Volunteer programs, especially those for docents, may often be overlooked as learning opportunities rather than as a strategy for program delivery. Thinking about docents first as learners themselves, and then as partners in creating learning experiences for visitors, can create a meaningful shift in the relationship. By integrating concepts from…

Museums and galleries have long welcomed, and long valued, visiting family groups, and many offer 'family workshops'. In practice, most workshops are primarily directed at children, and accompanying adults are left to observe. However, we suggest that in actively observing and also pitching in, adults too are engaged in learning. Using the…

This article documents weaving as a decolonizing epistemic tool for feminist futures that emerges from the work of our collective -- the Feminist Imaginary Research Network. As a collective of feminist adult educators who work in both the academy and women's museums, weaving challenges the centrality of rationality over other ways of knowing and…

Educational opportunities occur through naturalistic everyday life experiences (e.g., reading a newspaper, listening to a podcast, or visiting a museum). Research primarily examines learning under controlled conditions, such as in a classroom or laboratory. There is relatively little known about the extent to which adults extract semantic content,…

Initiatives to deliver financial literacy to populations are offered by a wide range of institutions. Among them, central banks focus on financial literacy because when people make wiser financial decisions, the central banks are more likely to fulfill their societal mission. One of the most common initiatives of central banks in this regard is to…

History museum professionals make many assumptions about how visitors learn at their sites but, for various reasons, they rarely do research to test those assumptions. The primary purpose of this study was to explore how adults learn in history museums to fill that gap in understanding. This research utilized a conceptual framework that combined…

This article explores the development of public programs on the theme of grief, death and dying at the Royal British Columbia Museum in Canada, and how these programs have grown with the involvement of community partners. Although the programs started as a response to a small historic sign in the gallery, they now honor the interests of our…

Informal learning experiences can provide valuable visitor-to-staff interactions that require skilled staff--often volunteers--to adjust to the needs of each visitor group. These experiences are often less regimented to provide increased flexibility for both the museum and the volunteer, allowing for more diversity of volunteer support. This…

The role of art museum educator has shifted from presenter of information to facilitator of dialogue. But as art museums pledge to be more accountable to--and representative of--a plurality of publics and narratives, what is spoken about with visitors? Given revolving temporary exhibitions and expanded readings of permanent collections, guides…

The inquiry-based approach in museum education often takes the form of an educator asking open-ended questions to facilitate discussions around artworks, while encouraging students in careful observation and interpretive processes. However, although art museums are emphasizing learners' experiences and their interpretative processes, adult…

This paper explores the development of Civic Wellness programs at the Art Institute of Chicago, with an emphasis on how Civic Wellness teaching, partnerships, and strategy are informed by social justice-oriented values. These include equity practice, antiracism, strength in community, and democratic justice-oriented andragogy. The paper lays out…

'Working with you all and finding my voice as an educator has changed my life', one of the retirees said as we were discussing their experiences as museum volunteers. When I was given a two-year contract as a museum educator to contribute to the renewal of a maritime museum in Norway by designing and developing a broad ranging outreach programme,…

At a time of widespread concern over the decline of art teaching in schools, this article considers the findings of a practitioner led action research project exploring the potential of art museum and artist-led CPD (Continued Professional Development) programmes to develop primary teacher knowledge, skills and confidence teaching in art and…

This chapter explores how museums, as educational and cultural institutions, can become agents of socioecological transformation. The ideas of critical museum studies and environmental adult education are reviewed, and three examples of environmental adult education in museums are discussed.

What does it mean to be an American? Legal permanent residents (LPRs) in the United States have had to seriously contemplate this question as the immigration debate has proven one of the most divisive issues of the past two years. Many have begun actively pursuing American citizenship, which includes studying 100 questions about American history,…