Learning in the Museum

Learning in the Museum
Author: George E. Hein
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 214
Release: 2002-09-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 113486048X

Learning in the Museum examines major issues and shows how research in visitor studies and the philosophy of education can be applied to facilitate a meaningful educational experience in museums. Hein combines a brief history of education in public museums, with a rigorous examination of how the educational theories of Dewey, Piaget, Vygotsky and subsequent theorists relate to learning in the museum. Surveying a wide range of research methods employed in visitor studies is illustrated with examples taken from museums around the world, Hein explores how visitors can best learn from exhibitions which are physically, socially, and intellectually accessible to every single visitor. He shows how museums can adapt to create this kind of environment, to provide what he calls the 'constructivist museum'. Providing essential theoretical analysis for students, this volume also serves as a practical guide for all museum professionals on how to adapt their museums to maximize the educational experience of every visitor.

The Educational Role of the Museum

The Educational Role of the Museum
Author: Eilean Hooper-Greenhill
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 366
Release: 1999
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9780415198264

Grounded in the strengths of its first edition, this book has been restructured to include new papers and recent articles, and presents front-running theory and practice as it addresses the relationships of museums and galleries to their audiences.

Museum Learning

Museum Learning
Author: Jill Hohenstein
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 453
Release: 2017-10-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317445945

As museums are increasingly asked to demonstrate not only their cultural, but also their educational and social significance, the means to understand how museum visitors learn becomes ever more important. And yet, learning can be conceptualised and investigated in many ways. Coming to terms with how theories about learning interact with one another and how they relate to ‘evidence-based learning’ can be confusing at best. Museum Learning attempts to make sense of multiple learning theories whilst focusing on a set of core learning topics in museums. Importantly, learning is considered not just as a cognitive characteristic, as some perspectives propose, but also as affective, taking into consideration interests, attitudes, and emotions; and as a social practice situated in cultural contexts. This book draws attention to the development of theory and its practical applications in museum situations such as aquariums, zoos, botanical gardens and historical re-enactment sites, among others. This volume will be of interest to museum studies students, practitioners and researchers working in informal learning contexts, and will help them to reflect on what it means to learn in museums and create more effective environments for learning.

Museum and Gallery Education

Museum and Gallery Education
Author: Hazel Moffat
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 222
Release: 1999
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 9780742504080

The educational role of museums has become a key professional concern. This book addresses the educational role museums play from an international perspective. The contributed essays provide timely reviews of the key themes and case studies provide practical examples of the research. Ideally suited for all museum staff and students of museum studies.

The Manual of Museum Learning

The Manual of Museum Learning
Author: Brad King
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 287
Release: 2015-12-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1442258489

Museum learning is a vital component of the lifelong-learning process. In this new edition of The Manual of Museum Learning, leading museum education professionals offer practical advice for creating successful learning experiences in museums and related institutions (such as galleries, zoos, and botanic gardens) that can attract and intrigue diverse audiences. The original Manual of Museum Learning was published in 2007. The editors have totally rethought this new edition. This second edition focuses on the ways museum staffs (and the departments for which they work) can facilitate the experience in a way that capitalizes on their individual institutional strengths. The goal of this new edition is to provide museums with guidance in developing a strategic approach to their learning programs. There is a close connection between institution-wide strategic planning – where an institution decides what course and direction it will take for a five to seven-year period – and its approach to museum learning. One size does not fit all, and what each museum is (or aspires to be) will affect its individual approach. Thus there are many routes for museums to take, many alternative ways for them to play this role. No one museum can be all things to all prospective learners; they will be better suited to some approaches than to others. This new edition identifies these approaches and enables museums to find the paths for which they are individually best suited, to help them identify their own unique approaches to facilitating museum learning. Each one’s mission and vision, its relationships with institutional and public stakeholders, local cultural and market factors, its individual collection and programmatic strengths, its financial position – all of these things matter. This second edition aims to help each museum find the right approach to learning for its unique situation by showing them the range of museum “personalities” in terms of their being learning institutions, what constitutes each type, and what the implications are of choosing one or another approach for a particular museum. A major theme of the 2nd edition of The Manual of Museum Learning is museum as connector; the ways in which museums are facilitating self-directed learning by connecting people with resources. Not all will connect audiences with learning vehicles in the same way. If museum learning is affective learning, then it is the role of the museum to connect its visitors, program participants and others who benefit from its knowledge to the learning resources that best suit the institution’s strengths and matches them to the learning needs of the museum’s audiences. By connecting users to the resources they are most interested in, or which best suit each individual’s particular learning styles, museums are at their best when they empower individuals to design their own learning experience in ways that resonate best with each individual.

Progressive Museum Practice

Progressive Museum Practice
Author: George E Hein
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2016-06-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1315421844

George E. Hein explores the impact on current museum theory and practice of early 20th-century educational reformer John Dewey’s philosophy, covering philosophies that shaped today’s best practices.

Perspectives on Object-Centered Learning in Museums

Perspectives on Object-Centered Learning in Museums
Author: Scott G. Paris
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 376
Release: 2002-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1135645280

The goal of this book is to cull from the last NSF conference, the "best ideas about how children interact with objects & through that interaction acquire new understandings, attitudes, and feelings."

Teaching in the Art Museum

Teaching in the Art Museum
Author: Rika Burnham
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 182
Release: 2011
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1606060589

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].

Learning at the Museum Frontiers

Learning at the Museum Frontiers
Author: Dr Viv Golding
Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages: 366
Release: 2012-12-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 140949182X

In Learning at the Museum Frontiers, Viv Golding argues that the museum has the potential to function as a frontier – a zone where learning is created, new identities are forged and new connections made between disparate groups and their own histories. She draws on a range of theoretical perspectives including Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics, Foucauldian discourse on space and power, and postcolonial and Black feminist theory, as well as her own professional experience in museum education over a ten-year period, applying these ideas to a wide range of museum contexts. The book offers an important theoretical and empirical contribution to the debate on the value of museums and what they can contribute to society. The author reveals the radical potential for museums to tackle injustice and social exclusion, challenge racism, enhance knowledge and promote truth.

Activity-Based Teaching in the Art Museum

Activity-Based Teaching in the Art Museum
Author: Elliot Kai-Kee
Publisher: Getty Publications
Total Pages: 186
Release: 2020-01-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 160606617X

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.