Melanie, To state the obvious, the museum will only be used if it is useful.
So, one interesting project, that any discipline (instructor, student) can
participate in, would be to ask the question: Is this museum (or any museum)
of any use to us (i.e., to our discipline)?
 
To answer that question the student would have to find out something about
the various reaches of the discipline, about the museum(s) on campus, about
other museums and collections of possible relevance to the discipline, etc.
 
This would involve activities like interviews, literature reviews, invoking
curiosity about what's in the museum that we could possibly use/study, etc.
Those activities, as structured student research projects or term papers,
all involve valuable instructional training, regardless of what conclusions
are drawn about the particular discipline and their use of museums.
 
I.e., anyone can play. The results of such student projects might even lead
to some eye-opening perspectives about museums and their utility.....
Peter Rauch
 
> Date:         Mon, 2 May 1994 12:43:26 -0400
> From:         Melanie Kuebel <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:      University Museums
> How can we
> get more students (and faculty) involved in the Museum?
> Any suggestions?