What is distinctive about museum pedagogy and how can museums best support learning in schools? An action research inquiry into the practice of three regional museums

Foreman‐Peck, Lorraine; Travers, Kate

doi:10.1080/09650792.2013.761924

Cited by 21 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Research shows us that museum programs encourage young children’s participation through public perception of the space as local, safe and accessible (Sirinides et al., 2017), and collections that support early and ongoing learning (Foreman‐Peck & Travers, 2013). To encourage children’s participation, most museums offer education programs, at no cost or a small fee, designed to introduce collections to children and enable them to explore concepts and properties of museum exhibitions (Andre et al., 2017).…”

Section: Elements Of Museum Programs That Support Children’s Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

LEARN: Essential Elements of Museum Education Programs for Young Children

Eadie¹,

Young²,

Suda³

et al. 2021

Curator The Museum Journal

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Museums provide rich multimodal learning opportunities and long‐lasting memories for children and teachers who participate in museum excursions and outreach programs. Museum programs for preschool children embed hands‐on opportunities to engage children with new and diverse artefacts. Interactions in museum settings provide opportunities for adults and children to collaborate in learning. Our aim in this project was to explore the elements of museum programs that prove essential in engaging young children in museum education programs. Five museum presenters and 14 early childhood groups (14 teachers and 296 children) participated in the research project. Data collection included audio recordings of museum presentations, observations of child‐teacher interactions, multiliteracy observations, teacher interviews, and written reflections from the museum presenters. Coding across all datasets contributed to the five main themes in the findings, which we detail using the acronym LEARN: Learning artefacts; Embodied teaching and learning; Asking questions; Repetition: and Narrative. Multiple elements of museum education programs influence learning opportunities for young children. Both structural elements (e.g. designing a core narrative around concepts, or time for children’s individual queries during the program and hands‐on explorations with museum artefacts) and learning interactions (e.g. conversations where children and adults collaborate) contribute to engaging museum education programs for young children.

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Section: Elements Of Museum Programs That Support Children’s Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

LEARN: Essential Elements of Museum Education Programs for Young Children

Eadie¹,

Young²,

Suda³

et al. 2021

Curator The Museum Journal

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“…Ampartzaki et al (2013) developed a Community of Practice to examine and reimagine early years programming in the Natural History Museum of Crete. Lemelin (2002) and Foreman-Peck and Travers (2013) used action research to empower museum professionals to problem-solve through reflection, innovation and collaboration. Lemelin found the approach was successful in bringing together diverse participant knowledge to solve problems collaboratively.…”

Section: Changing Practice Through Action Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tzibazi (2013) and Foreman-Peck and Travers (2013) highlight some of the challenges of undertaking action research within an inherently hierarchical institution. When the young people wanted to curate a display for other young visitors, the curators only granted access to a collection of vacuum cleaners which were unlikely to be damaged.…”

Section: Changing the Museum Through Action Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

It's our museum too: co-producing research in a university museum through a nursery residency programme

Noble

Wallis

2021

QRJ

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PurposeThe authors draw on Howard and Thomas-Hughes' (2020) framework for quality assessment of co-produced research, to interrogate our assumptions and processes and to reflect on our project. They consider if they achieved our planned outcomes around developing practice, enabling a range of voices and perspectives within their research, and enacting change within the university museum.Design/methodology/approachThe authors’ early years residency programme explores the potential of collaborations with community groups to transform knowledge and practice through action research. As museum educators, the authors find synergy between the participatory pedagogies underpinning their practice and the co-construction of knowledge within action research. Both are committed to enabling diverse interpretations within a collective and supportive framework. Within their project, practitioners from the museum and playgroup worked collaboratively to collect video footage, photos, children's artwork and reflective journals and memos.FindingsThe process of action, observation and reflection revealed much about the authors’ different perspectives and they found variations in both pedagogy and practice. Although the authors had a shared commitment to providing high quality, memorable, exciting opportunities for the children, the exploratory nature of the project meant that they did not agree what these experiences might look like in advance, and so they had different understandings of what they saw.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough the authors’ methodological framework was designed to make their research collaborative, structural challenges and the contexts of the art museum and university reinforced long established hierarchies. While some felt supported by the research process and the prestige of working with a university museum to gain legitimacy for their practice, others were disempowered by these same structures. The authors consider their obligations as practitioner-researchers to become aware of the role they play in maintaining, as well as challenging, hierarchies and assumptions.Originality/valueYoung children in museums is a growing area of study and this practitioner-led action research project develop a new strand of enquiry within this field. Through this research the authors can collaborate with community partners to record, analyse and make visible the many different ways in which young children experience the museum. As research led institutions, university museums are ideally placed to develop research in partnership with local public bodies and community groups. However, future work in this area would benefit from a more explicit consideration of the constraints implicit within the institutions within which they all operate.

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“…However, these pedagogies can influence the types of interactions students engage in during an excursion. Pedagogies can impact on the capacity for the student to engage in activities such as posing questions, investigating, reasoning, synthesising information and drawing conclusions (Foreman-Peck & Travers, 2013).…”

Section: Pedagogymentioning

confidence: 99%