In an exhibition called One to Another, Borderland Collective created spaces for "listening, critical inquiry, and participation" and invited viewers "to contemplate their own familial migration stories within the context of larger migration narratives" (Artpace, 2018, para. 2). The interactive exhibition invited visitors to…

In a society that strives for sustainability it is important to observe and value different forms of knowledge. Creating art is not a meaningless exercise. Instead, one might say that works of art serve as a window that interprets the world. In the article it is argued that artistic actions can offer a combination of critical and creative thinking…

In March 1958, a tense six months after the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik I sent a shockwave of fear and purpose through the United States, an essay published in the Franklin Institute (TFI) monthly member newsletter, "The Institute News," opened with an oddly defiant, even dismissive tone ("Sputnik, Teachers &…

We examined the conversational reflections of 248 families with 6-11-year-old children shortly after they visited a tinkering exhibit. Our aim was to understand the conditions of tinkering and conversational reflection that can enhance STEM learning opportunities for young children. Some families visited the exhibit when there was a design…

Authenticity is often supposed to play an important role in natural history museums. Yet we know very little about how it affects the perception and appreciation of museum objects. In the present study, we examined children's perceptions of real fossils and replicas. We explored four potential explanations underlying the appreciation of authentic…

In the frame of the worldwide policies towards inclusion there is a need of changes, systematic strategies and actions at different levels and settings of the society including education and cultural organizations. Museums, culture and arts have a constantly increasing role towards a more cohesive and inclusive society in terms of educational,…

Stacy Boldrick is a Lecturer in Art Museum and Gallery Studies at the University of Leicester, where she conducts research in iconoclasm and its significance for social groups and institutions. She is the author of "Iconoclasm and the Museum" (Routledge, 2020). In 2013, she collaborated with Tabitha Barber to curate Art Under Attack:…

By analysing an academic exhibition on the Amazon region made by Year 5 children from an Oxford-based primary school, this qualitative study explores the ways that children perceive a representation of a natural environment geographically distant from their home context. The phenomenographic analysis of written and visual documentary sources…

2020 was a challenging time to navigate mental health and wellness. With a global pandemic, an emotionally charged U.S. presidential election, and a spike in racially motivated violence, students maneuvered trauma associated with these events in unprecedented ways. The cumulative challenges of this year motivated museum educators at the Cleveland…

This essay explores two canonical installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art: The Cloisters and African galleries in the Rockefeller wing. After providing a brief history of the formation of these collections and their display strategies, I analyze the effect of exhibition design for a visitor's judgments and impressions of the works of art.…

The present study specifically focuses on science teachers' views about scientific inquiry and their use of scientific inquiry in their lesson plans, which were prepared at a professional development workshop designed for better utilization of science centers (SCs). As an impact evaluation research, qualitative data was collected from 41…

A mixed methodology study measuring the usage rates of Augmented Reality (AR) information overlay mapping time-on-task in informal learning environments at a local art museum. This study investigates whether AR systems provide a uniquely beneficial learning context due to AR's native function to overlay information onto physical spaces at an art…

As scientific knowledge grows and the planet's human population makes unprecedented changes, decision-making places more and more demands on the everyday democratic participant. Yet efforts to help the public acquire and make use of evidence-based information fall short. We present preliminary comparisons of three participatory design models of…

In December 2017, the Smithsonian unveiled a new Strategic Plan. The plan sets goals to help be more collaborative and efficient in work, build and deployment of digital competency, and engage new and more diverse audiences in meaningful ways. The plan also continues to improve facilities maintenance and collections care to be even better stewards…

This article starts from "histoire croisée" to develop a genuinely relational analysis of performances of health education in the context of open-air schools. It interrogates, through places, people, and things conceived of as being performatively entangled, the notion of an internationalisation of school hygiene. These places, people,…