Parents visiting a gear exhibit at a children's museum were instructed to encourage their children (N = 65; ages 4-6) to explain, explore, or engage as usual. Instructions led to different patterns of play at the exhibit: Encouragement to explain led to greater discussion of gear mechanisms, whereas encouragement to explore led to more time…

Today, the necessity of marine education is being stated. Especially raising awareness about biodiversity is important in marine education. Museums not only house exhibits but also have the function of storing specimens. They hold specimens not available to the public daily that can be used for educational and research purposes. Samples of…

Exhibitions in museums are increasingly becoming popular public pedagogical strategies that engage with stories of social struggles faced by certain communities. In this paper, I will look at how we at Mutare Museum used an exhibition on diamond mining--the research, the design, and the production--to create a public forum for dialogue and…

The "Curator's Curiosities" program was launched at Fort Henry National Historic Site in the summer of 2017 as an object-based interpretive program. In addition to learning the history of an artifact from the collection, participants were taught how to properly handle and catalogue the artifact, under the supervision of trained museum…

In 2017, inspiration from the performing arts catalyzed the transition to more guest-centered gallery teaching at The Dayton Art Institute. To initiate this shift we hired three performing artists to lead training sessions for teaching in the galleries to illustrate that interactive strategies create livelier experiences for museum guests.…

A transnational turn on language and literacy urges increased attention on the flexible languaging practices of immigrant children who cross the boundaries of languages, cultures, nations, and beyond. This study examines how immigrant children and parents from transnational immigrant families engaged in translanguaging in museums during their…

There is more to know about children's play and learning in public spaces, including the long-term benefits of exposure to established play spaces such as children's museums. Nested within an 18-month mixed-method longitudinal study, this qualitative descriptive study sought to understand how children aged three to five years develop and learn…

Cultural and creative sectors and industries are a significant source of jobs and income. They are a driver of innovation and creative skills, within cultural sectors and beyond. They also have significant social impacts, from supporting health and well-being, to promoting social inclusion and local social capital. As national and local…

Mill City Museum and Wilder Research collaborated to facilitate focus groups with local elementary school educators to learn about their experiences with virtual in-school programs, what motivates them to consider and schedule a program, and what barriers prevent or deter them from pursuing these types of programming options. This report presents…

Employing a modified version of an exhibit template for course integration (Beckman 2012), Sylvia López designed museum projects for an elective Spanish course on health that is open to students at the high-intermediate level and above. The course's aims are manifold: to build students' vocabulary, to discuss cultural aspects affecting health, and…

This study explores how undergraduates, as historical thinkers, learn to interact with history and construct their understanding of the past, and examines the role that primary and secondary sources play in narrative construction and revision. Using the African American civil rights movement as a content focus, participants used images to create…

Informal learning environments, such as museums, provide unique opportunities for science learning. They are deliberately designed to impact public understanding of science and shape visitors' attitudes and behaviors. As a developing technology, augmented reality (AR) offers the transformative potential to support museums' educational missions by…

Our museum-based participatory research (PR) project was a collaboration between researchers and educators in an out-of-school time STEM education program for young people that positions STEM as a tool for community social justice. This project drew on literatures on reflective practice in museums and on research-practice partnerships. Yet…

This article takes as its focus the doing of pedagogic affect. We are not so much concerned with what pedagogic affect "is" as what it "does" and how it might do more. We revisit Spinozist concepts of affect, as taken up by Deleuze and Braidotti, in the context of affirmative ethics. Bringing assemblage thinking together with…

During the pandemic many museums and galleries pivoted from onsite, in-person delivery to develop a remote offer and to create digital learning resources and activity packs for children and young people. In this article, I draw upon my experience as practitioner researcher on the schools and teachers' programme at the Fitzwilliam Museum to…