tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11810033451571692892024-03-13T02:38:13.249-05:00Museum Notes Inspiration + Intention + Action
by Jeanne VergerontJeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.comBlogger324125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-69454907058381931402023-11-14T12:13:00.000-06:002023-11-14T12:13:09.545-06:00Nine Things Children Are Great At<div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguwCtFQRvLYRQ7g-qWbRQ_UVzjd_UGMq550Ru9pqDq_j5TIGSl_6cKlNAA68GbBEjQtAkv2oAzLzM7ZjcbCXRg65RWYCqPoqjyqaBTkBN2WZ2XWv_A8j8EpJKQoc27fJP9NV3-nQ9iEpfrKbRSvxpoViOfHlDmOvtjbzeHU4pe5sXY2Rb1JqHGjbsPbLlN" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="468" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEguwCtFQRvLYRQ7g-qWbRQ_UVzjd_UGMq550Ru9pqDq_j5TIGSl_6cKlNAA68GbBEjQtAkv2oAzLzM7ZjcbCXRg65RWYCqPoqjyqaBTkBN2WZ2XWv_A8j8EpJKQoc27fJP9NV3-nQ9iEpfrKbRSvxpoViOfHlDmOvtjbzeHU4pe5sXY2Rb1JqHGjbsPbLlN" width="320" /></a></div><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">How often do you find yourself surprised by children and their capabilities? I mean really surprised and by true capabilities. Not like when a 4-year-old spells Mississippi correctly; or when a 2-year-old knows their numbers; or when a child repeats a smart remark. Often that is memorization or mimicry, which, while important, is also part of children’s everyday repertoire of words and ways of engaging with caregivers. Very young children (especially infants and toddlers) are absorbing information at an astonishing pace, learning to use language —gestures, vocalizations, smiles, call-and-response—to invite the attention and care of bigger kids, parents, and anyone they engage with. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Are you sometimes caught off balance by a child’s thinking? Do you pause, check your assumptions, and appreciate children’s insights, for instance, when 4-year-old Jake comes up with a timeline of world history as: “the dinosaurs, Baby Jesus, the knights, and me”? Does that just seem <i>cute</i>? Or do you recognize there is something more complex behind these and other insights? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This matters. How we see children shapes how we engage with them, shape opportunities for them, step back or forward as they find their place in the world. Regrettably, when we consider children’s capabilities, we often highlight what they can’t do. Babies can’t feed themselves, toddlers don’t share, preschoolers can’t read or ride two-wheelers. We confuse children’s being novices with their being deficient. Using adult yardsticks to assess their capabilities, children not surprisingly don’t measure up. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When, however, we slow down, look closely at children with genuine interest; when we are<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIpLn_HgjHz_FhrMSsVJ5k3sMB01PkcqcsX9MmCYLfrHPxntglxFfzbik_9x3TCFroPq500IYgRXSIT_qnFVppBrQBzZRf055sfuM3CM0ZhR1LVFWelLRb85oNVo8kIP9kT4-k-kyuIvPVmozEIHgz1BK5ERCfsE__PYTygrlST52hexM2CBd__dKrupZN" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="468" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjIpLn_HgjHz_FhrMSsVJ5k3sMB01PkcqcsX9MmCYLfrHPxntglxFfzbik_9x3TCFroPq500IYgRXSIT_qnFVppBrQBzZRf055sfuM3CM0ZhR1LVFWelLRb85oNVo8kIP9kT4-k-kyuIvPVmozEIHgz1BK5ERCfsE__PYTygrlST52hexM2CBd__dKrupZN" width="180" /></a></div>open and appreciate the remarkable ways they make sense of the world, we see competence, capabilities, possibilities, a spark.
The more we pay thoughtful attention to children, the more we discover their extraordinary strengths and capabilities. We notice that children have some great capabilities we hadn’t recognized.
