When meeting visitors and beginning a tour, do you feel obliged to give them everything you’ve got, to fill them in as much as possible about your institution and its collection? Do you hope they will experience the benefits of all the books you’ve read and experts you’ve listened to? …
Recently, several friends and I went on a camping trip on the island of Maui, in Hawaii. The trip lasted four days and each of us was responsible for carrying all our own food, water, shelter, and gear. The hikes were challenging, especially considering the heavy packs, but they were …
Over the years, I have sought resources that would help docents and other educators understand more fully the positive impact of teaching through direct, personal experience. I hoped to find something that demonstrated how much more compelling that method of teaching is than is the technique of lecturing. Though some …
Here’s an old trick that’s worth repeating. Interlace the fingers of your two hands. Look and see which hand’s thumb is on top. Now, unlace your fingers and interlace them again, but this time place the opposite thumb on the top. How does it feel? If you find it “awkward,” …
For nearly thirteen years, Jackie Littleton and I have had the honor of producing The Docent Educator. What began as a late-night revelation — that no publication for professional development existed solely for staff and volunteers teaching in museums, historic sites, aquariums, zoos, gardens, and libraries — has grown into …
As a freshman in college, and all of 18 years old, I shared a Spanish class with a woman who was in her 70’s. One day, while chatting before the teacher arrived, I asked the woman why she was bothering to learn a new language at her age. “I don’t …
To successfully implement inquiry teaching, docents must master the skills of communication. They must be particularly sensitive to how their words will be received and understood, and acutely aware of the intentions and meanings of words used by their visitors. Though the goal of an inquiry lesson is determined in …
Unless you are reading The Docent Educator for the first time, you probably know that I advocate teaching methods that use active learning strategies. It is my strongly held belief that object-based learning is best accomplished by placing visitors in the active roles of seekers and contemplators, rather than putting …
Object-based activities are teaching strategies designed to shift visitors from the passive repose of listening into the active postures of seeking, finding, and/or responding. Object-based activities are employed to encourage learners (visitors) to make discoveries on their own. Because these activities must enfranchise all learners present, regardless of their diverse …
Perhaps you might salute a group of arriving eighth-graders with the same slogan I’d use, “Hail mighty contrarians!” These awkward, yet occasionally articulate, fourteen and fifteen-year-olds reflect the many challenges and dichotomies inherent when transitioning from childhood to adulthood. Young people in this age range are full of a restless …
Our five senses are the portals through which we gather impressions and information. We experience the physical world around us by seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling it. The more sensorial routes through which we experience things, the more intellectual and emotional routes by which we can know, understand, and …
During my 27 years of involvement with museums and docent training, I have arrived at the opinion that the most effective docents are those who have the firmest understanding of teaching and education. Likewise, it is my observation that the most common error made in constructing and executing docent training …
“Eat your vegetables!” That battle cry resounded through our house when I was growing up, and the mealtime encounters that ensued could range from tense to all out warfare. The problem wasn’t really the vegetables, but my dear mother’s cooking. She didn’t enjoy cooking and it showed. She did little …
Effective teaching is a challenge regardless of the circumstances. Working with walk-in visitors, however, may be among the more formidable of educational responsibilities. While certain assumptions can be made about a fourth grade class coming to your institution in conjunction with its social studies curriculum, such presumptions cannot be applied …
Recently, I followed a decent who was touring visitors through an historic home site. She was terrific . . . until the end. During the tour, she did everything right, keeping her visitors focused, interested, and engaged. But, when she and her visitors arrived at their last station, she concluded …
How can you expect to hit a target if you don’t aim? The simple answer is that you can’t. The same is true when developing and implementing educational programs. You must do more than assume you know a targeted audience. “Targeting by assumption” is no different than guessing. And, while …
If there is one characteristic that distinguishes those who excel at giving presentations or demonstrations it is proficiency in public speaking. Public speaking, like most skills applicable to teaching, is not a simple matter. It requires understanding how to engage audiences and how to hold their interest while stimulating reflective …
Fire a volunteer? Staff members hope never to confront a situation where they must ask a volunteer docent to leave. The very thought is nightmarish. But, sometimes, it is necessary. Steps can be taken, however, to minimize the likelihood that such a drastic measure might be needed. Among those steps …
Museums, historic sites, zoos, aquariums, gardens, libraries, and parks recruit cadres of volunteers. Volunteers are engaged for a wide variety of in-house activities, from serving as cashiers at the retail shop or clerical assistants in the mail room to greeters at the admissions desk. Even most institutional Boards of Trustees …
Ask interesting, thought-provoking questions and you know what happens? People try to answer them! Whether they respond orally, or simply contemplate in reflective silence, visitors will actively participate when asked appropriate questions. No matter whether you teach with art, history, or science collections, you can encourage active thinking and participatory …
