The idea for a retrospective on George Morrison and Allan Houser as one of the inaugural exhibitions at the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) came from the NMAI curator of contemporary art, Truman Lowe. An artist and sculptor himself, Lowe knew both artists personally and saw them as mentors and visionaries. Lowe advised an exhibition…

Field trips are opportunities to experience science in settings beyond the classroom. Much educational research has focused on effective ways of designing and planning field trips for optimal impact on the classroom and science curriculum. However, teachers are sometimes at a loss on how to design a trip that will enhance students' analytical…

In an increasingly religious culture, and with museum audiences with large populations of children, nude artworks continue to be cultural lightning rods, generating controversy--sometimes disliked, feared or misunderstood. As a figurative painter who paints nudes, and more importantly as a Teaching Artist who deals with nudity in classroom or…

Museum education and progressive education both arose at the same historical period, approximately a century ago, and share not only a common history but also common features. Both emphasize pedagogy based on experience, interaction with objects, and inquiry. They also share a social vision of serving the entire society, including underserved…

Informal and formal educators are scrutinizing particular representations of the world more often and asking whose voices are being heard and which interpretations concur or challenge learners' life worlds. Curriculum theory has emerged as a significant partner to theorize museum education practice to address ethics, equity, and accountability.…

Museum educators enter the field from a variety of backgrounds, not all rooted in visitor studies. In this article, the author discusses his experiences making the transition from university academics to the science center arena, and his struggles to define his role as an educator. A turning point for this search was his collaboration with exhibit…

In this article, the author presents a story behind the famous photograph of "Addie." Addie was a symbol of child labor reform. The author first saw the picture of Addie in the summer of 2002 at the Bennington Museum in Bennington, Vermont. Addie's picture was just one in an exhibit of child labor photographs taken by famed photographer…

This report shares the findings from a nineteen-month study of The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. Piloted in early 2006 and launched nationwide later that year, The Big…

Over the course of three rounds of consecutive funding, the National Science Foundation (NSF) invested in the Traveling Exhibits at Museums of Science (TEAMS) collaborative. Since 1996, the TEAMS collaborative museums have developed traveling exhibitions and related education materials to circulate through each other's museums, and then more…

For the past 4 years the special education program at History University has partnered with a Long Island, New York school district in an after-school tutorial program for eighth grade students receiving special education services or considered "at risk." This partnership emerged as a result of a state improvement grant offered to…

The convenient format, delivery, and accessibility of information offered by podcasting has made it a hot new trend. One of its limitations in educational applications, however, is its implementation primarily as a push technology--one that simply feeds users information. Podcasts tend to focus listeners inward and rarely encourage human…

In this paper we report on the successes and challenges of a creative project involving museums, schools and interactive technologies. The MuseumScouts project is EU Comenius 2.1 funded and involves teachers, teacher educators, museum staff, students and researchers from five European countries: Germany (Berlin and Munich), Lithuania (Vilnius),…

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) helps museums and libraries preserve our cultural heritage, enhance learning and innovation, and develop staff capacities to provide the best in service to our communities. IMLS has a long-standing commitment to funding grants and sponsoring research on the subject of how both preschool and…

Inverness Research Associates served as external evaluators for the Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS) from its inception in 2002 as a National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Center for Learning and Teaching. One of the programs that CILS developed was the Informal Learning Certificate (ILC) for informal science educators (mostly…

Most schools visit Magna Science Adventure Centre on the back of careful planning and preparation. Magna is a fairly unique environment. "Steelos", the local name for the former Templeborough steelworks in Rotherham, West Yorkshire, was a vast plant. It became home to Magna in 2001. The building is over half a kilometre long and 45…