Kindergartners and Exhibit Design, Part II

Posted on December 19, 2013 by shoemakerb

Kindergarten Exhibit Survey, Pt. 1

Kindergarten Exhibit Survey, Pt. 2

In our last blog, we discussed the first part of our experiment with SEEC kindergartners visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of American History Golden Books exhibit. When we left off, they had just concluded their first visit. The following week, they went to the museum again and like the previous time, we split them up into small groups of three. Each group had an adult and walked through the exhibit with an educator and were given a “survey.” After these were completed in the exhibit, they headed out to a small circle to discuss their observations with another educator.

The Results

1) Look at the other people do they like this exhibit?
Comments:

Looking closely
Beautiful
Pretty good
Really liking it
Liked it
Enjoying everything
Looking at computer
Looking at all sorts of books
Enjoying it
One person was normal, so…so-so
Some were in to it, some were not
1 vote for all 5 choices
All the people were different

2) Look at the objects; do you like how they are displayed?
Comments:

Lots of color, some were dusty
Loved them
They books were having a good time because they were safe in the glass and no robbers were breaking in
Could not see, too tall
Pretty good
Pretty good, a little bad though because it only showed one page of the book
Didn’t like, hard to see

3) Look at the lights; do you like how they are used?
Lights Graph

Comments

Dark but good
Pretty good
1 vote for Liked
Orange, it was ok, and I liked it
ok

4) Look at the colors; do you like how they are used?
Colors Graph

Comments

The ceiling was green, there were good colors
A lot of white

5) Look at the signs, are they helpful?

Signs Graph

Comments

Really focused about creation, someone worked very hard

6) Look at the computers; do you like how they were used?

computer Graph

Comments

I clicked on two books
You could look at the books, I pressed the button and it read the story to us
Really cool
I touched it
I didn’t get to touch it
I chose different books, it was awesome, and not too tall
I liked pressing buttons
Zooming in was cool
It shows the books

7) Look for things you can touch, did they help you enjoy the exhibit?
Touching Graph

Comments

Only one thing to touch
Touching the computer
Computer was just ok
I wish there was more stuff to touch, more computers with newer books
No touching uhhhhh

Outcomes

I was surprised that they found the lighting and signs appealing. Like any exhibit featuring paper, it is a dark space, and I assumed that would be unappealing. Interestingly when the exhibit designer talked to the students during their first visit, he mentioned that the low lighting help protect the books. I wonder if that made a difference. I also wonder if it was the spotlighting to which they felt drawn. Despite the overall darkness, light was strategically positioned to make the cases pop. There was minimal distraction.

I was also intrigued by their positive reaction to the signs. Many in the group are emergent readers and I thought the labels would have been of little or no interest to them. I wonder if they were responding to the fact that the educators, many of whom were not familiar with the exhibit’s content, used the labels to help add to their conversations.

That they responded positively to the colors and book illustrations was no shock. Children are naturally drawn to strong, vibrant visuals. They are also naturally drawn to things they can touch or tinker with. The opportunity to play with the computer at the end of the exhibit got them very excited and made them notice more about the objects in the cases, encouraging them to revisit objects and think more deeply about some of their conversations. Interestingly, the computer engaged many of the children, but not all. Some of them were frustrated because they weren’t certain how to work it, but I guess usability for young children is another topic entirely!

Although we didn’t measure this in the survey, its important to note that the children responded to the content of the exhibit. They were familiar with Golden Books and could make connections to the illustrations, many of which depicted children playing. At SEEC, we encourage our educators to utilize familiar objects or themes when teaching. Finding this thread can be difficult when considering the often nuanced and complex nature of many exhibits. Still, I would encourage museum staff to consider how they can incorporate familiar elements as a way to engage a young child’s interest in new content.

Smithsonian Pre-K Classes

Posted on August 28, 2013 by shoemakerb

Acting out a Renaissance Composition

In our first blog, I talked about what the museum education department does at the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center. Just to recap, we have two educators who work specifically with our classes here at the lab school. Our director, Betsy Bowers, heads our professional development efforts (more on that later) and my main responsibility is to promote and coordinate our outreach efforts for families who are not enrolled in the school.

