The Museum Classroom Concept ©

Note: This work is the result of 30 years exploration by Bruce R. Dean, National Board Certified Art Teacher.

It is one solution to what a museum classroom can become. It is here to share an idea with the hope of inspiring, supporting, and connecting with other educators.

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But why should I make this labored presentation? The obvious fact is that our social life has undergone a thorough and radical change. If our education is to have any meaning for life, it must pass through an equally complete transformation. This transformation is not something to appear suddenly, to be executed in a day by conscious purpose.  It is already in progress.  Those modifications of our school system which often appear (even to those most actively concerned with them, to say nothing of their spectators) to be mere changes of detail, mere improvement within the mere changes of detail, mere improvement within the school mechanism, are in reality signs and evidences of evolution.  The introduction of active occupations, of nature-study, of elementary science, of art, of history; the relegation of the merely symbolic and formal to a secondary position; the change in the moral school atmosphere, in the relation of pupils and teachers-of discipline; the introduction of more active, expressive, and self-directing factors- all these are not mere accidents, they are necessities of the larger social evolution. It remains but to organize all these factors, to appreciate them in their fullness of meaning, and to put the ideas and ideals involved into complete, uncompromising possession of our school system. To do this means to make each one of our schools an embryonic community life, active with types of occupations that reflect the life of the larger society and permeated throughout with the spirit of art, history and science.  When the school introduces and trains each child of society into membership within such a little community, saturating him with the spirit of service, and providing him with the instruments of effective self-direction, we shall have the deepest and best guaranty of a larger society which is worthy, lovely, and harmonious.

 

John Dewey  The School and Society, 1915.   University of Chicago Press

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I was interested, and still am, in starting from the unknown. I'm still looking for steps that break the mold and disturb the traditional apparatus.  I have the feeling every time I make a new piece that at last I'm beginning.

            Merce Cunningham

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The Museum Classroom will be A Fi ve Year Experiment in Inquiry[1]

(http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/about/inquiry.html)

 infused in a high school art classroom. We will continue the decade long model collaboration of a regional science museum (The Discovery Museums, Acton, MA) and a public school system. The underpinnings will emphasize The Common Principles of the Coalition of Essential Schools. (http://www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/about/phil/10cps/10cps.html)

 

1.         Learning to use one's mind well

2.         Less is More, depth over coverage

3.         Goals apply to all students

4.         Personalization

5.         Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach

6.         Demonstration of mastery

7.         A tone of decency and trust

8.         Commitment to the entire school

9.         Resources dedicated to teaching and learning

10.       Democracy and equity

 

The Museum Classroom conceptual/working model for the 21^st Century will bring an inquiry-based approach of TheDiscovery Museums into a public school classroom. Along with experiencing proven methods of group and individual teaching and learning, students will learn by combining play and investigation in a dynamic classroom environment that is based on national learning standards and the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks.

 

Explore and Discover: A Museum School Program (E&D) is the result of three decades of testing ideas on supportive educational environments for play, explorations, and investigations. During my first five years as an elementary art teacher in Leominster, we (teachers, parents, students) worked together on two playgrounds.  E&D is the outgrowth of my graduate study thesis (designing play areas in educational settings for ≥hands-on≤ learning) and two fellowships: MA. Lucretia Crocker (the playground as an outdoor classroom) and US Christa McAuliffe (developing museum environments in public schools).  All three year-long studies (each in separate decades) involved collaboration, research and environmental design in school systems around the state and beyond. Southeast School was one of several dissemination sites in 1993-94. If approved, this proposal will enter the fourth decade of experimentation and collaboration. It will combine the best practices and most appropriate findings in a classroom setting, while providing opportunities for sharing the results within the school, the district, the museum, and the global educational community.  In 1990, I approached the Discovery Museums, and we began collaborating on how to bring the museum environment into public school settings. For two decades, The Discovery Museums Education Staff worked with our program team to create, develop, and refine a pre-K - 12 leadership team to try out and test ideas in over twenty classrooms, a student run museum located on the second floor of the Police Department/school department Youth Center in a renovated mill, Visiting Artist Studios and Gallery, an outdoor classroom/community playground behind an early childhood center, a river classroom, and many community murals and sculptures. Program leaders participated in weeklong seminars at the Exploratoriumπs Inquiry Institute in San Francisco. Then we organized and offered professional development institutes back home. In 2001, E&D was the sole recipient of Award for Innovation from the Association of Science-Technology Centers (ASTC)

(http://www.astc.org/about/index.htm)  based in Washington D.C.

