Finding the Subject in the Material

Every day there’s an opportunity to see the subject in the material. This picture is the perfect example: we weren’t looking for an art shot on our historic meander, but we found one.

Museums and schools have had a long symbiotic relationship that has recently been put on the rocks.  Schools these days are severely underfunded when it comes to field trips, making teachers focus on getting the most out of every trip taken in a year. Museums, in turn, have had to move towards a more formal look at their classes and offerings for schools in order to satisfy local and state curriculum and education standards. Thus, we have the subject of today’s post: finding the subject in the material.

What does that even mean? Don’t you usually write the material for the subject? Yes and no. If you go into a museum with the subject in mind, you may not get as full of a field trip or visit as you’d like. But if you go into a museum with the material in mind, the subjects are endless.

Take, for example, a natural history museum. Rocks, minerals, animals, maybe even dinosaurs (anyone that says they don’t like dinosaurs is probably lying, FYI). If you look at it as just a chance to study fossils or the natural environment, you may miss out on the opportunity to discuss texture, history, human impact, or mathematics (think word problems). If you go into an art museum expecting to only discuss art, you’re missing out on mathematics, politics, world cultures, literature, mythology, world religions, history, and science, as well as psychology and personal development (to name a few).

All museums offer something beyond what’s described or pictured on the surface.  And visitors from different backgrounds will take away different meanings and relationships from the same objects. Teachers have a hard enough time teaching in a classroom; museums give them a chance to teach a bunch of subjects to a bunch of individuals who may not always feel a personal connection to a subject in school. Suddenly that student may have the chance to create a potentially lasting relationship with a subject because they now see it in a different light. You never know what will be the initial spark to someone’s fire.

In grad school, we were required to write lesson plans for potential activities that fit state educational and learning objectives. Our professor told us to write the activities and lesson plans and then find the objectives that met them, rather than read the objectives and write plans that fit them. So now I offer that challenge to you, readers.

This post isn’t just for teachers or parents. This is your personal challenge this weekend to visit a museum you’ve never been to before with no pre-conceived subject in mind, and see what the material presents to you. Find the subject in the material.

Tuesdays are for Toddlers: Blinded with Science!

Welcome back for another edition of Tuesdays are for Toddlers! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and took time to appreciate the last official weekend of Summer. Now, we’re on to the Fall, and Seasons may just be covered by our venue of choice: Science Museums!

Science museums across the country are fantastic sources of learning and knowledge for toddlers and young children for one big reason: tactile experience. Science museums focus on the hands-on portion of learning. Many include interactive displays that go beyond bright lights and button pushing and actually demonstrate complex principles of physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geology in ways that kids can relate to. Movement and tactile experiences are phenomenal learning tools for toddlers, and helps them develop fine and gross motor skills at the same time. Even better? It may mean some quiet time later when they wear themselves out doing all the activities a science museum has to offer.

Personally, some of my favorite memories from childhood were spent in the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, Washington. They had everything from moving dinosaur displays to kinesiology experiments, weather and tides to how the body works. They also offer educational and entertaining IMAX movie experiences, and laser shows for adults later in the evening. The Perot Museum of Nature and Science (formerly the Museum of Nature and Science at Fair Park) in Dallas, Texas is another such place, and every time I would go to visit family, it was one of my favorite destinations.

It isn’t hard to engage a toddler’s mind in a science museum. Explain what they’re seeing and doing and get involved in the experiment with them. Seeing that you are also engaged, even if you already know how to do it and what it means, will increase their interest in it and make the lesson stick. If the science museum you’re visiting has dinosaurs, talk about their size and what they ate and how they would have lived. Get messy; if there’s sand or water or paint, join in and answer questions. Play with the displays and if they’re really enjoying one particular type of display or one subject area, stop by the library on the way home and check out some books to read together later.

Photo by Liesl Den: Earth Science: Plate Movements & Earthquakes, Volcanoes and Mountain-Making (while it says for 2nd Grade, it can definitely be adapted for Toddlers and Pre-K).

For a fun food related activity that can help reinforce what they learn at the science center, head over to the Homeschool Den by Liesl Den (now located at Parents.com) and see what she has to offer for fun ideas and ways to bring science experiments and other subjects into the home!

