Group Inquiry at Science Museum Exhibits

Group Inquiry at Science Museum Exhibits
Author: Joshua P Gutwill
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 143
Release: 2017-07-12
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1315427958

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This brief volume describes an innovative activity that can be used by museum professionals to foster two key inquiry skills—asking a good question and articulating discoveries. A hybrid between a research report and a how-to manual, it describes the development, evaluation, and results of Juicy Question, a collaborative activity designed to foster group inquiry among families or school field trips. The authors demonstrate how the activity changed the behavior of museum visitors and taught them important inquiry skills for use in other informal education settings. Sponsored by the Exploratorium, San Francisco.

Museum Education for Today's Audiences

Museum Education for Today's Audiences
Author: Jason L. Porter
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2022-02-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1538148617

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Today’s museum educators are tackling urgent social issues, addressing historic inequalities of museum collections, innovating for accessibility, leveraging technology for new in-person and virtual learning experiences, and cultivating partnerships with schools, businesses, elders, scientists, and other social services to build relationships and be of service to their communities. Despite the physical distance the pandemic placed between museums and their visitors, museum educators have remained essential -- sustaining connections with the public through virtual or modified programming, content development, and conversations that they are uniquely qualified to execute. Educators require updated resources to guide their efforts in navigating these new challenges and building upon the opportunities presented by current events and changing audiences. This book and its accompanying on-line resource share lessons from innovators in the field to support ongoing professional development efforts with essays about current issues. Additionally, it provides new models and tools to guide individual or group reflection on how today’s museum educators can adapt and thrive in a dynamic and ever-changing cultural sector. The additional resources include discussion prompts and adaptable templates to allow readers to customize the content based on current events, institutional discipline, size, budget, and staffing scenario of their organization. The book’s essays are divided into three sections: Changing expectations of visitors - inclusion, participation, and technology Training and preparation for responsive, resourceful educators Models for the future While a book can share ideas in the hope of inspiring change, the accompanying online resource (www.EvolveMuseumEd.com) provides a more flexible and responsive forum for sharing ongoing and evolving resources to encourage professional development for museum educators as they respond to the changing needs of today’s audiences.

What Makes Learning Fun?

What Makes Learning Fun?
Author: Deborah L. Perry
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2012
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0759108854

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What Makes Learning Fun? presents a set of tested principles and strategies for the design of museum exhibits, with concrete examples of design successes and failures drawn from the author's many years in the field.

The Museum Experience Revisited

The Museum Experience Revisited
Author: John H Falk
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2016-06-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1315417839

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The first book to take a "visitor's eye view" of the museum visit when it was first published in 1992, The Museum Experience revolutionized the way museum professionals understand their constituents. Falk and Dierking have updated this essential reference, incorporating advances in research, theory, and practice in the museum field over the last twenty years. Written in clear, non-technical style, The Museum Experience Revisited paints a thorough picture of why people go to museums, what they do there, how they learn, and what museum practitioners can do to enhance these experiences.

Museums and Public Value

Museums and Public Value
Author: Carol A. Scott
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2016-04-22
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1317092899

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Public Value speaks to our time - to the role that museums can play in creating civil societies, to the challenges involved in using limited assets strategically, to the demand for results that make a difference and to the imperative that we build the kind of engagement that sustains our futures. This book assists museum leaders to implement a Public Value approach in their management, planning, programming and relationship building. The benefits are long term public engagement and support, which can be used to demonstrate that valuable returns result from public investment in museums. A range of authors from around the world unpack the concept of Public Value and examine its implications for museums. They situate Public Value within current management theory and practice, offer tools for implementation, highlight examples of successful practice and examine the evidence of Public Value that governments seek to inform policy and funding decisions. The book will be required reading for senior professionals in museums, as well as museum and heritage studies students.

