LEARNING IN MUSEUMS

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LEARNING IN MUSEUMS

• Add in your museum name/service

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Why Visit Museums ?

• Learning in museums and galleries is uniquely
  holistic it develops skills, increases knowledge
  and offers experiences that give substance to
  abstract concepts. Learning in museums and
  galleries illuminates personal experience,
  promotes creativity and enables social learning.
• (Campaign for Museum and Gallery Education)

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Why Visit Museums ?

• Museums and galleries are full of potential for
  learning and can significantly enhance and
  support the learning process.
• They offer a unique environment which creates
  inspirational opportunities for students.
• A museums exhibitions, objects, works of art and
  maybe even the building itself provide a rich
  learning experience that goes beyond the
  classroom.

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Active Learning Experiences

• Provides the opportunity to interact with the
  real thing.
• Offers a range of differentiated activities to
  support students of all abilities.
• Provides a change of environment, putting
  artefacts into context.
• Greatly benefits students who learn best through
  hands-on activities.

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Making Learning Happen

• How do we learn?

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Learning Styles

• Learning styles are simply different approaches
  or ways of learning.
• It's believed that most people favour some
  particular method of interacting with, taking in,
  and processing stimuli or information. The VAK
  theory of learning is one that is particularly
  relevant to museum learning.

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Different Learning Styles

• Visual
• Auditory
• Kinaesthetic

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Visual

• Visual - using your own images, imagining
  pictures in your mind.
• Do you find yourself saying,
• I see what you mean?
• Do you find something to watch if you are bored?
• Do you like presentations in colour and with
  illustrations?

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Auditory

• Auditory - using sounds and words.
• Do you find yourself saying,
• I hear what you say?
• Do you like listening but prefer to talk?
• Do you hum or talk to yourself or others when you
  are bored?

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Kinaesthetic

• Kinaesthetic - active learning, doing, touching,
  practising things.
• Do you find yourself saying,
• I feel that in conversation?
• Do you speak with your hands and use gestures a
  lot?
• Do you find reasons to move or play with
  something when you are bored?

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Preferred Learning Styles

• Everyone has a preferred combination of learning
  styles.
• Think of your own learning experiences, what
  activities do you think would suit you best?
• The museum environment can offer activities that
  meet the needs of different learning styles.

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Multiple Intelligence Theory

• A psychological and educational theory that
  suggests there are many different kinds of
  intelligence each relating to a different
  sphere of human life and activity.
• It looks at many ways of perceiving and
  understanding the world, each being a type of
  "intelligence". These intelligences are a set of
  skills which can be nurtured and strengthened, or
  ignored and weakened.

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There are Many Different Types of Intelligences

• Good learning is structured to accommodate as
  many of these as possible.
• Museum learning can offer activities that meet
  the needs of many different types of
  intelligence.

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Types of Intelligence

• 1. Linguistic
• Reading, writing, crossword puzzles.
• 2. Logical-Mathematical
• Patterns, strategies, logic.
• 3. Bodily-kinaesthetic
• Craft, tactile experiences.
• 4. Spatial
• Jigsaw puzzles, drawing, construction.

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Types of Intelligence

• 5. Musical
• Opportunities to listen to music.
• 6. Interpersonal
• Opportunities to discuss and talk in
• groups.
• 7. Intrapersonal
• Opportunities to talk about feelings.

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Thinking Skills and Museums

• Learning environments should stimulate students
  to ask questions and think about the
  subjects/issues, thereby embedding any learning
  in a way that gives it personal meaning.

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Thinking Skills

• Information processing
• Reasoning
• Creativity
• Evaluation

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Promoting Creativity

• Creative learning goes beyond creativity in arts
  subjects.
• It can be about approaching a subject or issue
  from a new and innovative perspective which draws
  together ideas from a variety of sources.

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Promoting Creativity

• Students might be encouraged to
• create a PowerPoint/multimedia presentation
• draft a tourist leaflet or poster for the
  location
• produce a piece of dance/drama based on the
  museum experience
• put together their own guide to the museum or
  gallery that they have visited
• celebrate creative learning in shared school
  spaces.

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What do Museums/Galleries Offer?

• Active learning sessions
• Access to museum staff expertise can maximise the
  learning benefits of a visit.
• Gain access to unique resources not available in
  exhibitions.
• Museums may charge for sessions and provide a
  teachers pack and activity sheets.

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What do Museums/Galleries Offer?

• Independent visits
• A free option may be to lead the session
  yourself, although the museum may charge for
  entrance.
• Some museums may offer free resources such as
• tours, activity sheets and use of handling
  collections.

