The Philadelphia Public History Truck is a nearly two-year-old mobile museum project which creates interdisciplinary exhibitions about the history of Philadelphia neighborhoods with those who live, work, and play within the places and spaces of the city. Since I founded the project in 2013, I have navigated partnerships with both grassroots organizations and larger institutions and faced a wide-ranging gamut of experiences worthy of examination by public historians concerned with power and production of history as well as practice-based reflexivity. The first half of this thesis documents my key reflections of the first eighteen months of work and serves as a primary source on the project. This paper also places History Truck into a long historiography of both public history and mobility in the United States of America to explain the emergence of what I am calling the New Mobile History, an emerging form of practice in which community members and public historians work together from the onset of project development using ephemerality and movement as a tool for creativity and civic-driven history making. By analyzing oral history interviews with Cynthia Little and Michael Frisch, I argue firstly that Philadelphia was the birthplace of this New Mobile History. Secondly, I posit that for this New Mobile History to continue evolving, public historians must balance digital work and relationship-based process to create exhibitions which directly serve communities of memory. Lastly, I consider one possible future for History Truck, including its transformation from project to nonprofit organization manned by post-M.A. fellows who have the ability to work passionately on city streets and with new media. / History

Museums and schools evolved as the definition of the concept of education to describe a lifelong process of developing knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that take place not only in the classroom, but also in a variety of formal and informal contexts and settings. In order to fulfil and extend the potential of the partnership, museum educators and school teachers should be assisted to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the museum-school collaboration. They should learn the difference between museums and classrooms. When the Botswana National Museum was established in 1968, the Botswana government aspired to avail information relating to Botswana customs, indigenous knowledge system and values to Botswana‘s future citizens, with the hope that the information and artefacts collected at the time would retell the story of Botswana to learners and the public alike. The Botswana National Museum, through its educational programmes, has the capability to help educate learners; make teaching and learning an exciting undertaking; and provide the opportunities for hands-on activities and interaction with real objects. In order to address the research question posed for this study, the researcher conducted open-ended interviews with a sample comprising 40 participants: 10 teachers, 10 learners, 10 museum employees and 10 curriculum developers. The data collected from the interviews were decoded and presented in narrative form. The responses were presented using three identified categories: the curriculum development process in Botswana; the typical learner activities in the classroom and in the Botswana National Museum; and collaboration between the Botswana National Museum and schools. The data analysis revealed that the curriculum development process in Botswana was exclusively done by curriculum developers. Learners, teachers and museum employees were not involved. The Botswana National Museum‘s education programmes are not familiar to all role-players. All role-players were positive regarding a possible collaboration with the Botswana National Museum. Generic and specific recommendations were put forward to this end. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

Museums and schools evolved as the definition of the concept of education to describe a lifelong process of developing knowledge, skills, values and attitudes that take place not only in the classroom, but also in a variety of formal and informal contexts and settings. In order to fulfil and extend the potential of the partnership, museum educators and school teachers should be assisted to develop a comprehensive understanding of the nature of the museum-school collaboration. They should learn the difference between museums and classrooms. When the Botswana National Museum was established in 1968, the Botswana government aspired to avail information relating to Botswana customs, indigenous knowledge system and values to Botswana‘s future citizens, with the hope that the information and artefacts collected at the time would retell the story of Botswana to learners and the public alike. The Botswana National Museum, through its educational programmes, has the capability to help educate learners; make teaching and learning an exciting undertaking; and provide the opportunities for hands-on activities and interaction with real objects. In order to address the research question posed for this study, the researcher conducted open-ended interviews with a sample comprising 40 participants: 10 teachers, 10 learners, 10 museum employees and 10 curriculum developers. The data collected from the interviews were decoded and presented in narrative form. The responses were presented using three identified categories: the curriculum development process in Botswana; the typical learner activities in the classroom and in the Botswana National Museum; and collaboration between the Botswana National Museum and schools. The data analysis revealed that the curriculum development process in Botswana was exclusively done by curriculum developers. Learners, teachers and museum employees were not involved. The Botswana National Museum‘s education programmes are not familiar to all role-players. All role-players were positive regarding a possible collaboration with the Botswana National Museum. Generic and specific recommendations were put forward to this end. / Educational Studies / D. Ed. (Didactics)

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