Query:  In a recent discussion, a person told me that those who
start and/or work in Children's Museums have a strong aversion
to doing things that are "teacher-like."  I was surprised by
this because most of the research on learning indicates that
there are conditions under which a didactic approach is optimum
and then conditions that call for a more learner-directed range
of experiences.
        Questions:  How can a site hope to accomplish anything
educational without some amount of planned instructional
encounters?  How can a youth museum hope to be competitive for
grants and other external funding without framing proposals in
education language?
        Maybe I am being misled about how adamant some folks
are to eschew being teacher-like...  Can this start a
thoughtful discussion on pedagogy/cognitive
psychology/attitudes/(even anti-intellectualism, maybe?)/ &c.
in these sites?
John Bunch
University of Virginia