Many groups of adult museum visitors welcome the invitation to make personal connections to works of art. Time for individual reflection and sharing with others may enable relationships to deepen and new insights to emerge. This article describes an approach to gallery teaching that honors the memories, associations, and emotions that visitors…

In the autumn of 2009, Peter Sellars addressed the Museum Educators of Southern California and reflected on the importance of museums as places where our spiritual, intellectual, imaginative, emotional and complicated selves can find sustenance, recognition and acceptance. Drawing on his twenty-eight years of work in the arts and his global…

Historical organizations cannot continue to compete in the modern marketplace using traditional models for education program development. Social networking sites and new applications are shaping the way our audiences approach their work, even more so as Generation Y/Millennials begin to flood into the workforce, changing the demographic makeup,…

Collaborative processes by nature are not neat and tidy; and if mismanaged, they can lead to chaos rather than creative productivity. However, when a museum and a group of teachers establish a respectful peer community that maximizes all the members talents, truly impactful teaching and learning result. This article analyzes the "Great Chicago…

Many science centers have partnerships with schools, universities or scientific industry. This article will describe a unique collaborative project between Liberty Science Center, Wagner College, and Picatinny Center (a government research center) that has college interns working with and learning from science center staff and real scientists in a…

The Australian Museum has been working with the Coalition of Knowledge Building Schools over the past five years. Students aged from 5-18 years have been advising the Museum on the development of exhibitions and programs, as well as how the Museum can best use the digital environment to showcase its research and collections. This paper outlines…

ArtsConnectEd is a Web site that is the product of a ten-year partnership between the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Walker Art Center, bringing together online the collections of the two museums specifically for K-12 teachers and students in Minnesota and beyond. This article describes the history of the partnership and important lessons…

This pilot study aimed at developing and validating an evaluation model to assess the impact of participation in the National History Day in Ohio program (NHD-OH) on students academic achievement and intellectual growth by using as key indicators: a) High-stakes tests, i.e., Ohio Graduation Tests (OGT) in Social Studies, Reading and Writing; b)…

The article describes and discusses the use of focus groups and questionnaires to evaluate educational printed material for high school level art teachers prior to publication. The material consisted of "The Notebook of the Investigative Teacher," created by the Instituto Itau Cultural to help teachers develop critical skills in discussing…

A recent survey of recession-driven museum staff reductions suggests the possible loss of tens of thousands of museum personnel nationwide and identifies educators as among those most severely impacted. Survey findings are summarized, and the implications for both affected personnel and downsized institutions are considered.

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…

On February 26, 2009 the "Journal of Museum Education" hosted a telephone conversation among five senior museum educators. Leslie Bedford, Director of the Leadership in Museum Education Program at Bank Street College, facilitated the discussion with Mary Ellen Munley, Randy Roberts, Elsa Bailey, and Brigid Globensky. They shared their thinking on…

Educators make significant contributions to museums' educational agendas, yet recognition of their status in the museum field remains minimal. Furthermore, limited research has been directed at the nature of their practice and pedagogy. By establishing a common body of knowledge underpinned by theory and leading to a shared framework for practice,…

More than any other staff member, museum educators' knowledge and experience working with visitors make them uniquely qualified to take on leadership roles as museums transform themselves into lifelong learning organizations. The article encourages museum educators to initiate discussions about change by offering a fictional scenario of future…

Tina Nolan presents a call to action for current and future leaders to assume a new role as change leaders for the museum education profession. This article puts forth a series of recommendations and strategies for repositioning museum educators from the margins of their institutions to the center. Included among these recommendations are…