John:
Here is a minor incident which just happened to me this morning before I saw
your posting. To me it's an example of the differences that go on between
museum learning and school learning. To help with a special math program day
at my son's school, I was assigned to a low ability general math class. They
were asked to do a probability project which involved making a triangular
paper top with a toothpick stuck through the middle to spin it. The official
"class lesson toothpicks" were the flat broad end/pointy end type and didn't
work well. They kept falling out. One of the kids reached into his backpack
and pulled out a box of nice big fat toothpicks that he happened to carry
around with him and substituted one of these. It worked great and he proudly
told the whole class and offered to share them. The teacher was immediately
taken aback and reluctantly agreed to let him even though it didn't conform
to her detailed lesson plan. I was stunned and this was a good teacher but to
me it typifies what goes on in schools with overly rigid lesson plans,
outlines and attitudes. I think an opportunity was missed here to commend a
student for going outside the guidelines and improving a project. Although
this kid wasn't classified as one of the school's top math students, he did
possess the ability to quickly and independently size up a situation and come
up with a better technical solution but this "intelligence" was not
acknowledged.
To tie this into youth museums, I would surprised if that kind of outcome
would be common in a youth museum learning situation. It is that philosophy
of openness to input from all directions that fluorishes in youth museums. Of
course, they don't have state curriculum objectives to fulfill and so can
afford to operate this way but that's not the only reason behind their
flexible and enthusiastic approach to learning. One may not necessarily be
better than the other. Museum learning is a lot more fun but can they
demonstrate how much content they have delivered? Probably not and not many
people would trust their children's education solely to these institutions.
There is the recent and growing phenomenon of museum schools (MInnesota,
Buffalo, New York, etc.). They look very exciting but haven't been around too
long and I don't know what research exists about their strengths and
weaknesses.
Museums and schools are educational partners but I think their philosophy and
techniques are very different and wonder how many youth museum educators are
comfortable being described as "teacher-like."
Mary
Mary