The author examines the museum as a valuable resource for providing professional development within informal learning environments, especially in the area of science instruction and curricular methods. (Contains 6 tables.)

As part of a professional development program organized by the Save Ellis Island Foundation, the exhibits, databases, photo archives, and recorded interviews at the island's museum helps put the nation's current immigration debate into a broader historical context. Teachers at these sessions learn from scholars and park personnel about early…

New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art recently circulated an exhibition that explored the potential for visually handicapped visitors to benefit from the art museum experience. The author analyzes the inadequacies of past approaches, makes specific suggestions concerning design and materials, and calls for mutual understanding and compromise.…

Using resources gathered for the CRUMB (Curatorial Resource for Upstart Media Bliss) website(http://www.newmedia.sunderland.ac.uk/crumb/), this paper presents some key information and debates regarding the curating of new media art, both on the web and in conventional gallery spaces. Including quotes from Sarah Diamond, Steve Dietz, Peter Weibel,…

This paper describes the museum wearable: a wearable computer that orchestrates an audiovisual narration as a function of the visitors' interests gathered from their physical path in the museum and length of stops. The wearable consists of a lightweight and small computer that people carry inside a shoulder pack. It offers an audiovisual…

Designed as a potential attraction of tourist income and for popular education, the National Museum of Anthropology provides instruction for children and adults, publications, public lectures, library services, and other educational services. (LY)

The work presented in two art exhibits is discussed. (CK)

Some details of the new Jacksonville, Florida, Children's Museum. (RA)

The facilities and activities devoted to music and musical instruments at the Smithsonian Institution are discussed. (CK)

The author describes a program, Serendipity, in which gifted elementary students designed a museum for primary age children. (SB)

Explores the characteristics of interactive exhibits that are effective in attracting and holding the attention of visitors in a science museum. Identifies exhibit characteristics and examines them. Characteristics include: (1) technological novelty; (2) user-centeredness; (3) sensory stimulation; and (4) open-endedness. Discusses the correlation…

Exhibitions are a fundamental form of informal learning in museums. An exhibit should engage visitors in dialog with the material and its representation in a self-reflexive way in order to fulfill the museum's role of facilitating community dialog. (Contains 25 references.) (SK)

Discusses visual perception; the way technology can change the way people see; combining seeing and technology to create visual cultures; the influence of the World Wide Web on visual technologies; and changes in visual culture, including museums and their Web sites. (LRW)

Discusses the history of the Indiana Medical History Museum, the nation's oldest pathology laboratory building which was used until the 1960s. (YDS)