My decision to resign my decent position lit the Camp Tyler nature trail was dictated by the development of chronic allergies. Simply put, the woods and I no longer enjoyed each other’s company. Not all decisions to leave a cherished and rewarding place within the museum community are as clear-cut, …
Objects elicit stories. The kindergartner holding a turtle shell can hardly hold still as she tells you about the turtle she and her brother found while on a camping trip. “It was sitting on a log and then we poked it with a stick and it put its head in …
Oral history projects, senior citizens, and history museums, historical societies, historic sites, and history centers have a long symbiotic association. Seniors have the memories that these institutions treasure, and oral history projects put the two together. Sometimes the impetus is a centennial or other anniversary of a community, museum, or …
This article first appeared in the Autumn 1992 edition of The Decent Educator. We believe the excellent counsel this text offers is worth repeating and is particularly germaine to the topic of this issue. Successful tours for older adults, as with any group, are largely a matter of understanding the …
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 …
You’ve seen them rumbling into the museum — bundles of energy packaged in all sizes, trailed by moms pushing strollers and a few dads in jeans. In they come, and they want a tour! A tour for all, ages six months to 55. Maybe you, dedicated educator and part-rime magician …
“History? Ho-hum.” A spoken or body language response that is every history educator’s nightmare, whether his student is of elementary school, junior high, or college age. How does a decent make the past come alive and resonate relevance to people living now? A group of dedicated and determined docents of …
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 …
This is awesome! Look at that dinosaur spine made of sticks!” “Wow! The “spiral vortice” is really a wooden whirlpool!” Such comments were heard over and over again as all the third and seventh graders from the public schools in Brockton, Massachusetts, enjoyed ten outdoor installations in the woods adjacent …
At one point in the movie “Life is Beautiful,” I began to believe I could speak Italian. I became unaware that I was reading subtitles. In fact, the action on the screen was so visually expressive, my dependence on the spoken and written text was negligible. This experience is often …
“The great man is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” (Mencius 327- 289 B.C.) When children tour your museum, how do you speak to their hearts and minds? Do you ask questions? Provide activities? Promote exploration? Invite discussion? Do you use the same touring strategies when teaching adults? …
Though some of you actually do work in zoos and nature centers, the rest of us occasionally encounter some real animals, too. While most teachers, group leaders, and classroom chaperones are delightful people eager to help share the wonders of your institution with their charges, from time to time a …
Like thousands of others, I arrived well before the museum doors opened and stood in line waiting to be admitted to the Claude Monet exhibition at the Art Institute. I’d picked a gorgeous day—blue sky, low smog, sun rising over the lake. With latte in hand, I braced for what …
by Cate O’Hara Museums and historic sites are repositories of history, culture, and educational opportunity for all visitors, including those with disabilities. This truth, together with the mandates of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), led the Tatt Museum stalt and volunteers on a path that resulted in the development …
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is a large urban institution with a strong commitment to providing educational outreach programs to diverse audiences throughout the southern California area. Outreach programs include those for elementary and middle schools, a traveling insect zoo, and a loan service that allows museum …
In order for teenagers to have a personalized museum experience, docents at the Museum of Art, Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, contact classroom teachers and, together, establish goals for the museum visit. Frequently, high school teachers are anxious for their students to discover something new at the museum – …
Ask teenagers what they want, and you’ll get a variety of answers — a new Lamborghini, an “A” on the chemistry exam, no zits, or world peace. Look closely at what they need, however, and the answer is unequivocal. Most adolescents need a large dose of self-confidence. Adolescents are probably …
The Musée de la Civilisation in Quebec City is a young, education-oriented institution constructed around a social science theme. It has welcomed 700,000 visitors every year since 1988. According to visitor surveys, what younger people enjoy most about the Musée is its warm welcome, the range of exhibitions, and the …
Teaching with a dual curriculum is an exciting and successful way to involve high school students in museums, while providing collaborative opportunities between museums and schools. A dual curriculum synthesizes materials, objects, and information from two museums — one art and the other history — into one program consisting of …
How much content from your last tour do you think students retained? It may well depend on the method you used to convey the information. According to S. Famham-Diggery in Paradigms of Know ledge and Instruction (1994). there are four teaching methods which encompass all other teaching activities, they are: …
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 …
As docents, we’ve all had them. Sometimes we get advance warning. Most of the time we don’t. But we have all known those occasions when we find ourselves in the middle of a tour, and we realize that things are out of control. How it happens will vary. It may …
I don’t teach kindergarten, but my sixth graders are “buddies” with our school’s kindergarten children. We are their “‘computer tutors,” we give them a Halloween party and an Easter egg hunt, and, once a year, we accompany them on a trip to the zoo or science museum. This year, when …
