This article addresses the ways in which museum practice has grown or shifted in the ways it thinks about, implements, and uses visitor research. A brief overview of the role of government policies, funders, and theorists and thinkers in the field of museum practice provides a background upon which current practitioners think about the role and…

As explored elsewhere in this publication, the purpose of a Comprehensive or Institution-wide Interpretive Plan (CIP) is to define or articulate the intellectual framework that connects the mission of an organization and its collections with the needs and interests of its audiences. In so doing, it should follow that this plan, shaped by the…

Many art museum programs aim to facilitate the development of young people's critical-thinking skills, but most are unclear in their definitions of critical thinking and their notions of how it is best facilitated. This article shares a diagnostic tool for identifying instances of critical thinking in art museum programs. Specifically, the authors…