Reply to:   RE>FWD>exhibit worksheets

To:  Museum discussion list of 3/14

The question of a "scavenger hunt" as an educational tool is an interesting one
and timely.  We at Strecker Museum at Baylor University have been using several
such question sheets for a number of years.  I believe the overall value of the
question sheet overrides any negative points.  We have natural science and
history exhibits ranging from the geology of the area to the paleoindian
settlers of the area.  It is certainly possible for a teacher to be "lazy" and
use the museum questions instead of preparing some her/himself but more often
than not we find that the teachers are from surrounding communitites and are not
that familiar with our museum.  Sometimes classes visit in connection with the
study of a specific subject, but most of the time the visit is a general  - see
the museum - type of visit.

Our exhibits are designed for a self guided tour and the many labels and
placards are most informative for someone who will take the time to read them.
Therein is the problem - children normally do not take time.  They will enter
the door and almost run around the exhibits in order to get back to the gift
shop.  In as that is not the main purpose for visiting a museum,  the scavenger
hunt sheets tend to slow the children down, make them stop and look at the
exhibits and look for specific points in the exibits.  Age does not seem to be a
factor,  first and second graders seem to get as much out of their slowed down
tour using a simple list as the older middle school students do of their two
page detailed list.  They finish the tour able to discuss the exhibits they
liked or paid attention to.  It is not quite the same as "school work," and I
hear very few if any complain.  More often than not the air of competition adds
excitement to their visit.  Some student groups have each student answer a
sheet, while others may have groups of four or so look for the answers.  We do
not have fancy, "new," graphics and keyboards that might be damaged.  Possibly
when we move into our new facility, the scavanger hunt sheets will not be as
useful because our exhibits will be much more interactive; we will just have to
see.

This year, because I am rather new (1 + years here) I am sending confirmation
letters to all school groups who book a tour and am enclosing a copy of the age
appropriate scavenger sheet.  This gives the teachers an idea of what the
exhibits will contain if they are unfamiliar with the museum, as well as
providing them the opportunity to tailor some of the class work toward what they
will be seeing at the museum, if they want to.   There is no answer key because
several answers can be correct for many of the questions, so the teachers must
follow the questions too to see which answers are correct - they can't be quite
as "lazy."  Also by sending a copy of the quiz, if the teacher decides to use
it, the duplicating costs are absorbed by the school and not the museum.

It is far from infallable but I blieve that the scavenger hunt quizzes are a
positive addition to our museum and mission of education.

Marcia Cooper, Department of Museum Studies Secretary and Strecker Museum Gift
Shop manager
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--------------------------------------
Date: 3/16/98 9:33 AM
To: Marcia Cooper
From: David Lintz
Gina/Marcia,
Here's an interesting discussion. I think she's right, as I observe our student
visitors.
d.

--------------------------------------
Date: 3/14/98 2:40 PM
From: Museum discussion list

Our education department is really enamored of what they call "scavenger
hunts" which are worksheets designed to be carried around an exhibit. Kids
are supposed to search the exhibit to fill in the blanks i.e. "Name the
main ingredients of cigarrettes" On some of our exhibits, the teachers post
the question numbers right next to the exhibit text that contains the
answer!

Does anyone else out there use this kind of thing?

Is there any evidence that kids learn more from an exhibit when they use a
worksheet than when they don't? To my admittedly biased eyes, it seems like
what happens is a few kids dutifully do the worksheet.The rest of the kids
copy off the kids who are doing it. As soon as the worksheets are
completed, the kids stop paying attention to the exhibit.

From an exhibits standpoint I don't like them because (1) why did we spend
all of this time creating an engaging, self-guided, informative exhibit if
the education department going to tell kids what to look at and what they
can ignore (2) aren't museums supposed to be different from school? (3)
worksheets only work for some kinds of learners, and we work hard to make
exhibits that work for everybody and (4) why give kids pencils when pencils
can scratch graphics, jam keyboards, etc.

To me these things seem like a lazy teacher's answer to museum education.
Now they're even handing them out to casual visitors! Arrrgh! Thanks for
letting me vent. Can anyone defend these things?

Sharyn Horowitz, The Health Museum of Cleveland
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8911 Euclid Avenue * Cleveland, OH 44106 * (216) 231-5010 * fax 231-5129
http://www.healthmuseum.org