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Planning a Visit

• Finding a museum
• www.museums4schools.org.uk
• www.24hourmuseum.org.uk
• Pre-visit planning with museum and school
  staff.
• Risk assessment a legal requirement.
• On the day of the visit logistics.
• Post visit build on outcomes of visit in wider
  scheme of work.

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Risk Assessments

• Legal requirement for teachers
• Published guidance DfES Health and Safety of
  Pupils on Educational Visits 1998.
• Risk assessments are needed to ensure that
  students are not put into harmful or hazardous
  situations.
• Museums can provide information to support
  teachers to complete their risk assessments.

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Learning from Objects

• Learning from objects encourages the learner to
  use five senses to accumulate as much data as
  possible.
• The multi-sensory aspects of museum learning mean
  that it suits different learning styles and
  accommodates well into multiple intelligence
  theory.

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Learning from Objects

• Objects can provide a rich source of historical
  information as well as being a source of
  inspiration for students creativity and the
  production of original art work.
• Objects give us a glimpse into lost worlds,
  peoples lives and whole communities/ societies.

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Why Use Objects?

• MotivationThey stir curiosity - the intrinsic
  fascination of awe inspiring objects.
• Active learningHands-on, immersive, experiential
  learning.

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Investigating an Object

• How was it made?
• What is it made from?
• Pattern/colours?
• Use?
• Value?
• Relationship to other objects?
• Associated information?

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A Historical Investigation

• Case study from museum

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Historical Interpretation

• Case study from museum

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Using Works of Art

• The most important thing you can
  do is to teach your students
  how to look at works of Art
  and to give them the
  confidence to express
  their opinions and
  ideas.

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A Plan of Action for Looking at Paintings

• Simply ask the group to say what they can see.
• What is the artist trying to tell us about?
• How has the artist made his/her point?
• Finally look at the artists name, date of the
  work and the media used.

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Types of Art Works

• Looking at Portraits
• Looking at Landscapes
• Looking at Abstract Art
• Looking at Sculpture
• Case studies from galleries

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Learning from Science Exhibits

• Science museums are rich specialist learning
  environments where students can come face to face
  with exhibits and specimens that inspire awe and
  wonder.
• Science museums use their unique collections and
  inspiring exhibits in a range of ways to bring
  science to life and to create a wow factor to
  switch students on to science.

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Planning a Successful Science Visit

• Teachers need to carefully consider the
  strategies they use to realise the full potential
  from a science museum visit.
• Science museums often have very open-plan
  layouts.
• Students can become easily distracted and only
  explore the exhibits in a superficial way.
• Students do not learn science merely by
  interacting with exhibits.

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Using Science Resources

• Case study from a museum.

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New Agendas

• Personalised learning a way of raising standards
  and ensuring that every student realises his or
  her full potential.
• The Extended schools agenda access to a variety
  of activities beyond the school day.
• Vocational and hybrid GCSEs more flexible and
  learner centred approaches.

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Useful Websites

• Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
  www.bmag.org.uk
• Coventry Transport Museum www.transport-museum.co
  m
• Dudley Museum and Art Gallery www.dudley.gov.uk/m
  useums
• English Heritage www.english-heritage.org.uk
• Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
  www.theherbert.org
• Heritage Education (Warwickshire County Council)
  www.warwickshire.gov.uk/heritageeducation
• Ironbridge Gorge Museums www.ironbridge.org.uk
• New Gallery Walsall www.artatwalsall.org.uk
• RAF Museum Cosford www.rafmuseum.org.uk
• RBSA www.rbsa.org.uk
• Rugby Art Gallery and Museum www.rugby.gov.uk/sit
  e/scripts/documents.php?categoryID148

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Useful Websites

• Stoke-on-Trent Museum Service www.stoke.gov.uk/mu
  seums
• The Pen Room www.penroom.co.uk
• Thinktank www.thinktank.ac
• Worcestershire Museums http//worcestershire.whub
  .org.uk/home/wccindex/wcc-museum-index.htm
• Wightwick Manor www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-v
  h/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-wightwickmanor
• Wolverhampton Arts and Museums
  www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk
• Other useful websites include
• museums4schools in the West Midlands
  www.museums4schools.org.uk
• 24 hour Museum www.24hourmuseum.co.uk
• The Campaign for Learning through Museums
  Galleries www.clmg.org.uk
• Inspiring Learning for All www.inspiringlearningf
  orall.gov.uk