My narrative case study focuses on how one family uses the exhibitions and educational resources at the Denver Art Museum. I gathered stories of the family’s experiences at the museum in order to determine what their choices reflected about their family values and how they integrated those experiences into their daily lives. This study draws upon socio-cultural and constructivist learning theories by proposing that each family member contributes their prior knowledge and life experiences to the process of making meaning and drawing connections within the art museum. Moreover, even though the family acted as a social learning group, each member constructed personal knowledge in different ways from their shared experiences. I used narrative analysis and coding as means to interpret the meanings of the family’s stories. In addition to identifying the family’s values regarding art museum learning, findings pointed to the imperative need for museum educators to address preparing adult learning partners for visits to art museums with children. The lack of current research pertaining to family learning in art museums was a chief motivator for conducting this study (Sterry & Beaumont, 2006). Research of family interactions in museums has largely focused on non-art museums (Borun, 2002; Borun et al., 1998; Ellenbogen, Luke, & Dierking, 2007). Family art museum experiences are distinct and should be studied separately from those in other types of museums. Research, such as this study, that look specifically at how families use art museum exhibitions and educational resources will address the lack of literature and emphasize the value of art museum experiences for life-long family learning. / text

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Detta examensarbete har skett i samarbete med Stadsmuseet i Skövde inför en utställning under sommaren och hösten 2013 om staden Skövdes skyddshelgon S:ta Elin. Arbetet innehåller en undersökning om hur en 3D-animerad karaktärs icke-verbala uppförande tillsammans med dess ikonografiska attribut kan fungera engagerande för publiken på ett sätt som stödjer syfte och mål med utställningen. För utställningen var målet att göra besökarna intresserade av vad som ligger bakom legenden. För utvärderingen skapades en prototyp i form av animerad 3D-karaktär som ingick i en kortfilm till utställningen om Elinlegenden. Karaktären Elin var i filmen "stum", i betydelsen att hon inte talade själv, därför var det viktigt att hennes karaktär ändå klarade att uttrycka personlighetsdrag. För examensarbetet valdes tre utvärderingsmetoder för att samla in data. Det användes en fokusgrupp för att utvärdera gestaltningen av S:ta Elin och två enkäter (en vid utställningen och en online).

<p><font face="Times New Roman"> <p align="left">This mini-thesis seeks to interrogate the interplay between memory and documentation in the process of exhibition-making by a looking at the preparation for and mounting of the exhibition, Museum. This will be achieved by looking at the institutional methodologies employed by the Museum in dealing with ex-residents of District Six, their memories and artefacts in the heritage practice of a Museum as a forum. This practice was put into effect as the District Six Museum engaged ex-residents of other locations of removal.</p> </font></p>

By encouraging direct experiences with the environment, the Museum of Natural History, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has an opportunity to increase visitors' understanding and appreciation of the natural world. A new public program, Exploring Your Extraordinary Surroundings (EYES) is being developed that is intended to encourage visitors to explore local natural environments and share their observations with the Museum. Designed to expand the scope of the Museum's interpretative programming, this new program included an onsite component set in the Nature Lab, and an opportunity to interact with visitors through social media. A preliminary formative evaluation, employing a mixed methods approach, was conducted to assess the effectiveness of the program and the suitability of the Nature Lab as a programming space. Through an online survey and program observations, it was determined that visitors would be interested in this type of nature observation program, and the Museum should proceed with further development.

This project examines whether recent changes to the relationships between museums and Aboriginal people are visible in the museum exhibits and narratives that shape public memory. It focuses on references to the fur trade found in the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s First Peoples Hall and Canada Hall and throughout the Manitoba Museum, using visitor studies, learning theory and an internal evaluation of the Canada Hall to determine how and what visitors learn in these settings. It considers whether display content and visual cues encourage visitors to understand the fur trade as an industry whose survival depended on the participation of Aboriginal people and whose impacts can be viewed from multiple perspectives.

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This study compares a collection of decontextualized objects in McGill's Redpath Museum with contemporary historical accounts to see what congruencies can be established between them. It focuses on 125 artifacts gathered in the New Hebrides by a Nova Scotian missionary living on Erromanga between 1872 and 1913. These objects have never been studied before. Collected ethnographic objects are usually studied as they are found in the museum or as they might have been in the field--the movement from one place to the other is not considered significant. Critical consideration of the collecting process imparts information about the manufacture and use of objects, offers insights regarding the relation between local and introduced material culture, and reveals the historically contingent, intercultural relations that made collecting possible. It also exposes the foreign, local, cultural, and individual influences at work when certain items were selected, while others were left behind.

This project examines whether recent changes to the relationships between museums and Aboriginal people are visible in the museum exhibits and narratives that shape public memory. It focuses on references to the fur trade found in the Canadian Museum of Civilization’s First Peoples Hall and Canada Hall and throughout the Manitoba Museum, using visitor studies, learning theory and an internal evaluation of the Canada Hall to determine how and what visitors learn in these settings. It considers whether display content and visual cues encourage visitors to understand the fur trade as an industry whose survival depended on the participation of Aboriginal people and whose impacts can be viewed from multiple perspectives.