This article, prepared in the form of a conversation among the authors, discusses the role of a museum's repatriation of human remains or sacred objects to Indigenous communities in their efforts around Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion (DEAI). Presenting case studies from their museums or from their own research in Germany and the…

This article provides an analysis of how military history museums in Germany, Britain, Belgium, Poland, and the United States exhibit and contextualize weapon technologies that were developed in the two world wars. The article focuses on technologies (gas warfare, the atomic bomb, tanks, and the V2 long-range rocket) that are directly connected to…

Given Peenemünde's ambivalent military and technological history, from rocket development during the Nazi period to East German naval and air bases during the Cold War, its musealization was considered both a chance and challenge during the region's deindustrialization in the 1990s. Local residents' support of veteran engineers promoting an…

Value co-creation unfolds as a system of interactions in which the user and service provider play an active role in collaboratively creating values that go beyond economical and financial worth. Value co-creation is a growing trend in museums; however, little is known about how it can enhance educational activities, especially concerning digital…

The act of co-authoring an article across two languages (German and English) and three institutional contexts (a large science and technology museum, a university-based small art museum and a university-based small anthropology museum) led to numerous instances in which the meaning of particular terms had to be both articulated and negotiated to…

In November 2019, the Smithsonian hosted the "Transatlantic Seminar for Museum Curators and Educators: Museums as Spaces for Social Discourse and Learning." The program brought together German and American museum professionals and was co-sponsored by the Leibniz Institution, the Smithsonian Institution, and Fulbright Germany. A keynote…

Working within a new museological paradigm that sees museums as fluid, unbounded, and dependent upon context, this article seeks to examine the discourses that underpin collaboration as a contemporary and necessary museum education practice. In conducting this examination we will use examples from both Germany and the United States to illustrate…

In November 2019, the Smithsonian hosted the "Transatlantic Seminar for Museum Curators and Educators: Museums as Spaces for Social Discourse and Learning." The program brought together German and American museum professionals and was co-sponsored by the Leibniz Institution, the Smithsonian Institution, and Fulbright Germany. On July 20,…

The quote in the title of this paper is taken from the first line of Marc Depaepe's article "An Agenda for the History of Colonial Education", published in "The Colonial Experience in Education" (Ghent, 1995). This presentation takes as its focus the informal learning space of the museum and the art gallery, and the emergence…

This paper explores a media-ecological perspective on film-education practice. Drawing from their own experiences of teaching film (at the Austrian Film Museum and the KurzFilmSchule, Hamburg) the authors challenge monolithic theories of film education, suggesting instead that film education practices are shaped by context, and are relational to…

The focus of this article is on the connection between education and the Hanseatic League, a topic largely neglected in educational literature, although the qualification needs of Hanseatic merchants had a remarkable influence on the development of German and European education. The Hanseatic League as a network between merchant families, friends…

Understanding the weight of words and how they are used as signifiers of social and political ideas became important during the Transatlantic Seminar -- a four-day seminar organized by Fulbright Germany and the Leibniz Association, in cooperation with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C -- and a glossary of sorts resulted. In exploring…

Focusing on Lichtwark's concept of museology, this article shows what role he envisaged for art in public life at a time when the rise of mass consumption and popular culture created new lifestyles. Lichtwark's concept of artistic and aesthetic education did not only extend to museums and classrooms but also to dilettantism as a basis for…

In recent years, museums have recognized the urgent need to address several challenging issues. These topics include gender equality, racism, and environmental issues, just to name a few. As museums embrace the role of community-building change-makers, how can we include our audiences in the mission of making positive change? How can our…

Previous research from in and outside museums suggests that the haptic exploration of surfaces and objects have various educational benefits and can positively influence the museum visit experience. However, there is still a need for more research on the potential effects of object handling on museum learning, especially in science museums. The…