Among the queries on ChildMus in 2015, one in
particular caught my attention. A museum educator asked for suggestions in
dealing with a funder request. The funder wanted to support exhibits with
specific measurable educational outcomes for at-risk children at his museum, a
museum geared towards play and primarily serving 4 and 5-year olds. A rumpled
copy of my reply resurfaced recently. That, along with recent work on outcomes,
impacts, and a logic model for an art museum, reminded me of how museums
struggle with similar versions of this expectation.
A push to close the achievement gap and show results is
frequently at odds with a value on children’s play in museums, preschools,
kindergartens, and at recess. While there’s no simple way to reconcile these
well-intentioned interests, it would be a mistake to abandon play in favor of
measurable educational outcomes. Similarly, it would be irresponsible not to work at making
visible the value of play for children in museums and other settings. The need to move
beyond a collision of these perspectives is imperative to serve the interests
of children, museums, and their communities. What follows is the core of my response on ChildMus
with some changes for flow and clarity.
The situation you describe
around play vs. measurable educational outcomes is one we can all relate to and
one that is frustrating. I agree with some of the responses you’ve received
about play and educational outcomes. And I would go further, laying out an
approach that explores what play can deliver in the spirit of play and equivalent
to outcomes. The organization that wants to support exhibits with specific
measurable outcomes for at-risk children is well intentioned but misunderstands
some basic realities about learning, museums, and play.
The Nature of Learning
Learning does not occur through
a single episode, a well-structured brilliant lesson, or even one-on-one
tutoring on a specific concept. Not in museum exhibits, programs, and not in
schools. That’s not the nature of learning.
Learning is the
accumulation of experiences a learner has, connects with, and makes meaning of
through sensing, reflecting, thinking, and talking. That’s largely true regardless
of age, setting–school, museum, program, or exhibit, library, playground–or
strategies such as reading, playing, moving, or experimenting. Without the
agency of the learner, relentless repetition, revisiting past experiences, time,
and social and physical interactions with objects, materials, people, and the
environment, learning does not happen.
Professionals in museums
and other informal learning environments need to be clear about the nature of learning themselves as well as educate
stakeholders, partners, and supporters about this. Clearly others are doing a
better job of insisting on educational outcomes for play than play advocates
are at communicating the value of play.
As learners we construct
our understanding not from a single experience or source, but from a variety of
episodes over a stretch of time and often in relation to others. Regardless of
their learning approach, museums serving children can take advantage of this. Children
will learn about the world–or the slice of the world an exhibit invites them to
explore–by engaging, comparing, experimenting, watching others, asking
questions, trying and failing, moving, and making connections among objects,
tools, materials, and environments. Even without
museums setting any measurable learning objectives for them, children will
learn in rich, engaging museum environments. It happens through play.
This, however, is what
makes meeting a request for outcomes difficult. The learning that occurs through play is unlikely to resemble the kind
of learning we think of in schools. Active, fluid, joyous, play crosses
domains and disciplines. Isolating moments as evidence that math or science learning
is taking place or a child has learned a particular concept is elusive (and illusive).
While play’s benefits do
not appear as tidy measurable learning units, they are no less valuable. Their value
is of a different nature. Learning is unlikely to
occur without motivation. The curiosity that characterizes
play is an urge to find out more, reduce uncertainty, and get at
more complex or inaccessible aspects of the world. In play, learning crosses affective, emotional, physical, and cognitive domains.
Children gather information about materials and test their properties through
play. The capacity to think counterfactually, connecting facts not ordinarily
viewed together, emerges spontaneously during pretend play. In building tall
and wide, climbing and testing physical abilities, taking on a role, and
negotiating story ideas, children’s competence and confidence grow. Through play, children learn what is
essential for life that others cannot teach them.
The uneasy relationship between play and measurable
outcomes is also visible here.
While museums for children
may be passionate about the value of play, they have generally not been
diligent in articulating play as a productive strategy for learning and its
benefits. A convincing case for play cannot be made with simple statements such
as, “Play is learning,” but must be constructed and fully integrated across
museum experiences. A solid understanding of skills, concepts, dispositions, or
awarenesses important for children now and in the future is essential. It must
draw on relevant research, be supported by observations of how this appears in a
particular museum. Without this clarity, we simply chase after others’
priorities, are limited by personal preferences, and fail to follow-through.
When we can’t point to the
change we believe is possible for our visitors, we are not able to
contribute to those changes deliberately, advance play as a credible strategy, or cultivate
support among funders and friends.
An approach to building a
convincing case for play starts with a museum identifying particular skills, attitudes, and dispositions where
it believes it can contribute to a positive change for the child through
play experiences at the museum. These are dispositions,
knowledge or skills that research indicates emerge from play. Not facts, math
problems, calculations, or the direct results of activities, they are recognized
as possible dividends, benefits, or impacts of
play. These benefits could include, persistence in getting
desired results; becoming more exact in using a skill; enlarging a working vocabulary by describing materials more precisely;
trying a new skill in a different situation; communicating coherent narratives; or feeling a sense of well-being and optimism.
This may be a fine
list of possible benefits of play for a museum; a museum can’t, however, simply import a list from here, from a recent study, or from an admired museum. Skills and dispositions must
emerge from a museum’s larger purpose, knowledge of its audience and community,
and its own expertise and capacity to create engaging experiences likely to
impact children in desired ways.
Developing a deep understanding
of a set of skills, dispositions and understandings is neither quick nor easy.
It involves delving into research and what these experiences look like in this
exhibit, at that component, or in this program. • Observing how mastery of a
material or tool looks for a 3-year old or 7-year old child. • Developing a
shared understanding of how what an enhanced vocabulary might be for children with
fewer experiences and with more varied experiences. • Considering how these
dividends might benefit parents and caregivers and a community.
We are accustomed to think
of a museum’s work as creating exhibits and programs and managing collections
or archives. Those activities, however, are in service to larger purposes. For
museums focused on play, the larger
purpose relates to delivering play’s benefits to children and through them, to the
community. Exhibit and program
experiences and staff engagement create the conditions for play: engagement,
interactive experiences touching on multiple play patterns, and prolonged play episodes
connected to the play benefits of greatest interest. The better aligned those
play benefits are with specific components,
activities, images, materials, and caregiver, staff, and volunteer interactions,
the more likely children will benefit.
Connecting what the museum does to the impact it hopes
to have is its theory of change.
This describes how and why it expects desired changes associated with the
opportunities offered in its exhibits, programs, and events. For a museum with
a play approach, this theory of change suggests that more children spending
more time in rich, connected play will enjoy those benefits. It can also touch
on how these changes might benefit parents and caregivers and the larger
community.
While not the same as measurable educational
outcomes, specific play-related benefits laid out in a theory of change and, hopefully,
a logic model demonstrate
comparable interests, efforts, and rigor. Connecting the pieces logically also provides
the necessary foundation for being more precise about what those changes look
like for children, their parents and caregivers, and community. Furthermore, a
theory of change provides a museum with a plan for action. The focus, connections,
and reasons for believing change is possible will lead to identifying outcomes
that could be characterized as measurable. No less important, these are the
steps allowing a museum to clearly communicate
the value of its work to others–including funders that want to support its
work.
Resources on learning in
museums, skills, dispositions and executive function
• IMLS. Brain-building Powerhouses
• Deborah L. Perry. (2012).
What Makes Learning Fun. Lanham, MD: Alta Mira Press
• Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, How Children's Social Competence Impacts their Well-being In Adulthood
Related Museum Notes Posts
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