and want to ensure that all people have equal access to the activities, objects, and ideas residing in them.
The Museum Educator's Manual addresses the role museum educators play in today's museums from an experience-based perspective. Seasoned museum educators author each chapter, emphasizing key programs along with case studies that provide successful examples, and demonstrate a practical foundation for the daily operations of a museum education department, no matter how small. The book covers: volunteer and docent management and training; exhibit development; program and event design and implementation; working with families, seniors, and teens; collaborating with schools and other institutions; and funding. This second edition interweaves technology into every aspect of the manual and includes two entirely new chapters, one on Museums - An Educational Resource for Schools and another on Active Learning in Museums. With invaluable checklists, schedules, organizational charts, program examples, and other how-to documents included throughout, The Museum Educator's Manual is a 'must have' book for any museum educator.
What activities might a teacher use to help children explore the life cycle of butterflies? What does a science teacher need to conduct a "leaf safari" for students? Where can children safely enjoy hands-on experience with life in an estuary? Selecting resources to teach elementary school science can be confusing and difficult, but few decisions have greater impact on the effectiveness of science teaching. Educators will find a wealth of information and expert guidance to meet this need in Resources for Teaching Elementary School Science. A completely revised edition of the best-selling resource guide Science for Children: Resources for Teachers, this new book is an annotated guide to hands-on, inquiry-centered curriculum materials and sources of help in teaching science from kindergarten through sixth grade. (Companion volumes for middle and high school are planned.) The guide annotates about 350 curriculum packages, describing the activities involved and what students learn. Each annotation lists recommended grade levels, accompanying materials and kits or suggested equipment, and ordering information. These 400 entries were reviewed by both educators and scientists to ensure that they are accurate and current and offer students the opportunity to: Ask questions and find their own answers. Experiment productively. Develop patience, persistence, and confidence in their own ability to solve real problems. The entries in the curriculum section are grouped by scientific area--Life Science, Earth Science, Physical Science, and Multidisciplinary and Applied Science--and by type--core materials, supplementary materials, and science activity books. Additionally, a section of references for teachers provides annotated listings of books about science and teaching, directories and guides to science trade books, and magazines that will help teachers enhance their students' science education. Resources for Teaching Elementary School Science also lists by region and state about 600 science centers, museums, and zoos where teachers can take students for interactive science experiences. Annotations highlight almost 300 facilities that make significant efforts to help teachers. Another section describes more than 100 organizations from which teachers can obtain more resources. And a section on publishers and suppliers give names and addresses of sources for materials. The guide will be invaluable to teachers, principals, administrators, teacher trainers, science curriculum specialists, and advocates of hands-on science teaching, and it will be of interest to parent-teacher organizations and parents.
Classic set of 45 articles from the first decade of the Journal of Museum Education and its predecessor, Roundtable Reports. Articles and essays focus on teaching strategies, introspective glances at the museum education field, reports of program successes and near successes, evaluative studies, and reviews of exhibitions and literature related to object-based learning. This title is sponsored by The Museum Education Roundtable. The Museum Education Roundtable (MER) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC, dedicated to enriching and promoting the field of Museum Education.