Your new class is before you, notebooks and sharpened pencils at the ready. Attendance has been recorded, and you are poised to begin. Some of the faces turn toward you with enthusiasm; some appear to have skipped breakfast and a good night’s sleep. You open your mouth to begin. A …
Over the past ten years, there has been a major movement in museum education departments to address family audiences. As museums increase the number of special events, self-guided tours, workshops, and activities designed specifically for families, docents must master touring techniques for groups composed of both adults and children. Family …
Recent research on families and museums, as well as my work at the Oakland Museum of California, confirms that it is the family visit, not the school field trip, that influences whether or not a child will grow up to be a museum-visiting adult. But museums must do more than …
Each year, the education department of the Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln provides tours to approximately 1 ,000 first-year students enrolled in a program entitled University Foundations. The University Foundations program is a course designed to develop “the student’s ability to …
Kevin Sorrow, a 19-year-old freshman at the University of Georgia, passes by the Georgia Museum of Art, located in the historic quadrangle of the university, every day on his way to class or downtown Athens. Although he had been curious about the museum since he started his college career over …
Remember those times in the galleries when your temperature rises in response to a tour participant? How annoying; they just don’t get it. They can’t see your point. Their behavior seems off track, picky, flaky, rigid, out of touch, or unresponsive. How irritating. Perhaps what you have experienced is simply …
Imagine standing next to a work of contemporary art. The work is particularly perplexing. You find the work difficult to comprehend, and yet it is your responsibility as a docent to explain it to others who wander by. “I could do that; why it this thing in an art gallery?!” …
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 …
As interpreters, we may wish to convey an image of the past. But how can we know what the past was like when we weren’t there? You’ re more likely to have a sense of the past when you’re surrounded by objects of the past. These were the things that …
To take children’s knowledge where you want it to be, start with what children already know. That’s the concept and basis for the Museum of the Cape Fear’s “Now & Then” tour for students in grades K – 3. The Museum of the Cape Fear, located in Fayetteville, North Carolina, …
Every art museum has its share of portraits, but sometimes it’s hard to get school visitors engaged in looking carefully at this genre. We want them to move beyond the cheap thrill of noticing “how the eyes follow you when you move around the room!” We want them to work …
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 …
The Henry Gallery at the University of Washington enjoys a location that many museums, on campus or otherwise, would be delighted to have. Over 2,000 students, faculty, and staff pass by the front door of the Henry everyday. Located on the western edge of the campus, it is, so far, …
There they are — what seems like hundreds upon hundreds of people, totally bereft of any fashion sense whatever, impatient, hot (or cold; it’s always one or the other), gazing skeptically down on you as you prepare to transport them to new heights of consciousness. Sound intimidating? It doesn’t have …
It’s opening day of a new, costly exhibition on natural disasters. Adults meander through the displays, reading copy, pushing buttons, discussing information with their companions, and drawing conclusions about what they’ve seen. In one corner of the exhibition, however, a couple struggles with their four-year-old daughter. She has discovered a …
When youngsters handle artifacts in a historical museum, the past comes alive and becomes accessible. To turn kids on at our museum, the Tippecanoe County Historical Association (TCHA) uses an expendable collection and reproductions for its handling materials. The collection includes such items as: fossils, projectile points, stone tools, bone …
Right from the Start is the title Of the National Association of State Boards of Education report on Early Childhood Education, and is one of those wonderful phrases that expresses multiple meanings simultaneously. (Everybody Counts, the title of a report on the future of mathematics education by the National Council …
While our youngest visitors Mc not any more difficult to teach than older students and adults, they do require a different approach. The youngest visitors toured by docents at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden are at the prekindergarten and kindergarten levels (4 to 6-year-olds). They arrive as part of a school …
In The Arctic Museum by William Logan, Mildred Jones, and Judy Higbea Pre-schoolers who visit The Peary- MacMillan Arctic Museum for guided tours are 3-year-olds (in groups of six to eight) and 4- and 5-year-olds (in groups up to ten or twelve). All have adults chaperoning them on their half-hour …
How can I get and keep their attention on the exhibits?” and “How can I make this meaningful?” are questions that confront docents, teachers, and parents as they participate in museum visits with young children. Good answers to these two questions mean you won’t find yourself asking “How can I …
In its series ‘‘Sharing Science with Children: A Survival Guide for Scientists and Engineers, ” the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science offers the following as potential themes for teaching elementary aged students: Kindergarten First & Second Third & Fourth Fifth & Sixth Animals Many kindsHave different coverings …
Is an empty house truly empty? Imagine visiting a iiouse museum where all you see is the house — no furniture, no fabrics, no art collection, no memorabilia — no kidding! What is there to see? What could we possibly learn? At Drayton Hall in Charleston, South Carolina, visitors experience …
