Museum learning

Draft

Motivations for museum learning

LRDC's museum initiatives are grounded in the conviction that informal learning environments are increasingly important venues for real learning. We are interested in museums and other out-of-school environments as locations where children have some of their first encounters with discipline-specific learning, where students and teachers can extend formal activity, and where adults can pursue life-long learning in the disciplines.

(Learning in Museums and Beyond, retrieved 14:03, 17 July 2006 (MEST)).

Pedagogical strategies

Object-based learning

One strategy often used in museums is object-based learning. Object-based learning can be incorporated into a variety of activities, but all have the same basic theory in common: by exploring material culture (art, artifacts, specimens, documents, etc.), people can learn about the object and its relationship to other objects, people, eras and ideas. This method of learning enables the participant to look directly at an object, be it a sculpture or painting, artifact or advertisement, primary document or ritual object, and, using a myriad of questions, discover its role and importance in our world - past, present and future. Objects are used to initiate discussion, as well as make connections to the learner's own experiences.

(What is object-based learning?, Museum learning initiative, retrieved 14:03, 17 July 2006 (MEST))

Links

• ED 831 Reading & Reference List, Jay L. Lemke, School of Education, Department of Educational Studies, at the University of Michigan (retrieved 12:28, 17 July 2006 (MEST))

• Informal science “The comprehensive resource for the latest research and techniques to encourage the learning of science in everyday life.”. Large database.

• Learning in Museums and Beyond, LRDC, University of Pittsburg.

• UPCLOSE, University of Pittsburgh Center for Learning in Out-of-School Environments.

References

• Ash, D. & Wells, G. (in press ??). Dialogic inquiry in classroom and museum: Actions, tools and talk. To appear in Learning in places: The informal education reader. UK: Peter Lang Publishers.

• Ash, D. & Klein, K. (2000). Inquiry in the informal learning environment, In .Teaching and Learning in an inquiry-based classroom (Eds.) J. Minstrell & E. Van Zee: AAAS, 216-240.

• Léonie J. Rennie & David J. Johnston (2004). The nature of learning and its implications for research on learning from museums, Science Education Supplement: In Principle, In Practice: Perspectives on a Decade of Museum Learning Research (1994-2004), (88), S4-S16.

• Kirsten M. Ellenbogen, Jessica J. Luke, & Lynn D. Dierking (2004). Family learning research in museums: An emerging disciplinary matrix?. Science Education Supplement: In Principle, In Practice: Perspectives on a Decade of Museum Learning Research (1994-2004), (88) S48-S58.

• Knutson, K. & Crowley, K. (2005). Museum as learning laboratory: Developing and using a practical theory of informal learning. Hand to Hand. 18(4), pp. 4-5. PDF

• Paris, S. (1997). Situated motivation and informal learning. Journal of Museum Education. 22 (213) pp 22-26.