We are a 6-9 New York City public school.  Students take all their classes
using collections at 5 NYC museums: Children's Museum of Manhattan,
American Museum of Natural History, New-York Historical Society, Jewish
Museum, and of course, the Brooklyn Museum.  Students spend 8 weeks in one
museum, participating in a unit of study planned collaboratively by a
museum educator and a board of ed teacher.  They cover their regular
curriculum using the museum collections.

Our basic model is one of passionate learning that museum professionals
engage in daily.  When confronted with a new object, a museum professional
observes carefully, gathers information from outside sources, synthesizes
a new understanding of the object, and presents their research to their
colleagues.  Our students engage in this kind of rigorous learning.

I am interested in hearing from museum educators or others who might have
insights regarding museum learning.  What does it mean to have students in
a museum for several years?  What should a museum learning curriculum look
like over the course of junior high, and eventually, high school?  Love to
start a discussion on this.

Katie.