“Attraction,Attention, and Desire”: Consumer Culture as Pedagogical Paradigm in Museums in the United States, 1900-1930

Urged on by a young generation of reform-minded professionals, museums in the United States adopted the premises and practices of consumer culture in the early twentieth century. This article argues that this turn towards consumer culture resulted from a new institutional commitment to public education and a radical re-conception of visual pedagogy. In doing so, the article opens dialogue between two bodies of scholarship that rarely inform one another: the history of education and the history of early twentieth-century consumer culture. Focusing on natural history museums, the article explores how and why museum reformers gradually came to accept the psychological principles underlying advertising and salesmanship and to believe these principles could be employed on behalf of education. It chronicles how museum staff increasingly emphasised visual pleasure as a pedagogical tool, and constructed displays to arouse attention, attraction and desire for knowledge. Finally, it describes how these new pedagogical ventures did not always have the effect that reformers anticipated.     

The Role of the College Librarian

Museum exhibits can be a tool in experiential learning. While instructors have documented various methods of experiential learning, they have not sufficiently explored such learning from museum exhibits. Museum researchers, however, have long found a satisfying cognitive component to museum visits. This paper narrates the author's design to capture the cognitive experience at museums through integrating two Smithsonian exhibits with introductory Microeconomics and Macroeconomics classes in a two-year college. Cognitive gains made by students during the structured museum visit were reinforced with appropriate readings and assignments. The teaching method outlined is a significant addition to an experiential economist's toolkit. This method, however, can be used in any discipline. Apart from introducing students to a resource for lifelong learning, the inclusion of museum exhibits to academic teaching allows instructors to move away from chalk and talk, increase student engagement, increase content-relevance, provide in-depth coverage of certain areas and improve proficiencies. In a nutshell, the use of museum exhibits improves the overall quality of a course.     

Changes in Science Content Knowledge and Attitudes toward Science Teaching of Educators Attending a Zoo-based Neuroscience Professional Development

Abstract

Informal learning environments often host teachers for learning opportunities, but little is known about the impact of these experiences on teacher professional development (PD). This article describes a unique collaborative PD experience between zoological park personnel and university faculty, examining the impact on teacher content knowledge, attitudes, and classroom lessons. Our findings suggest that the PD improved science content, but made no impact on already high attitudes toward science. In light of the high level of self-reported satisfaction and high frequency of teacher lesson plan use, we propose that the PD had other positive outcomes such as pedagogical knowledge and authentic learning experiences.     

National museums: To charge or not to charge?

This paper looks at the arguments for and against admission charges to national museums and provides some new evidence relating to the effects of charges. This debate is set in the context of the policy objective of access: the vast bulk of the population do not attend national museums and evidence on this and on the socioeconomic composition of those who attend is presented for Ireland.     

关于中医药博物馆开展青少年中医药科普的几点思考

本文主要阐述了中医药博物馆开展青少年中医药科普教育的重要性及其意义,并就中医药博物馆如何开展中医药科普活动展开思考。     

馆藏动物剥制标本的管理及预防性保护

动物剥制标本作为自然博物馆、高校博物馆、部分综合性博物馆以及科研机构标本馆的重要收藏对象和展示资源,具有极高的收藏价值、展览价值、艺术价值、科研价值和科普教育价值等,但在长期保藏过程中,因受制作工艺、环境条件、人为活动的影响,极易受到损坏。本文论述了馆藏动物剥制标本的常规管理、保藏环境管理以及预防性保护,旨在为我国自然标本管理,特别是为动物剥制标本的管理和保藏工作提供参考资料。     

多感官学习在科技馆展览辅导中的应用

传统的展览讲解或辅导大多为“以视听为主”的说教式教学。本文通过应用多感官学习理论和方法,结合展览辅导开发实践,认为多感官学习可以更好地发挥科技馆展览体验式学习情境、基于实践的探究式学习的特性,可有效提升展览辅导的教育效果。本文还通过多感官学习的展览辅导的实践与反思,提出了开发此类教育活动的注意事项。     

对接课标，强化探究，提升能力 ——科学课程标准给科技博物馆带来的启示

美国在1996年的《国家科学教育标准》中提出了“以探究为核心的科学教育”理念,随后我国的科学课程标准也对“探究式学习”高度关注,这成为本轮科学教育改革的突出特点之一。我国新颁布的《义务教育小学科学课程标准》中多次强调“探究”。本文从学习内容、学习方式、教学指导理念三个角度对其进行解读,对科学课程标准给科技博物馆教育带来的启示等相关问题进行了讨论,论证了将“探究”纳入科技博物馆教育的意义。     

Museum visiting in Edinburgh and Glasgow – 150 years of change and continuity

ABSTRACT

Despite, or perhaps because of, being only 45 miles apart and of a similar size, Glasgow and Edinburgh are famous for their historical and cultural differences and notorious for their rivalry. This article will explore the history of museum visiting by comparing the current visitor demographics of Glasgow Museums, with those of the National Galleries and the National Museums in Edinburgh, and exploring the extent to which these differences can be traced back to the founding cultures of these institutions. Drawing on historical visitor data and discourse analysis of official museum commentary on visitor behaviour, this article will assess Davies, Paton and Sullivan’s museum version of the Competing Values Framework and Wouter’s theory of informalisation as approaches to interpret how institutional traditions have interacted with wider social developments. It will conclude with reflections on the implications for museum history, and for current policy and practice.     

Before ‘us’ and ‘now’: developing a sense of historical consciousness and identity at the museum

ABSTRACT

Young children seem to begin to develop a sense of historical consciousness and associated belonging to a wider collective identity prior to the commencement of formal schooling. Historical consciousness is a capacity to differentiate and also make connections between the past, present and future that contributes to a growing understanding of one’s own life and identity in the context of a historical past. The responses of 24 young children aged from 3 to 7 years visiting a small social history museum were analysed through photo-elicitation and parent reports. It would seem that the museum experience assisted in the development of foundational concepts of historical consciousness. Growth of a sense of historical identity was evident for some children, related to a sense of belonging to the ‘we’ of contemporary times in contrast to the ‘they’ of the past. The role of language to support young children’s understanding and thinking is highlighted by this research.