The national conversation on early learning and its importance as a foundation of lifelong learning has reached a tipping point, with increased attention at the local, state, and federal level. The context for this conversation includes a growing corpus of respected research on early childhood development that points to a critical learning "pivot…

In his book, "Identity and the Museum Visitor Experience," John Falk makes the case that by understanding the underlying motivations that drive a visitor, a museum can create an experience that reflects a person's identity and therefore satisfy their motivation for visiting. According to Falk, this level of personal connection increases…

In the last part of 2011, conversations swirled around the Internet and print about the assault on museum authority. The Marcus Institute for Digital Education in the Arts (MIDEA) summarized some of the discussion in their blog entry "The Participatory Museum and a New Authority." Other sites joined in the discussion, for example, the Museum Geek…

The pages of this journal issue offer many inspiring technology projects and insights that support the everyday work of educators. But there remains the challenge of managing that work with tools that are ever changing and plentiful. Over the years of working with technology of all types, the author has adopted a specific stance toward technology…

This essay provides a theoretical framework for thinking about the role of objects in the 21st-century museum. It explores the interrelationship between experience and objects within museums from their 19th-century origins to the present, and looks at the implications of objects as experience generators. Along the way it considers the ways in…

Striving to provide public good and maximize public value strike many as highly abstract and idealistic ideas. Written in the form of an interview, this article, written from the perspective of a practitioner, addresses some of the pragmatic issues that arise when trying to conceptualize approaches to museum offerings and demonstrate their…

Museum education leaders often find themselves thrust into greater responsibility without an opportunity to prepare themselves for the challenges ahead. In this article, I discuss my own struggles transitioning from manager of a specific program area to oversight of an entire education department. This transition happened unexpectedly, and the…

The concept of engagement across the learning sciences and in museums draws from research on visitor interests, motivations, and behaviors. Such involvement by museum visitors reveals institutional and field expectations about museum efficacy and demonstrated impact. However, engagement is a concept with different uses and interpretations across…

Some of the most intriguing science museum exhibits start with a counterintuitive outcome: a result that runs counter to visitors' expectations. Although counterintuitive events often succeed in captivating visitors, they rarely lead to visitor-driven inquiry. I argue that this is primarily due to two factors. First, for the counterintuitive…

What I put forward here is that the interpretative practices of the museum, whether they take the form of exhibitions, education programs, written texts or digital productions, are fashioned by relationships between the familiar and unfamiliar, which in turn both shape and are shaped by human understanding in general. The development of a new…

The medium of artist Fred Wilson is the museum. He delves deep into museum collections to expose unexamined assumptions about power, place, privilege, and history. His installations include wall labels, educational materials, lighting, and non-traditional pairings of objects. His work is not only about the objects on display, but about how the…

This essay begins by considering museum studies in relationship to curriculum studies and new museology. The author notes that traditional museum and school learning modes have focused more on measurement than meaning, while curriculum studies and new museology urge a broader exploration of the social purposes of education. Drawing on the work of…

Focused on the role of curriculum theory in museum education, this essay considers William Pinar's suggestion that curriculum be understood as a "complicated conversation." An examination of "The Price of Freedom: Americans at War," an exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Behring Center, offers an example of how…

The Museum of Molndal is a municipal museum located in an abandoned factory along the rapids of Kvarnbyn, a national heritage area in Molndal, just south of Gothenburg, Sweden. It is known for its innovative work based on cooperation with the local inhabitants, schools and other organizations, by involving them in creating exhibitions or…

Six museum education and learning researchers discuss the need to study how people learn and behave in museums and what kind of current research studies should be undertaken. Mary Ellen Munley, in "Back to the Future: A Call for Coordinated Research Programs in Museums," describes the differences between the terms "evaluation,""audience research,"…