The focus of this dissertation is my investigation into how primary school teachers can be guided to provide effective conditions for student learning on teacher-led school excursions to museums. The dissertation follows my learning journey, beginning with my entering experiences as a teacher, museum educator and teacher educator and then following stages of literature search, questions, action and reflection. The research design has affinity with action research and utilises an assemblage of methodologies which are empathetic with the study itself, principally observations and interviews. My thesis is that a framework based on strategies which reflect informal learning behaviours of family groups, learner-centred teaching approaches, and meaningful integration of school and museum studies, can create favourable conditions for student learning on excursions. Further, with minimal professional development, classroom teachers can implement such a framework. The first of three field studies tested my understandings about current practices on teacher-led school excursions to museums. Observations of 12 school excursions in Sydney, Australia, revealed a strong teacher orientation toward task completion rather than learning, and underlined the need to search for an alternative approach. Following a literature search on school visits to museums, social constructivist learning and teaching, and family visits, a School-Museum Learning Framework (SMLF) was designed. The SMLF was trialed in the second field study in which I was the principal teacher as well as researcher, working with a Year 5/6 class. The most significant finding was the students' recognition and declaration of their own learning in an environment in which they had choice and ownership of their learning. Consideration of the nature and measurement of learning in informal settings led to a tentative tool for indicating engagement in learning processes. In my third field study I investigated the broader application of the SMLF in four trials involving seven teachers. The teachers participated in a one-day professional development seminar and then conducted their own school-museum programs. The results showed the SMLF to be robust under a range of circumstances. My findings from the trials led to a refined flexible framework: School-Museum Integrated Learning Experiences in Science, which is based on three Guiding Principles: integration of school and museum learning; provision of conditions for self-directed learning and facilitation of learning strategies appropriate to the setting. The findings from this research have significance for students, teachers, teacher educators and museum educators.

The focus of this dissertation is my investigation into how primary school teachers can be guided to provide effective conditions for student learning on teacher-led school excursions to museums. The dissertation follows my learning journey, beginning with my entering experiences as a teacher, museum educator and teacher educator and then following stages of literature search, questions, action and reflection. The research design has affinity with action research and utilises an assemblage of methodologies which are empathetic with the study itself, principally observations and interviews. My thesis is that a framework based on strategies which reflect informal learning behaviours of family groups, learner-centred teaching approaches, and meaningful integration of school and museum studies, can create favourable conditions for student learning on excursions. Further, with minimal professional development, classroom teachers can implement such a framework. The first of three field studies tested my understandings about current practices on teacher-led school excursions to museums. Observations of 12 school excursions in Sydney, Australia, revealed a strong teacher orientation toward task completion rather than learning, and underlined the need to search for an alternative approach. Following a literature search on school visits to museums, social constructivist learning and teaching, and family visits, a School-Museum Learning Framework (SMLF) was designed. The SMLF was trialed in the second field study in which I was the principal teacher as well as researcher, working with a Year 5/6 class. The most significant finding was the students' recognition and declaration of their own learning in an environment in which they had choice and ownership of their learning. Consideration of the nature and measurement of learning in informal settings led to a tentative tool for indicating engagement in learning processes. In my third field study I investigated the broader application of the SMLF in four trials involving seven teachers. The teachers participated in a one-day professional development seminar and then conducted their own school-museum programs. The results showed the SMLF to be robust under a range of circumstances. My findings from the trials led to a refined flexible framework: School-Museum Integrated Learning Experiences in Science, which is based on three Guiding Principles: integration of school and museum learning; provision of conditions for self-directed learning and facilitation of learning strategies appropriate to the setting. The findings from this research have significance for students, teachers, teacher educators and museum educators.

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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.

In this study I explored the variety of educational opportunities available in museums. Next, I examined the museum education programs in the Portland, Oregon area and described what types of opportunities are available to teachers. Finally, I made suggestions for teachers on how to best access museum programs and for museum educators on how to best reach teachers. Interactions between schools and museums exist on a variety of levels. From limited interactions to collaborative programming, schools and museums have found ways to work together to accomplish their joint goal of education. Museums offer self-guided or guided tours, curriculum packets, teacher education programs, access to collections or informational programs related to special exhibits. Some museums and schools have developed deeper relationships in which each give and receive help carrying out their missions. I interviewed museum educators at nine museums in Portland and the surrounding areas. I asked questions regarding the types of programs available, especially focusing on programs suitable for school groups or those that might be helpful to teachers. The programs available in the Portland area vary by institution. Each museum, historic home or zoo offers unique programs on a variety of topics. While history predominates, science, math, social studies and art are readily available. Teachers should be able to supplement nearly any classroom topic. Teachers should take the time to get to know the educators in the institutions. Overall, the key for an individual teacher seeking museum education for students is to ask what is available. The programming at most institutions is flexible, especially when there are traveling or temporary exhibitions. Teachers should get onto mailing lists so they will be notified when special or new programs are available. Also, teachers need to keep in contact with the museum educators. Developing a personal relationship will prove invaluable for a teacher who is trying to fill a gap in a unit or supplement his or her curriculum. Museum educators will benefit from time spent analyzing where their current programs meet state guidelines or focusing planning on meeting specific state common curriculum goals (CCGs) when designing new programs. Schools are reorganizing their curriculum to meet state standards and museum personnel would be wise to do the same. / Graduation date: 2000

