Category Archives: Schools and Museums

Why can’t the goal of museum field trips be exposure?

Recently I spent a few hours writing a blog post to be submitted to The Whiskey City Collaborative, a local Peoria blog. Originally, this post was an exercise in thinking about how communities can help schools become places that expand children’s worlds, and thus their opportunities, through field trips. As I wrote, I tried to reconcileContinue reading “Why can’t the goal of museum field trips be exposure?”

What management lessons from teaching transfer to the museum?

Anthony Pennay drafted parts of the following post as a comment on my post “Why do we need classroom management in museums?” He had so much to say that I asked if we could delve a little deeper into some of his points. Tony was a classroom teacher for a decade before becoming a museumContinue reading “What management lessons from teaching transfer to the museum?”

What is “Classroom Management” in the museum?

On March 2, I blogged about classroom management, and invited readers to complete a (now closed) survey. The 29 completed surveys include a great deal of information worth mining, and I am trying to find a way to share all of the answers with anyone who might want to take a look. A number ofContinue reading “What is “Classroom Management” in the museum?”

Why do we need “classroom management” in museums?

At the end of this post there is a link to this survey. Please help me more deeply consider the question of classroom management by completing and sharing the survey! A few months ago, I was tagged in a tweet asking whether I knew of any good resources for classroom management in the museum setting.Continue reading “Why do we need “classroom management” in museums?”

Schools and Museums: Three Experiments

When I started the Schools and Museums series I was working as a consultant, and wished that there were a museum in which I had the freedom to experiment with some of the ideas shared by contributors. Now I have just such an opportunity – at the Peoria PlayHouse Children’s Museum – which (like many opportunities)Continue reading “Schools and Museums: Three Experiments”

Schools and Museums: Can Museums Teach Content to School Groups?

A few people have responded to my recent post Goals for Students to suggest that history museums are likely to focus on content rather than more general skills and understandings (see Anne Dealy’s comment on Goals for Students; others have responded privately). The implication is that school visitors to history museums expect are more likely to expectContinue reading “Schools and Museums: Can Museums Teach Content to School Groups?”

Schools and Museums: Goals for Students

This week, I am beginning the process of reflecting on the past 25 posts about field trips. In this post, I am interested in goals and value: How do the many contributors to Museum Questions answer the question, “Why should school groups visit museums?” What do their answers tell us about the current state of museums, museum education, and school fieldContinue reading “Schools and Museums: Goals for Students”

But will YOU be here? An argument for tours that encourage life-long museum-going

This is the fifth guest post in the Schools and Museums series. Jackie Delamatre has been a museum educator for over a decade. Until this fall, she was an educator at the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art. She recently moved to Providence, RI where she is an educator at theContinue reading “But will YOU be here? An argument for tours that encourage life-long museum-going”

Status Update: Facebook as a Reflection Tool

The Schools and Museums series has featured a variety of perspectives on what field trips might mean for students. This post, by David Bowles, takes on that question from a slightly different angle, asking what the kids themselves express interest in. David was interviewed for this blog in September. As Assistant Museum Educator for SchoolContinue reading “Status Update: Facebook as a Reflection Tool”