 

Students will gain essential skills and understanding of the Design Elements and Principles through drawing, design, painting, and printmaking in the foundation basic art course.  In all of the next level courses, group lessons and problems will continue to be presented. Additionally, students will be encouraged and supported to pursue deeper understandings in any related art idea through independent art projects by student proposed contracts.

 

 

Components:

 

The environment will be organized in learning stations that will clearly dictate and support defined activities while encouraging interdisciplinary explorations, investigations, and individual pursuits of ideas. The environment will reflect an ever-changing museum with stimulating exhibits and carefully organized and maintained work stations.

 

 

Physical:

 

Critique Wall    This "middle gray" wall includes three large bulletin boards with spotlights for group critiques of ongoing and completed works. Students learn to observe,  analyze and discuss their work in objective terms and  to support their observations with evidence. Students will gain input from their classmates and the instructor during the process and return to their work with different points of views.

 

Featured Artist Space   Throughout the year, student, community, and professional artist work will be displayed to enhance and support curriculum and units of study. Students will gain experience in displaying art work as well as seeing a diverse body of artists work. This will provide an exception spot to highlight bodies of work as students gain mastery of different mediums.

 

Tools and Materials Workshop Space   will be organized for student independent use, including art, science and technology-based tools.

 

Outdoor Classroom   The adjacent outdoor space to the indoor classroom will be developed to support other aspects of learning. This will extend space and opportunities for art/science investigations and activities such as painting and drawing.  It will also include learning in horticulture, renewable energy and ecology, and studies of birds and insects. It will be developed with respect for the Theatre Arts program. The need for water and electricity will be examined.

 

An in-class library will be organized to offer books, posters, and objects for Nature studies including both Storage and Display areas.  There is a need to establish current effective computer and audio-visual offerings in the classroom both for group demonstrations and appropriate research.

Cooperative Learning: Students will teach students and will serve as positive role models for younger students.ekly for 90 minutes (minimally) Student members have identiService Learning: king on two initiatives: Developing an Outdoor Arts/Science area adjoining our classroom and providing art activities for senior citizens at a Leominster Assisted Living Residence.s.

 

 

Assessment: Feedback Loop, Evaluation

 

From previous experience, it appears that assessment strategies are often the trickiest, elusive, yet most important component to address.  How do we know what is working well and what needs to be changed? When has an element served itπs purpose and how do we redesign or eliminate it?

 

The primary tool will be the student portfolio which documents the process as well as the end product. It may include electronic presentations, writings along written and drawn observations, and the major body of work accomplished by the student during the semester.

 

Assessment will happen during the learning as well as before and after the studies have taken place. Independent Art Contracts (see attachment 1) will be required for student proposed projects. Group critiques, student/instructor conferencing, portfolios, and graded lessons provide feedback and places for revisions. Project evaluation will involve student and teacher conferencing with the teacher offering guidance and support, while challenging each student to the next level of academic growth.  Students are encouraged to experiment and ≥make mistakes≤ regularly.  Mistakes in the dynamic classroom are simply results to observe and provide places for reflection, revision, and new directions. Students need to document what happens and what they are observing, along with what they have learned. As a teacher, I am continually in need of reflection and feedback as to how I am carrying out strategies and how to become more efficient, effective, and supportive of each studentπs educational growth. A course feedback form will be completed by students and reviewed by the instructor (see attachment 2).

 

Documentation will take place in photographs, written articles, and samples of student work. Serving the students of Leominster High School through the schoolπs stated mission will be the primary driving force. Administrative and student feedback will be sought, noted and acted upon. Museum feedback will provide a backdrop for another public sector in moving towards a thesis that museum environments are of paramount importance in establishing a dynamic classroom for teaching and learning. Students and the instructor will pose questions and pursue knowledge through inquiry and discovery methods. This will conclude my thirty-year study of the role of play and the environment in educational settings.

 

Finally students will be encouraged and may be required to keep journal/sketch book/scrapbooks over the course of studies.

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