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How do museums help to create a better world?
Because we live in a culture in which we primarily receive information written and shared by those who think just like us, I have spent the last two weeks immersed in a flood of media that deepens my...
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Museums and political thought: A follow-up
My two most recent posts have suggested that museums may have techniques at their disposal that help transform thinking, in particular fostering critical thinking and tolerance. Since sharing those...
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How can we support local networking among museum educators?
This guest post is by Becky Gaugler, an independent Museum Educator in Pittsburgh. In her previous position, Becky managed programs for school and adult groups at Carnegie Museum of Art as an...
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What are people searching for when they find Museum Questions?
For a while now I have been intrigued by the search terms people use to find this blog, which WordPress (the blogging program I use) shares as part of their statistics. As a way to reflect on 2016, I...
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Where and What Do We Learn About Research? An Investigation Into a...
A few months ago I stumbled upon an IMLS blogpost sharing research about the impact of informal learning environments on academic achievement. Deanne Swan, formerly a researcher for IMLS, mined a large...
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What is the political role of art education in rural communities?
Kate Baird is a museum educator at the Springfield Art Museum in Springfield, Missouri. She is also a founder of Placeworks, which offers art residencies and field trips at no cost to participating...
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How can museums help us (re)learn the art of conversation?
In What is the political role of art education in rural communities? Kate Baird, museum educator at the Springfield Art Museum, explored experiences with art education in conversation with three of her...
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Why are children’s museums museums? – Take 3
For the past few months I have been working an article related to children’s museums, and thinking a great deal about the period from the 1960s to the 1980s, when children’s museums transformed from...
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Why visit childrens museums? Interview with Elizabeth Kaplan
Elizabeth Kaplan is a lawyer who lives in Louisville, Kentucky and a college friend of mine. When she visited Peoria recently I learned that she has taken her children to children’s museums all over...
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How do we engage parents in children’s museums?
My last two posts (here and here) have examined the history and impact of children’s museums, and have led to a dialogue with Gretchen Jennings, who responded to last week’s post on her blog, Museum...
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Schools and Museums: Ideas and Implications, Part II
In Fall 2014 I began an exploration of the relationship between schools and museums on this blog, with the goal of thinking about, and rethinking, the field trip model. At that time I created a page...
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Why are museums wary of new audiences? Interview with Laura Huerta Migus
Laura Huerta Migus is the Executive Director of the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM). Prior to joining ACM, Laura was the Director of Professional Development and Inclusion Initiatives of the...
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Where are the objects? Why is this a museum? What allows us to claim special...
As a museum educator who has spent two decades thinking about object-based education, I found the shift to children’s museums challenging. Where are the objects? Why is this a museum? What allows us to...
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What is the role of objects in an institution committed to social justice?
Museum educator Andrea Jones writes a blog called Peak Lab Experience – a blog I highly recommend reading. Like many of her posts, Museums, Can We Stop Letting Objects Control The Narrative?, published...
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How can we learn from the past?
This guest post is by Lynda Kennedy, the Vice President of Education and Evaluation at the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum Complex. Lynda has worked at numerous museums, including the Museum of...
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Paid Internship: Join the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum as the...
The Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum is hiring a paid education intern. The intern will get to work with an amazing team and help shape programs at a very young museum (we celebrate our 2nd birthday...
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What are we communicating to parents through the secret language of seating?
This guest post is by Miriam Leviton, Director of Arts Education at JCC Manhattan. After working at a children’s museum in Berkeley, California, Miriam relocated to New York in 2008 for a year-long...
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What does it mean for a museum director to have a vision?
This week’s guest post is by Tracy Truels, Director of Learning and Engagement at Oklahoma City Museum of Art. Tracy has also worked at museums in Houston and New York. In addition to her work in...
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What does a successful maker space in a children’s museum looks like?...
“Maker Spaces” are currently in vogue: they are now a fairly standard component of children’s museums, and many art museums have drop-in spaces for children and families to create art during their...
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What do teachers gain from professional development at an art museum?
We talk a great deal about learning from our visitors, so whenever I read something about museums by a non-museum-professional I take note. This description of a day-long teacher workshop at the...
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