Intentional Practice for Museums

Intentional Practice for Museums
Author: Randi Korn
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 255
Release: 2018-11-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 153810637X

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Intentional practice is an impact-driven way of thinking and working that places a museum’s raison d’être—achieving impact—at the center of its work. A prerequisite to achieving impact is articulating the kind of impact the museum would like to achieve. An impact statement embodies three essential ideas: staff members’ passions for their work, the museum’s distinct qualities, and notions of what is relevant to audiences. The statement, as well as other work generated from intentional practice, becomes part of an Impact Framework that serves as a guidepost for all subsequent work, as any and all museum work should focus on achieving its intended impact. If the museum chooses work that moves it away from its central purpose, it is wasting resources—dollars and staff time. Intentional Practice for Museums: A Guide for Maximizing Impact first explains how the idea of intentional practice grew from a confluence of political concerns, observations of museum in the marketplace, and the increasingly-deafening call for museums to be accountable. The book presents and deconstructs the Cycle of Intentional Practice, which includes four quadrants with actions and corresponding questions situated around the centerpiece—impact. In no particular order: The Plan quadrant asks “What impact do you want to achieve?”; The Evaluate quadrant asks “In what ways have you achieved impact?”; The Reflect quadrant asks “What have you learned? What can you do better?”; and, The Align quadrant asks “How do we align our actions to achieve impact?” The Cycle is symbolic, too, as impact-driven work is ongoing, and museums that choose to pursue impact through intentional practice will benefit—as will their audiences; both will continually learn, albeit through very different means. Intended for intentionally-minded museum professionals, the book also describes the seven principles of intentional practice and provides basic intentional-practice strategies, exercises, and facilitation questions so they can begin facilitating impact-driven workshops at their museums.

Learning Science in Out-of-School Settings

Learning Science in Out-of-School Settings
Author: Nancy Longnecker
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 252
Release: 2022-09-05
Genre: Science
ISBN: 2889769003

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The Museum Manager's Compendium

The Museum Manager's Compendium
Author: John W. Jacobsen
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2017-09-22
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1442271396

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The Museum Manager’s Compendium: 101 Essential Tools and Resources helps you make and implement your decisions as a museum manager and strategic planner. This book’s 101 sections present a treasure trove of definitions, diagrams, processes, choices, and worksheets, in major areas of museum management. Collectively, they reflect the literature and contributions of some of the field’s best thinkers. The resources distill half a century of museum experience over hundreds of projects done by scores of talents and experts internationally for all types of museums. The Museum Manager’s Compendium can be used as: A frequent reference book to consult when facing decisions or planning for the future A source of examples and templates of common museum reports A source of answers and options for strategic planning questions A crib book to extract text when drafting internal proposals and plans A primer when welcoming new partners and Board members A quick study and refresher of key aspects of museum practice An orientation to new staff A glossary for building shared definition among team members The Museum Manager’s Compendium is for museum professionals—leaders, managers, coordinators, professional counsel, contractors, evaluators, supporters, and policy makers— to use often. It is a must-own reference book for every museum professional responsible for decisions and implementation.

Informal STEM Learning at Home and in Community Spaces

Informal STEM Learning at Home and in Community Spaces
Author: Bradley Morris
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
Total Pages: 225
Release: 2024-03-22
Genre: Science
ISBN: 2832546641

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Children in Western countries spend only about 20% of their waking time in school (Meltzoff et al., 2009). Leveraging the 80% of time that they spend outside of school can provide children with opportunities to engage in meaningful, authentic STEM learning experiences with family members, other caregivers, and children. STEM learning and readiness go beyond acquiring content knowledge to include interest, engagement, and motivation for STEM learning as well as the formation of a STEM identity. To date, there has been a dearth of research focusing on children’s informal STEM experiences when compared to formal, school-based STEM learning experiences. This Research Topic focuses attention on the authentic, everyday experiences of children and how these experiences provide opportunities for STEM learning, engagement, and identity. In addition, these papers will explore how these everyday experiences can be leveraged and augmented to promote STEM learning and engagement through culturally-relevant design and implementation.

The Museum Educator's Manual

The Museum Educator's Manual
Author: Anna Johnson
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 353
Release: 2017-08-09
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1442279060

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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.