Teaching is an endeavor that has both artistic and technical components. While it may be difficult to transmit much about the artistic aspects of teaching because they emphasize such subjective attributes as performance, attitude, style, and nuance, the technical aspects of teaching can be more easily delineated. Successful teaching should …
There are people who believe that teaching is simple — just learn the subject matter and then tell others about it. But, they are mistaken. The gulf is wide between telling what you’ve learned and helping others to learn. Think about it — if effective teaching is really as easy …
When I began my teaching career, in the mid 60’s, my principal issued each teacher textbooks for every subject she taught, a record player, a tape player/recorder, and a box of chalk. Our school also owned two projectors, one for 35mm movies and another for filmstrips, and a mimeograph machine. …
Like Superman, technology possesses “super-powers.” Unlike Superman, however, technology’s powers may be used for good or ill. As a concerned educator, who has strongly-felt opinions about technology’s role in museum education, I’d like to express my cautionary thoughts and then offer a few suggestions for its appropriate use. It is …
Years ago, I introduced one of my sisters to a colleague from work. I thought that the two of them would really hit-it-off. Like my sister, this fellow was interesting, well educated, and engaging. Yet, after only a few dates, my sister ended the relationship. When I asked about their …
Our five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch) are the portals through which we gather information and knowledge. Therefore, it stands to reason that the more our senses are engaged, and the more of our senses that are engaged, the greater the opportunity for information retrieval and comprehension. This …
When you became a subscriber to The Docent Educator, you joined a large and growing cadre of educators — staff members and volunteers — who are striving to improve the quality of education in museums, historic sites, zoos, parks, and gardens. Every three months, this publication serves as a mini-convention, …
For years museum educators felt neglected, the step- children of their profession. They struggled for recognition within their institution’s hierarchy and vied for precious budgetary resources. Education departments and their programs were considered of secondary importance to their institutions and were treated accordingly. During the past 30 years, many of …
There is an expression that goes, “If it’s tree, it’s not worth anything.” Well, that may be true of some things, but not of the volunteers who work in our profession. Volunteers have become essential to the operations of a vast majority of museums, historic sites, zoos, aquariums, gardens, and …
Scientists interpret data to determine cause and effect, and to understand the meaning of information or patterns. Historians interpret objects and events to accurately construct the past and to place them in a systematic and explained, chronological order. Artists interpret the range of human experiences, ideas, and emotions to articulate …
While traditional classroom studies primarily call upon deductive reasoning skills (going from generalities and moving to specific examples), learning from art, history, or science collections requires inductive reasoning (looking at specific examples and extrapolating as to generalities). Quite naturally, therefore, teaching within museums, historic sites, zoos, gardens, and other similar …
During the early 1960’s, a revolution took hold of museums and other similar institutions. It was propelled when Leonardo da Vinci’s painting, the Mona Lisa, was brought from France to New York and displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Suddenly, thousands of people, many of whom had rarely visited …
Games in my institution? You must be joking! Our collection has been researched by scholars, our subject matter is serious and important, our approach is sophisticated, and our demeanor is dignified. Why would we play games in our galleries?” If you’ve perceived similar attitudes at your institution ╤ staff or …
There are no two ways about it, every educator should be evaluated. Regardless of whether the educator is a paid staff member or a volunteer, the importance of an educator’s responsibilities, and the amount of contact an educator has with students and the general public, require that he or she …
It can be tough and tricky. You’ve ask visitors a question in order to get them involved and thinking, and then, one of them responds with an answer so “incongruous” that it nearly steals your breath away. What could that person be thinking of? Or, perhaps someone responds to your …
As docents and staff educators, we constantly remind ourselves to be flexible. We know success requires us to “roll with the punches” — to adapt and respond to changing circumstances, ideas, and personalities. Reminding ourselves to be flexible serves as a license, granting us permission to depart from the standard …
Of all the educational activities conducted by museums, historic sites, zoos, parks, and gardens, few are less understood or appreciated than outreach. Outreach, or programming that occurs in locations other than the originating institution, is perceived by many staff members as the bane of their responsibilities, and is often discounted …
It’s truly amazing when you think about it. Every single one of us who is older than nineteen experienced being a teenager, yet most of us can’t seem to recall what it was actually like, and even fewer of us know how to relate to those who are currently working …
The joke on the first day of theater class is to tell a novice actor to “just walk naturally” across the stage, and then to watch. Suddenly, the innate skills of movement and coordination become jumbled into a series of labored and self-conscious gestures. The humor comes, of course, from …