Authentic assessment of visitor learning in museum settings is a challenging endeavor. Evaluation literature includes very few studies that link adult visitors' behavior to their learning. Multiple data collection methods in a naturalistic environment hold great promise for increasing understanding of informal public education. In 1997, Oregon State University's Hatfield Marine Science Center (HMSC) in Newport, Oregon, opened a new visitor center. This unique science museum was designed with strong educational goals in mind. The first gallery, the Pattern Garden, was intended to provide a framework of understanding that visitors would build on during their journey through the museum. The three main exhibits in this gallery include a touch pool with live tidepool animals, a sound exhibit with listening stations, and a water wheel that demonstrates chaos theory. This study is a summative evaluation of these three exhibits and their educational effectiveness, both individually and as part of the overall gallery. Data on exhibit holding power and visitor behavior were collected for this evaluation. The touch pool and the sound station were videotaped, while field notes were used to document holding power at the water wheel. In addition, a wireless microphone was mounted at the touch pool to document discussion between visitors and docents. Visitors who spent a minimum of ten seconds at each of the three exhibits were interviewed as they prepared to leave the museum. The interviewer asked the visitor to recall the Pattern Garden exhibits, with special attention to things they learned and associations they made to their daily lives. Both holding power and learning proved to be the greatest at the touch pool. Further investigations are indicated to isolate whether it was the content of the exhibit, the presence of a docent, or other factors that made it particularly effective. The water wheel's holding power was nearly as high as that of the touch pool, but visitor learning scores were lower. Interview data indicated that the complex, difficult nature of the chaos concept was partly responsible for the low educational results. The sound station resulted in moderate holding power and moderate learning. Difficulties and successes in the research design indicate important factors to consider for future evaluation studies at informal science learning centers. / Graduation date: 1999

The history of museums in South Africa dates back to 1825 when the South African Museum (SAM) was established in Cape Town. Initially museums in South Africa were established for science and local history was seen as peripheral. Nevertheless, this began to change during the early 1920s as artifacts of historical nature gained popularity, saving them from historical oblivion in museums. Museums themselves broadened their role to become major centres of both scientific and historical knowledge. When museums started to include historical artifacts, they entered a terrain which was influenced by a racist ideology of segregation and then apartheid. Thus, they became centres of political discourse and mirrors of the white domination in South Africa. From the 1920s museums served to propagate certain myths which was based on the subjugation of Africans by white settlers. Museums played a pivotal role in entrenching ideas of white settlement in Natal as a triumph over barbarism, savage and heathenism. Exhibitions within the museums reflected certain identities at the expense of others. It was not until the 1980s that the political scenario forced museums to examine their role and adapt to the new order. This marked the beginning of a new dispensation in the politics and poetics of museum displaying. During the 1990s issues of representation in museums became popular. Historians were among those who became interested in the question of how to represent the South African a turbulent past in a post apartheid South Africa. This era was characterized by new displays which are more accommodative and represent diverse population groups of South Africa. Exhibitions in museums always involve political ramifications and ideas within exhibitions draw reference to the powerful groups in the making of political and social discourse. During the post- apartheid era, KwaZulu-Natal museums reflect new identities which are based on non-racialism and interaction of diverse people of the province. They no longer serve as reference point for white domination and educational programmes are more multidimensional and appeal to all sectors of our society. The thesis adopted in this piece of work is that museums are political institutions and reflect the political identities of the society that they live. They cannot be divorced from their time and circumstances. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

Orientador: Rita Luciana Berti Bredariolli / Banca: Sumaya Mattar / Banca: Luiza Helena da Silva / Resumo: Escolas e museus de arte se relacionam, sobretudo, através das visitas de estudantes acompanhados por seus professores às exposições. Nesse estudo conheceremos cinco professores de artes, que ao longo de suas vidas frequentam as programações oferecidas pelos museus, e as reverberações que este habito cultural pode oferecer para o desenvolvimento do ensino de arte nas escolas que lecionam. Como processo, optei por entrevistas semi-estruturadas com ênfase nas histórias de vida dos participantes, momentos de emersão de suas relações com a arte e espaços museológicos desde a infância aos dias de hoje. Além do convite a produzir um trabalho poético com a mesma temática. A partir dos elementos trazidos pelos professores construímos enlaces com a pesquisa bibliográfica para as discussões sobre o desenvolvimento da "Proposta triangular"; o museu como espaço de formação continuada e experiência; os fluxos entre museus de arte e escolas e o papel do professor de artes no processo de formação de público. Dois exemplos de trabalhos desenvolvidos em escolas a partir do vivido pelos professores nos museus foram trazidos para dialogarmos sobre a presença da arte contemporânea em sala de aula e as relações criadas entre arte e vida / Resume: Écoles et musées d'arts rentrent en relation, notamment, grâce aux visites des expositions organisées par les enseignants avec leurs élèves. Dans cette recherche nous avons suivi cinq professeurs d'arts qui au long de leurs parcours fréquentent les programmes offerts par les musées. Nous nous sommes intéressés aux traces laissées par cette habitude culturelle dans le développement de l'enseignement des arts dans les écoles où ils enseignent. En ce qui concerne la méthodologie, j'ai opté pour les entretiens semi-structurés tout en soulignant les histoires de vie des participants, les origines de leurs relations avec les arts et les espaces muséologiques depuis l'enfance. Les participants ont été également invités à produire en travail poétique sur ces thématiques. A partir des éléments apportés par les professeurs, nous avons construit les liens avec la recherche bibliographique afin de nourrir les débats autour de la « Proposition triangulaire » : le musée comme espace de formation continue et d'expériences ; les flux entre les musées et les écoles et le rôle du professeurs d'arts dans le processus de formation de public. Deux exemples de travaux développés dans les écoles à partir du vécu des professeurs dans les musées ont été retenus pour établir ce dialogue sur la présence des arts contemporains dans la salle de classe et les rapports entre les arts et la vie / Mestre

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