Chances are that every docent will eventually encounter reluctant or skeptical visitors. Docents serving in art museums and galleries have special problems with such viewers since much of the art world seems subjective and mysterious to novice gallery-goers. Because art museums do not have the same straightforward, factual aura found …
In the Autumn 1992 issue of The Docent Educator, we discussed touring with older adults. This article departs from that one by focusing on a specific segment of older adults ╤ residents of long-term care, nursing facilities. In the previous article, one of our main points was that, even though …
I could feel the air charged with their excitement and anticipation as the small group of thirty children and their teachers approached the museum center. I stood waiting to greet them. Young eyes looked up at me filled with curiosity. The children’s eagerness and enthusiasm engulfed me. I felt myself …
Travel can be entertaining, educational, and … when you don’t speak the language … frustrating. During a recent vacation in Germany and Austria, I encountered a variety of ways museums communicate information about their collections to non-German speaking visitors. I became curious. Do European museums do a better job serving …
When working with English as a Second Language (E.S.L.) students, there are different techniques that research shows will help these students understand the English language. Of these techniques, three that docents might find useful when touring ESL students are: Total Physical Response (TPR), Roles and Drama, and Fun and Games. …
At the Philadelphia Museum of Art, thousands of adults with special needs participate in educational programs through tours and full-day, hands-on workshops. These visitors come from rehabilitation hospitals and mental health settings, group homes, halfway houses, drug recovery centers, and more recently, community service centers for those who have AIDS. …
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 …
In 1991, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, began a four-year curriculum development project called “Learning Through Art.” The purpose of this project was to establish the museum’s permanent collection as a major resource for elementary teachers. The project was funded initially by an NEA challenge grant. A group of …
Successful tours for older adults, as with any group, are largely a matter of understanding the audience and reshaping one’s perceptions and techniques accordingly. The media, which strongly influences many of our commonly held perceptions, abounds with negative stereotypes of older people. Consider the advertisement for an emergency response system …
I must admit that I don’t cherish the thought of giving tours to adolescents. First, because I don’t find it easy to face a group that, as a whole, towers over me by perhaps two feet or more. Second, because they are not shy in showing their dismay at having …
Teenagers! Just the thought of teaching this age group can makes some people cringe. Teens don’t pay attention and all they want to do is socialize with each other! Channeling their Hormonal Energy Their interest in each other can be channeled in an educational and positive manner. The docents at …
Unlike most people in “the teaching profession,” docents engage students of many ages and backgrounds. Think about it. Third grade teachers teach eight-and nine-year olds. Most of their students probably live in the neighborhoods near the school. These teachers can become experts on their students’ thought and behavior patterns. High …
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. …
Hey! You guys better watch it! When you pull that stick out, the rug will fall apart!” A small boy, who had just threaded wide silk ribbon through wooden dowels to weave a large mat, was laughing at the Special Tour Docents who wheeled him along the floor of the …
Over thirty years ago, President Kennedy challenged the Nation to land a man on the surface of the Moon and to return him safely to Earth. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) not only accomplished this goal, but also placed America in a preeminent position of space exploration, reaping …
Do you know what the title of this article means? Neither do nine year olds, but they could if scientific jargon didn’t get in the way. Much of science can be easily understood. It’s the words scholars use and linkages they make that complicate the picture for young children. By …
Docents experimenting with the inquiry method often find that adults on tours are more comfortable with a lecture-oriented style of teaching. Within art museums, however, there is usually one type of art that never fails to draw comments from visitors: twentieth-century art. Docents talking about modem art experience the opposite …
Freddie had such a wonderful time today,” she gushes, her arms entwining her squirming son. “I know you teachers must love field trips as much as the children do. I think it’s so nice that you all can get a day off from school like this every now and then.” …
A two-year old, Korean-American boy sits solemnly on the beige-carpeted steps. His dark-brown bangs cut straight across his tan forehead. With his small, heart-shaped mouth pursed, he looks directly into the camera — thoroughly unabashed by the photographer. His short-sleeved, purple tee shirt and apple-red overall shorts create the backdrop …
People have a natural wonder and curiosity about other living things. Docents working with live plants and animals have infinite opportunities to excite and inform visitors of all ages. A few special interpretative approaches and techniques will capture the audience as well as make their experience more enjoyable. At the …
Ensuring that each child has a positive and meaningful learning experience should be the primary goal of every docent. A variety of presentation methodologies and reinforcement techniques is available to assist art museum docents in pursuit of this goal, several of which are integral parts of a new program called …
The teenagers’ world is a difficult one. Between the advertising wizards of Madison Avenue and the film moguls of Hollywood, teens are given an incredible range of images to contend with. When one adds to this confusion the harsh realities faced by many teenagers, including pregnancies, suicides, substance and physical …