Valerie:
 
We have been running programs at the Naturalist Center at the National
Museum of Natural History based on the overall theme of "Learning How to
'Read' Natural History Objects."  In each of the school group activities
we have focused on helping students develop the skills to more fully
understand and appreciate the information they can find in museum objects.
The activities focus on Identifying "Unknown" objects, Animal Adaptations,
Speciation, and Patterns in Nature.  The Naturalist Center has also done
many teacher workshops, both at the Naturalist Center and around the
country in helping teachers to better utilize museums and other resources
in their area.  The evaluations were very positive, with long term results
at a number of institutions.   Give me a call sometime, since we're
probably neighbors (these large and complex orgs can be so inhuman sometimes)
and I'll show you around.
 
Regarding your comment about using the objects as primary sources of
information, I find it interesting to hear you make the distinction.  I think
part of the problems museums are facing may in part be due to the treatment
of objects in their exhibits as props or supporting information for a topic
or concept and rarely as the primary source of information.  In the
Naturalist Center we have over 30,000 objects, books, and scientific
equipment for the public to examine and do their own "research."  One
high school student recently used the collections we have to try to
determine the paleoclimate of the Mid Atlantic coast during the Miocene Epoch.
His conclusions were in line with the published interpretations in the
scientific literature!  I was quite impressed.
 
     I have always complained that too many teachers use natural history
objects for one lesson and then put them away until next year...and rarely
use them to their fullest potential.   Imagine if the teacher who did the
frog dissections (a rare event these days, I know...) was able to use those
frogs prior to the dissection for teaching about the concepts of animal
adaptations, population studies, biodiversity, etc, before getting into the
dissections...at which point the students would be able to examine why the
animals various parts were important for the habitat or lifestyle the animals
in which the lived.  It would be much more effective.
 
How do we make museums use their collections better?  Frankly most museum
tours are no better than the lectures we hated in school, just with better
visual aids...
 
..could you imagine the public appreciating a library the way they do if
 the only way they could be exposed to the books was via a tour guide or
looking at them under glass?!
 
Richard Efthim, Naturalist Center
National Museum of Natural History
Washington, DC 20560
(202)357-1503   fax:(202)786-2778   [log in to unmask]