What Makes Visitors Want to Learn? was the intriguing title of the feature article appearing in the May/June 1995 issue of Museum News. The article, authored by Mihaly Csikszentmihályi and Kim Hermanson of the University of Chicago, examines visitors’ intrinsic desire to learn from museum exhibitions. Though clearly written for …
Struggling to prepare the appropriate introduction for your tour — one that establishes both the topic and purpose of the lesson? Where do you begin? How do you begin? To be effective, an introduction should tell visitors what they are about to learn in a manner that prepares them to …
This issue of The Docent Educator examines introductions, transitions, and conclusions — three of the most important structural elements of any lesson. Along with content, these structural elements determine and direct every guided learning experience. When poorly conceived or implemented, introductions, transitions, and conclusions can defeat the most well intentioned …
People learn best by “doing.” Need proof? Consider how most of us learn to use a computer. We don’t just read the instruction manual, memorize it, and then turn the machine on. We learn in a series of back-and-forth steps, where something we want to do compels us to find …
“A word means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.” — Humpty Dumpty to Alice As an educator working in ail museums, I often introduced young people to art. Of the many tours I conducted, I recall one most clearly. It involved a group of …
Regardless of whether you read The Docent Educator in Australia, Canada, Great Britain, Hong Kong, Panama, or the United States, you reside in a multicultural environment. All modern nations are composed of a variety of cultures — indigenous, dominant, and minority; and all societies are characterized by diversity — including …
The immediacy of objects in museums, parks, gardens, and I historic sites can clearly demonstrate the compelling and satisfying experience that comes from learning. Their potential to stimulate curiosity and hold interest is inherently great. This is one reason why the brief encounters that volunteer or staff educators have with …
Think of it — the overwhelming majority of students you tour on school visits were born since 1980!! So what? So everything! We are all products of our time, and this generation of young people cannot be expected to be an exception. For those who are now in grades nine …
An incomprehensible number of images and sounds compete for our attention everyday. From traffic signs to product labels, from freeway noises to elevator music, from television commercials to store window displays, the happenings of contemporary life constantly bombard us with stimuli. The cumulative effect of all this dissonance teaches us …
A recent declaration by the American Association of Museums stating that “there is an educational purpose in every museum activity” {Excellence and Equity. 192. Washington. DC: American Association of Museums) could be considered true … at least conceptually. However, this view is not consistent with reality. In practice, the purpose …
Whether teaching little ones is your preference or not, one can hardly dispute our responsibility as educators to these, our youngest visitors. It is aphoristic that the greater the dependency of the learner, the greater the importance of the educator. This may be one reason why classroom instructors who teach …
If you’ve listened to a conversation without understanding what was being said, or seen a movie and not been able to figure out the plot, then you know how it feels to take a tour that lacks a theme. It’s confusing! A theme is the glue that holds a tour …
Notwithstanding the axiom that all audiences are special, and the truism that every individual deserves your best teaching efforts, there are segments of your community that require special attention. The reasons for this may be related to the purpose of their visit, their level of awareness or understanding, the preparation …
Tough topics lie in wait. They are an inherent and ever-present risk when teaching with any institutional collection. Some can be anticipated; others just happen ╤ a combustible combination of issues, personalities, and happenstance. Tough topics by their very nature can prompt visitor reactions ranging from mild discomfort to outright …
Regardless of suitability or circumstance, the traditional modes of teaching forged within schools tend to dominate education in museums, zoos, and other auxiliary educational institutions. For instance, many docents and staff educators instruct by lecturing. This form of teaching transferred to museums in spite of the profound differences (and considerable …
Every audience is different. This simple axiom explains why teaching cannot be achieved by formula or script. To truly connect with the variety of individuals and groups they encounter, docents must be flexible and prepared with strategies that reach and respond to a full range of individual and collective differences. …
What’s something everyone wants, few believe they get, and all must give to appreciate the cultural heritage of others? The answer is . . . “respect.” Fundamental to everyone’s psyche is bias, or their predisposed point of view. Bias is the consequence of individual, temporal, and cultural variables. It is …
Asking Questions Watch people at dinner buffets. They slow their usual pace, survey the range of offerings, investigate alternatives, and actively pursue every intriguing morsel. If only our minds were as adventurous as our palates! When presented with a sumptuous array of exhibited objects to sample, most of us look …
To successfully conduct “inquiry” tours, it’s essential to remember that all experiences, including viewing and interpreting objects in your collection, are subjective. Whether caused by differences in physical proximity to an object, or differences in personal or cultural patterns of thinking, the range of subjective variables among visitors is great …
“What’s wrong with telling visitors that this is an excellent example of naturalist painting and reveals the artist’s command of color, light, and the reflective properties of water?’ Everything I’ve said is correct.” Docents are often puzzled to learn that communicating in this manner may be counterproductive. After all, the …