For another educational source for science experiments at home, visit Science-Sparks, where they have experiments from loads of subjects for all age groups, including Preschool!

To Innovate or Get Back to the Basics, or Maybe Both?

Museums ‘should provide more hands-on experiences for children’; Museums should focus on providing real experiences like handling objects and dressing up as historical characters Photo: GETTY

Recently a group I follow on Facebook shared an article that really struck a note with me personally and professionally, as this blog is sort of a statement to the influences of technology. A group in the UK, Kids in Museums, has published a “manifesto” that gets down to one point: kids aren’t impressed by the flashing lights and technological interactive displays that museums have to offer, and museums should be focusing on a more hands-on approach to learning. You can read the full article here, but in the meantime, let’s discuss the brass tacks of this discussion, as it’s been one battle fought in the background in museums across the country for the last 20 years.

Technology has its place in museums, and I hope that my readers don’t feel like I’m attacking the use of it in museums. But most educational toys nowadays have more flashing lights and impressive sounds than a person can shake a stick at (that’s actually a lot of fun, by the way, shaking a stick); the interactive displays and technicolor lighting in some exhibits just doesn’t begin to entrance and enlighten children as much as it used to. Here’s the thing: kids still love dress up, they still love interacting with their surroundings and creating personal experiences and memories and learning in their own unique ways.

Living history museums like the Colonial Williamsburg Museum in Virginia focus on allowing children to interact with period actors and learn about the past through hands-on activities and personal discovery. Living history museums focus on a personal experience with historical materials to bring home the lessons of the past to help the future. Again, technology has its place in museums, but the true value of hands-on learning can’t be underestimated.

What do you think? Should museums focus on a more hands-on approach to their collections and displays, or should they keep the “please don’t touch” signs in place? What suggestions do you have for your local museums and historical societies to increase audience learning and visitor educational opportunities?

If you’re interested in more hands-on history opportunities, please feel free to check out a list of open air and living history museums on wikipedia. While not a complete list by any means, it is constantly being updated and can provide your next educational opportunity in the world of museums!

Engaging Techno-Teens

Technology: it’s everywhere. You’re reading this blog on a computer, on a tablet, on a phone. It has become a part of life. It’s also become one of the biggest challenges for museum educators and visitor experience designers throughout the world.

Teens have been, for me at least, one of the biggest educational challenges when it comes to museums and galleries. It’s hard to try to get them excited about art or history and natural history or even anthropology when the technology around them reminds them of the latest trends and current scientific findings, or who is dating who or who said what. Truth is, the here and now is pretty neat and incredibly stimulating and technology connects us to all of it. So, if you can’t beat it, use it.

A new trend among young museums goers is to take a “selfie” with an object as a statement of “look what I saw today”. If you have a teen, even a preteen, you’ve seen what I’m talking about. Neat thing about thatis that it’s an opportunity to get them involved in the piece, and maybe get them interested in the subject. Take your kids, with cell phones or other means of camera device, to your local museum and check everything out. Talk to them about the items they take a “selfie” with and ask them why they chose that piece. Create conversations around their interests and how they compare to the interests of the people in photographs or paintings.

For a fun challenge between family members, see who can capture the most of a particular type of object on camera. Pick what the theme will be before going into the museum: hats, coats, landscapes, smiles, whatever comes to mind. For each picture of an object or artwork that you take a picture, require each person to also take a picture of the label describing what it is and when it’s from. At the end of the visit, count up everyones pictures and talk about the labels. If you can, also use your phones (data plan providing) and look up what else may have happened the same year as the object (art or artifact) in the picture. It’s a fun way to talk about what you saw, compare objects and stories, and spend time together.

Photo scavenger hunts are a fun way to engage minds and think creatively. If you’ve never been to that particular museum or gallery before, think of abstract concepts to look for and then talk about why you chose that object to represent that concept. And when you get home, or are near a place that does digital photo printing, print some of the pictures (or all of them if you have the budget) and create a scrapbook page or a photo album of the day. That way, like a museum, you’re taking a part of your life and preserving it for others to see in the future.

(and believe me, I know that a film camera is far from new technology, but it’s my way of linking the past with the present!)