Pedagogy and Practice
Embodying Assets-based Pedagogies in Museum Education: A Case Study of Museum Educators at the Hmong Museum
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Kalia Vue
The term culture is often viewed from an anthropological stance. It is often perceived as static when in truth, culture is not permanent; it is continuously evolving. When the term culture is thought of in museums, it is often attached to the classification of ethnicity and race, while in lived experiences, it is fluid. Challenging the notion and definition of culture and its continuous meaning is necessary and ongoing work. In linking museum education and assets-based pedagogies, it grounds museum education to see all forms of cultures in their fluidity. It affirms the learners' experiences and knowledge as assets to the museum narrative and interpretation. Learning with museum educators through how they embody assets-based pedagogies will redefine museum education as a space that fosters and sustains the plurality of cultures while disrupting the injustices maintained through a deficit lens structured within the Western normalization of museums. Through a case study of the Hmong Museum, I explore how its mission of preserving the Hmong culture and history is embodied through educators, artists, and storytellers and the evolving definition of culture. The significance of this study expands and deepens the understanding of teaching and learning in museums from the curriculum, programming, and facilitation. It also bridges formal and informal learning through assets-based pedagogies to foster and sustain the multitude of cultural identities, languages, and knowledge from the community and students as assets of the museum learning experience.
Schools, Teaching, Pedagogy and Museum Learning : Whose Knowledge Is It Anyway?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adam Unwin
This paper explores the potential of museum learning for teachers and schools. It uses two examples in London, UK to problematize the variety and forms of learning that can be enabled by teachers for school students. These are the Bank of England Museum - located in the heart of the City of London and the British Museum in central London. By integrating physical museum visits within carefully planned school activities that adopt active, groupwork and role-play elements a deeper and more meaningful engagement with knowledge and concepts can be achieved. These learning activities are underpinned by principles of inclusion in that they were for all students and start with their own experiences and cultural knowledges. Theoretical perspectives on learning are used to analyse and explain these museum learning phenomena. These include experiential learning and situated learning. It was apparent that the role of the teacher to design, facilitate and enable learning was important. This work uses a framework for thinking about what influences learning and pedagogy, as well as acknowledging the variability (and complexity) of such factors.
