This study examined two art museum and school partnerships in order to learn how partnerships enable an integration of goals, participants' beliefs and values, and learning objectives. This study examined the partnerships through a social constructivist lens and used narrative analysis as way to interpret participants' stories about collaboration. The research found three major themes among participants' stories. Participants: a) valued good communication to establish relationships between partners, b) believed partnership offered students experiences that educated the whole person, and c) felt that students making meaning by interacting in the museum environment was an indicator of success. The study closes with discussion of the researchers' own constructions as they developed throughout the study.

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

This doctoral investigation examines educational relationships between museums and schools, and more specifically between art museums and secondary art education. The author's analysis of literature pertaining to museum/school relationships and previous research conducted within Honours research establishes systematic contradictions as permeating the public role of museums and educational engagements with museums. In seeking explanation, a theoretical framework, derived from the social theories of Pierre Bourdieu is developed. The framework is used to interrogate the practices of school-based art education and art museums, and the agents involved, to examine how social relations operate to enable and constrain the representation and engagement of secondary school-based perspectives in the museum setting. Aspects that have previously remained unacknowledged are examined to reveal the interplay of factors that influence educational experiences in the art museum setting. Using the findings from the first stage of the analysis, in concert with the Bourdieuan framework, the author develops a model for learning in art museums that explores and articulates a new pedagogical terrain in the art educational use of art museums. A socio-cognitive framework is developed to reflect the strategic incorporation of museological knowledge, contemporary art education philosophies and practices and sociological theory. The aims of the model are to engage secondary art education and art museums using a sociological perspective, provide the tools for secondary art educators to be autonomous in the art museum setting, recognize that individuals relate to cultural materials and experiences in varying and multiple ways and develop educational encounters that predispose learners to engage in the cultural practice of art museum visiting. In intrinsically valuing art museum experiences as distinctive learning opportunities, the model provides teaching and learning strategies that allow for a multi-faceted, developmentally appropriate and cognitively based educational involvement. As the ultimate outcome of the research the model has significance for secondary art students, secondary art educators, teacher educators and art museum educators. It is unique in providing a secondary school-based art educational perspective on learning in art museums that is designed to establish a foundation for cultural practice, within and beyond the school years.

This thesis discusses the relatively new approach of art education, by paralleling it to Marxist ideology on art. The Dallas Arts District is one example of a city where museum art education is in conflict: being adopted more vigorously by some and with less acceptance by others. In order to provide a glimpse into the museum ideology of downtown Dallas, previous schools of thought regarding the role of curators and the introduction of educators into museums will be detailed, as well as conflicts between these two factions. The following questions will be addressed: Is museum art education truly a movement which strives to infuse the American culture with a greater appreciation of art? Is there a link to overcoming Marx's key issue of class? How is the movement affecting the Dallas Arts District and to what extent is museum art education being utilized within this forum? Is the emphasis toward museum art education greater in Dallas than in other large cities across the United States, and if so, how has that affected the cities' patrons?

The purpose of the study was to (1) identify pedagogical touring competencies needed by volunteer docents in art museums, (2) catalog the competency statements into major competency categories, (3) validate the list of competency statements, and (4) compare priority designations awarded each statement by the individuals within the two major subgroups: museum staff and volunteer docents. In conclusion, many of the needs represented by the highest ranking competencies in each category are seldom addressed in the traditional volunteer docent training program. This study showed that abilities to help the child feel comfortable in the museum and combinations of abilities to help the docent make judgments regarding the presentation of the material require attention and, at the very least , special training. It is recommended that training personnel in art museums identify the needs of volunteer trainees and design training programs less on traditional guidelines and more on the specific needs appropriate to the task.

In the years since the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement, American art museums have increased attempts to address the racial inequities that persist in the field. These inequities impact all aspects of museum work, not least of which education. Because museum educators are often seen as the conduit between museum collections and audiences, the work of implementing anti-racist programming often falls to them. However, the museum education field is majority White, and while there is a rich body of literature treating the adverse impacts of Whiteness on classroom teaching practices, very little exists on how Whiteness might manifest in gallery teaching practices specifically for White museum educators. Utilizing participatory action research, practitioner inquiry, and a White affinity group model, this qualitative study explores aspects of Whiteness that impact the gallery teaching practices of four White museum educators. Our research questions seek to understand better how Whiteness manifests in our teaching specifically in the context of single visit field trips, how those impacts might shift depending on the racial demographics of the groups we are teaching, what questions come for us as a White practitioner-researcher group dedicated to undermining Whiteness in our teaching, and how, if at all, does participation in such a study impact how we think about and implement anti-racist teaching in our practice. As per the research traditions guiding this study, I treated myself as a participant alongside three other White museum educators, and together as a practitioner inquiry group we co-generated our research questions and agreed to our research methods. These included the formation of a digital space in which we could communicate with each other, observations of our teaching, reflective writing responding to the observations, and conversations in the digital space based on these writings. This period of data generation was followed by interviews between myself and each participant as well as a focus group with all of us. Findings surfaced various avoidance techniques we each employed in our teaching to avoid race talk or push our anti-racist teaching more deeply. Our avoidance pointed to perceived tensions we felt between our trainings and the demands of anti-racist teaching, as well as the limitations of the single visit field trip model. Findings also surfaced anxiety when discussing Blackness in particular, as well as problematic assumptions about both White students and students of color we work with. Analysis of these findings provide insights into the ways art museum pedagogies in addition to critical emotional pedagogies might be deployed towards anti-racist teaching, as well as the emotional qualities of naming and dismantling Whiteness as White practitioners. While the findings are limited to the four museum educator participants and the specific contexts in which we work, this study points to ways we might begin to develop deeper understandings of how Whiteness might impact gallery teaching practices. More importantly, in the tradition of practitioner inquiry, this study raises important questions around how visitors of color experience Whiteness in museum education programs, how professional development might be reimagined for museum educators, as well as ways to rethink the traditional single visit field trip model to better accommodate anti-racist learning goals.

University of Macau / Faculty of Education

This study seeks to answer the overarching question of how the use of a digitally delivered arts curriculum, including a virtual museum environment, affects teacher's perceptions of curriculum integration and whether they believe it is successful in the classroom. This study is based on the analysis of archival data collected during a pilot study that was conducted in the fall of 2016 and spring of 2017. This pilot study used a qualitative, descriptive approach and included the use of surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observations. The main focus of this study was on the experiences of a selection of educators who took part in the pilot study and summer training sessions to determine the successes and challenges they faced as they sought to the implement the experimental digitally delivered arts curriculum. The results of the study should improve the field's understanding of how virtual environments and technology can influence teacher experiences and perceptions of their potential value for learning as they continue to take hold in public schools worldwide.