Virtual Destinations and Student Learning in Middle School: A Cas ...

Today, however, many museums and schools still have only an informal relationship without systemic support for teaching in museumSeeing, Understanding, and Learning with Museums.

Seeing, Understanding, and Learning with Museums

The overarching educational function of museums should be to provide supplemental educational experiences for their communities. These experiences can serve as a counterbalancing educational approach that offer a new way of seeing, understanding, and learning. The numerous children’s museums and science and technology centers are examples of the successful creation of such alternative learning opportunities (Skramstad, 1999). The teachings of Piaget and Bruner have been influential in building the founda­tion for children’s museums and discovery learning (Tomic & Kingma, 1998). Experiential and content-based problem-solving activities are combined with the real objects of art, history, and science through hands-on learning.

University-based natural history museums are unique among museums in that they are ideally suited to connect with their communities (Tirrell, 2001). Linda Cordell (2000) emphasizes that these museums should not only be involved in public education but should take a leadership role in informal teaching by offering programs for the lay public and classrooms, as well as learning workshops for teachers. University-based museums have at least one more function than for-profit museums, which is university training. This includes formal training for students inside the museum facilities. Further, they consider research intrinsic to their mission (Lourenco, 2001). University museums compete for state and national educational dollars, and there is a current trend that they are being asked to demonstrate the expertise required to develop nationally competitive programs. This level of expertise comes from an institutional commitment to strive for exceptional quality and creativity, and demonstrates that they can be effective in creating educational change. For all of the efforts made to convey factual information to children, museums must provide evidence that they help children understand more and feel more positive about learning science (Diamond, 2000).

University Museum / School Partnerships

The museum is a place where the best resources of the past are gathered, maintained, and organized (Dewey, 1915).