Foundational Experiences in Museums Deconstructed

This post, part 2, continues to focus on Foundational Experiences in Museums 

from November 17, 2020 

Jeanne Vergeront

Understanding that there are foundational experiences that contribute to a solid foundation for a good start in life for children, regardless of age, ability, or background is an important step in providing them. Pointing out that museums can have a role in supporting these experiences is promising. Recognizing where these experiences are embedded in museums—in the vision, mission and values, understanding the audience, and the possibilities and challenges facing a city, region, or community—is a start in museums making these experiences available. Considering characteristics of foundational experiences is also helpful in shaping them. But…

… What does a set of foundational experiences for a museum actually look like?

Answering that question involves a lot of other questions that I have heard over the years in working with staff at many museums to develop foundational experiences. It’s typical to want to know how many foundational experiences should a museum have? How does a museum know if it’s being unrealistic about what it can and can’t accomplish? How are foundational experiences expressed? How does a museum use foundational experiences in developing exhibits, environments, and experiences? 

Foundational Experiences: An Example and the Headlines

Using my work with museums and with learning frameworks, I have developed a set of foundational experiences to show a possible format, explore these questions, and give a helping nudge to this work. Something of a rough draft, museums are welcome to take this, work with it, and make it their own.

The set of 6 foundational experiences below are intended to establish where a museum believes it can make a positive difference for the children it serves. It might be helpful to think of these 6 statements as something like headlines for the 6 foundational experiences. 

All children, regardless of age, ability, or background should have opportunities to enjoy:

1. A sense of connection, acceptance and belonging

2. Growing capabilities, confidence, and independence

3. Engaging in making sense of the world 

4. A feeling of well-being

5.     Exploring and understanding feelings, ideas and perspectives, one's own and others’ 

6. Finding their place in the world

Some relevant features of the headline experiences, how they are described, what
they cover, and how many a museum might have are highlighted below. 

• These experiences reflect an understanding that healthy development occurs across domains (social, emotional, sensorimotor, language-cognitive) and across all ages. While domains should be reflected in the foundational experiences, domains themselves are not foundational experiences.
• The 6 headline experiences define important areas in which children should enjoy many varied and positive moments, interactions, and opportunities over the years. For each of the experiences, there are many ways a museum might support them with “building-block experiences” which are covered below. 
• There’s no right number of foundational experiences, just as there’s no right number of goals for a strategic plan. Having too many, too few, ones that are too broad or too specific can be difficult to manage. To focus, a museum might consider where it has expertise, a track record, and likely opportunities it can offer: outdoors, play, relationships, cultural competence, etc.
• The short answer to how many foundational areas a museum might select is  5-7. 

Adding Building-block Experiences

Each of the 6 headline experiences focus on the essence of something critical for a child’s good start in life and on-going healthy development. While providing focus, they also represent many experiences and opportunities that can be enjoyed again and again and that contribute to a child’s development each time, but not in the same way every time. 

These more specific types of experiences can be thought of as building-block experiences; they add support, supply variety, and point to how museums might begin to operationalize these experiences. Some of the ways building-block experiences support a headline experience such as A feeling of well-being (#4 below) might be: children have a shared and safe place to be part of something larger, have frequent and positive experiences with nature, enjoy opportunities to rest and reflect and others.                                                                                                                                                                         The headline and building-block experiences below represent a possible set of foundational experiences. Together they help address typical questions covered in the comments that follow: how foundational experiences are framed or expressed; how a museum knows it’s not being overly ambitious about what it can and can’t accomplish; and how building block experiences begin to connect with museum experiences.