Comparing Jackson Pollock paintings

With Labor Day in our sights, I thought it was the perfect time to take a look ahead at what we are doing for our community families. Last year, we started offering preschool courses. These courses took place over a four-week period, meeting Saturday mornings. Each course had a theme (more information) and met for two hours. In the first portion of our morning, we would do some sort of introductory activity. This activity ranged from exploring a discovery box featuring cultural objects to comparing two paintings. Almost always these activities were meant to be done independently, meaning child and caretaker working together separate from the teacher. (These classes are very literally family classes, so caretakers play an important role). After our initial work, we would come together in a circle to discuss what they had done. Our discussion led us to an introduction to the museum visit.

Using hands-on objects to teach in the galleries

After bathroom breaks and the putting on of coats, we head to the museum for what is typically a 20-30 minute visit to one to two objects. During our visits, we use hands-on objects to engage the children in a multi-sensory experience and inquiry to guide the conversation. Museum educators are likely familiar with these approaches of object-based learning and the inquiry method. For educators who are unfamiliar with these approaches, let me suggest SEEC’s line of professional development seminars and/or MOMA’s inquiry course offered through Coursera (just completed it myself, very informative).

Freer Gallery of Art
Shiva Nataraja, ca. 990
Chola Dynasty, India
Bronze
Purchase–Margaret and George Haldeman, and Museum funds F2003.2

After our visit, we head back to the classroom where we wrap up with a final project.While it’s most often an art project, I do not limit myself to that platform. This is extremely helpful for two reasons; first, sometimes it is not developmentally appropriate for children to recreate the art they have just seen and second, sometimes it’s not culturally sensitive to recreate the art either. A good example of the first scenario is when I did a lesson on the Renaissance and I wanted to talk about composition. They were not up for the challenge of creating a masterpiece that depicted, balance, dynamism and fluidity. However, they could connect to these concepts by acting out their own birthday party photo and seeing the results. And when we do our class on Hinduism and visit the Freer’s Shiva Nataraja, we opt to look at videos of Bharatnatyam dance, do a sample of mudras and keep a beat with bells on our ankles. All activities are meant to build upon the concepts introduced through the lesson in a way that is interactive and self-directed.

This year we also offering infant and toddler class, so keep an eye out for future blogs about these audiences. In the meantime, let me know what is working for you with young audiences in your museum!

An Intern’s Perspective of SEEC

Posted on August 13, 2013 by shoemakerb

Written by: Beth Anne Kadien
Rising senior at Georgetown University – SEEC Summer Intern

I started in January doing behind-the-scenes work for SEEC’s Museum Education department, creating a database for the objects and prints that are used in SEEC classrooms. This summer I continued my internship, but in a more hands-on way. My experiences have been varied and always interesting. Moving from archival work to observing and leading classroom lessons was incredibly rewarding, both in what I had the opportunity to learn, and the witty student commentary. I came home to my roommates each day with a new story about the kids, which I have pared down to a top three favorite things overheard at SEEC:
1. One student looking over at me and asking “Hey, do you wanna put your stuff in my cubby?”
2. Asking a student where a colleague and I should get lunch, with a response of “Well do you girls like toys? Because then you should go to McDonalds.”
3. Receiving a superhero alter ego and superpower from one of the Koalas. “You’d be Star Girl, and your superpower would be shooting penguins out of your hands.”

What I learned, while less entertaining, will have a long-term impact on my career choices. Here it is, the top 3 (okay, really 4) things I learned from SEEC.