1. Children feel a sense of connection, acceptance, and belonging, when they:

• Feel valued for who they are

• Enjoy supportive relationships with peers and caring adults

• Enjoy positive interactions including rewarding contact with staff and volunteers

• Participate in activities at home, school, and communities

• Care about and help others

• Make memories with their family

2. Children experience growing capabilities, confidence and independence, when they:

• Develop a sense of agency, a belief that they can have an impact on their world

• Practice emerging skills and capabilities 

• Assess abilities and risks realistically

• Experience and see their impact, both big and small, on the world around them

• Discover and follow their interests

• Make choices and follow their implications 

3. Children engage in making sense of the world, when they:

• Notice, ask questions, and look for answers

• Have access to varied opportunities to explore, interact, and engage

• Collaborate with others and work as a team to accomplish something greater 

• Find relevant, meaningful connections with their everyday life

• Have varied opportunities to explore, interact, and engage

4. Children experience a feeling of well-being, when they:

• Have a shared and safe space to be a part of a community

• Find wonder, joy and delight in themselves and their experiences

• Have frequent and positive experiences with nature

• Making healthy food, movement and activity choices

• Enjoy opportunities to rest and reflect

5. Children explore and understand feelings, ideas, and perspectives, their own and others’, when they:

• Share and talk about their experiences, ideas, and dreams with others

• Express their ideas in varied and creative ways

• Enjoy extended time playing and directing play

• Explore varied objects, materials, and rich environments

• Listen to others with different views or ideas

• Respect how others experience sight, sound, and touch in different ways

6. Children find their place in the world, when they:

• See themselves reflected and appreciated in big and small ways in the world around  them

• Have positive interactions with people of diverse backgrounds

• Explore their own and others’ cultures with increasing confidence

• Open up to the possibilities of and manage the uncertainty of an expanding world

• Can see a future for themselves 

Identifying building-block experiences gives further direction and insights into developing foundational experiences: how they are framed or expressed; how a museum knows it’s not being overly ambitious about what it can and can’t accomplish; and how building block experiences begin to connect with museum experiences. Some examples follow. 

• Foundational experiences are about opportunities children should have for optimal development. Focusing on the child reflects this. Saying children… explore, engage, feel, find, etc. not only places children as the subject, but the structure of the statement itself centers on how children benefit from the building-block experiences: Children enjoy a sense of connection, acceptance, and belonging, when they… feel valued, etc.
• It’s not unusual now-and-then for a building-block experience to fit in more than one area. When that happens, choose the best fit. 
• Foundational experiences express an aspiration, a goal. Building-block experiences are stated more like outcomes, or long-term impacts. They point to where a museum has some capacity to provide an experience for a child in its setting that supports development and contributes to positive changes. A museum can identify ways it can contribute to a child finding their way in the world (#6) such as seeing themselves reflected in museum staff and volunteers, in images of children like them and of diverse families, and in experiences personally relevant and meaningful to them. 
• Many small and large gestures across every dimension of the museum support the foundational experiences. Although not every foundational experience is present in every activity, gallery, or program, headline and building-block experiences do inform exhibit and program planning, shaping spaces, selecting amenities, and preparing staff and volunteers for interaction. With use, foundational experiences inspire activities, translate into criteria for planning, become part of the museum’s shared vocabulary, and focus evaluations. 
• To get to a final version of the experiences, a few test questions helpful: Do the experiences all use the same format? Are they parallel to one another, for instance, do they start with verbs? Are they in the museum’s own voice?

No Small Matter    Through foundational experiences a museum can focus, act, and matter to the families, children, learners, friends, and communities they serve; they have an opportunity to contribute to children getting a firmer toe-hold in life.                                                                                        The process starts with locating these experiences in the museum’s vision, mission, and values; its audience; its community; and its own strengths. The set of foundational experiences which emerges, includes headline experiences supported by building-block experiences, which, in turn, inform activity and design choices, and encourage children explore, play, learn, and grow.  

With time and practice, with discussion and shared reflection, by learning together, a museum creates opportunities and experiences intentionally, with impact. When museums create experiences that emphasize relationships and facilitate social interactions, and that allow them to collaborate with others and work as a team to accomplish something greater. Museum experiences in rich environments with remarkable objects and intriguing materials invite children to notice, ask questions, and look for answers. Experiences offered in a gallery, program, or special event provide relevant, meaningful connections to their everyday life and support children in making sense of the world (#3). 

Doing this for children now and for their future is no small matter.

Jeanne Vergeront

Vergeront Museum Planning

December 9, 2020