1. I am more creative than I thought. One of my proudest accomplishments, making a photo projector out of a shoebox.
I wrote lessons for both SEEC classes and their weekend family workshops, with a range of topics from food to the science of colors and pigments, to transportation. These all seemed incredibly daunting when assigned, but now I know how to better think out-of-the-box so that I can create an age-appropriate and interesting lessons.
2. Even if you think you have enough work, ask for more. One of my extra assignments was helping to write family programming for a partnership with a museum in my hometown of Memphis. It was so worth it!!
3. Be mindful. One thing that is common in the various people I worked with at SEEC is that each employee takes the utmost care in considering others. Museum educators go to great lengths to be a resource to their classroom teachers; teachers know their students’ dietary needs, pet’s names, favorite things, and greatest fears better than I know my own. Each decision made is made with consideration to how it will affect the teachers and students. This is something I greatly admire about SEEC, and it is now a model to which I strive in my on-campus job.
4. Actually the most important thing I learned, is that Splash Day is the greatest day, but you need to remember a change of clothes or else it’s a very cold metro home.
BethAnne_3
This summer has been incredibly rewarding, and I am more than grateful for the opportunities SEEC has given me.

Building Meaning for Young Children in the Museum

Posted on July 3, 2013 by shoemakerb

When it comes to teaching young children using the collections along the National Mall, there are some obvious candidates; Wayne Thiebaud’s cakes or traditional still lifes at the National Gallery of Art and the Mammal Hall at the National Museum of Natural History. But, what about objects that seem less approachable from a young child’s perspective. Do we forgo teaching about them altogether? And if we do decide to take that leap, how do we approach it? It’s a question we consider a lot at SEEC and in effort to understand the process a little better, I share this story.

A few months ago, I was teaching a course for children, ages 3-5 on different genres of art; portraiture, landscape, etc. It occurred to me that the art of the book would be a nice topic to add to the curriculum. I had for a long time reserved the theme of Islamic art to classes I taught for early elementary-aged children. But, I love the Freer’s collection of Islamic book art and so, I decided to take the plunge. Typically I correlate the beauty of the art form with the importance of the Koran in Islamic culture, but with 3-year olds as my target audience, I had to rethink that strategy. I was plagued by questions: How do I define religion? How do I explain the meaning of a holy book? How do I address the topic by respecting different traditions?. Basically, how do I teach about these objects without overlooking their cultural significance, but in a way that is developmentally appropriate?

The answer was: exposure. Early learning often takes the form of introducing students to something new. By simply visiting the Koran pages in the Freer, we were bringing to light a new concept. To help them understand the unfamiliar, I built on their own knowledge of books. Before heading to the museum, we looked at classic children’s books and discussed their different features, specifically; text, pictures and the front cover. I featured a song that helped them remember these and by the time we got to the Freer, the children were able to identify the Koran pages as pages that would be in a book. They also noticed the writing and easily observed that it was different from the letters we saw in our classroom books. With a picture of the Arabic and Roman alphabets in hand, we explored the visual differences between them. For many, the knowledge of more than one alphabet was novel. They also compared their classroom books and noticed that the illustrations often included people and the Koran pages illuminations did not. Armed with real flowers and leafs, we explored the similarities between these objects and the Arabesques on the pages of the Koran. Finally, we looked at examples of book covers and talked about how we had to put the pages together to form a single book.

It felt like a good lesson, but I still had a nagging feeling that I wasn’t do the subject justice. That was when a colleague reminded me that over the course of their development and education, these children would, hopefully, return to the Freer or another museum and build on their knowledge of the Koran and Islamic art, in general.

Certainly, we see that happening with students enrolled in the SEEC program. When they pass Henry, the elephant in the Natural History rotunda as babies they are learning to identify him as an elephant. By the time they are toddlers, they can recreate the sound elephants make and most will be able to show you from where that sound comes. As they reach the age of two, they can learn more specifics like what Henry eats or where he lives. By the time they are in the Pre-K program, they have a solid foundation and are ready to explore more complex issues.

Instead of cramming a lot of information into one session, I focused on encouraging parents to return to the galleries on their own. Letting caretakers know the importance of returning to the same object and seeing it from multiple perspectives became part of all my lessons. It really sets the stage for multiple exposures over time, that will help children understand the complexities and nuances that are often in contained in just a single object.