What are children great at? You might be surprised. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1. Children are great at… <b>making connections</b>. They make connections between previous experiences and knowledge and new knowledge and new experiences. Young children connect actions and consequences; understand that symbols stand for words and numbers; find similarities between very different objects; and understand that expressions reflect feelings. This work starts early. When 2-year-old Gwen eats something she likes, she says, “I eat it all gone, none left for Mommy.” Later looking out a window watching a squirrel eat grass she says, “Squirrel eat grass, none left for Gwen's feet.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Parents, educators, and adult friends play important roles in creating the conditions that encourage children to make many, varied, and fresh connections. When adults step back and allow children to explore spaces; select unscripted materials; invite them to notice details and incorporate them into their play; when adults respond positively to children’s curiosity, ask open-ended questions and talk about shared experiences, they are nourishing children’s inclination to make and build on connections. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2. Children are naturals at… <b>developing theories</b>. We don’t have to be scientists and run randomized control groups or develop theories. In fact, we constantly construct, test, and revise our theories about the world. Children do too. Driven to explain the world, they develop theories about how the world works. As young as 4 years, children develop a “theory of mind.” They gather information from interactions and observations about what others think and feel that are different from their own wants and beliefs. They analyze evidence based on what they experience, drawing conclusions and revising their theories. And they test their theories by asking questions, making new connections, and making predictions. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The process of developing temporary explanations about all sorts of things is a precursor to critical thinking. <i>Why did it happen this way? What will happen if…?</i> </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children notice patterns of evidence; they understand about contingencies and how different actions and objects have causal effects. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Developing theories benefits from having time to understand nonobvious causal relationships. And that’s what happens when children play, explore material-and object-rich spaces, and learn with and from other children. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqVm0QWQTxyAhDK-dUMnC9xKeyFkQAGJ-LnfkdGeYvzsXmvwTq9nbjoLL1wul3VJd6oROxKtnHfqeeUX2h6r_mORuvtAVeOSu2EaLyi8-cYULf-jr4nacLDQbCNkkQjkepVsffovGNj3o4tnKzQ4LC3nNsnNf5T0PPSfWw463EBCtdGfk8at1k5xh0eTLW/s640/Madison.ChildrenHelp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqVm0QWQTxyAhDK-dUMnC9xKeyFkQAGJ-LnfkdGeYvzsXmvwTq9nbjoLL1wul3VJd6oROxKtnHfqeeUX2h6r_mORuvtAVeOSu2EaLyi8-cYULf-jr4nacLDQbCNkkQjkepVsffovGNj3o4tnKzQ4LC3nNsnNf5T0PPSfWw463EBCtdGfk8at1k5xh0eTLW/s320/Madison.ChildrenHelp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>3. Children are impressive at <b>helping and finding helpers</b>. While we often say children are self-centered, they, in fact, both help others accomplish their goals and enlist helpers in accomplishing their own goals. Children tend to know when to turn to others for help. Early on, they count on adults to act on their wishes and goals: to be fed, comforted, or reach something up high. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Babies are reading us and our feelings. As they w</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">atch adults help, children learn to help others, including dolls and animals. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When children see someone in trouble, <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/fwarneken/home" target="_blank">they want to do something to help</a>. They like helping. Children step in to help because they have an idea, a skill, or strength they enjoy using. They like being part of the group, playing with others, and accomplishing something bigger with others. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Adults can show empathy, and act on behalf of others. Rather than socializing children to focus on their own work (<i>Keep your eyes on your own paper</i>), adults can invite children to think together and share ideas, offer multiple avenues for input. Mixed age and ability groups offer opportunities to help and be helped. It’s important to let children be helpful even if it means a bit more of a mess. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">4. Children are accomplished at… <b>pretending their way to more complex understandings.</b> They are curious; they ask questions, think about possibilities, and imagine different ways the world might work. They do this through their theories, understanding something about an object or subject matter, and through pretense—in play. In imagination-based thought during pretend play, also known as <a href="http://alisongopnik.com/ThePhilosophicalBaby.htm" target="_blank">counterfactual thinking</a>, children imagine alternatives to the current picture of the world and reason about <i>what might happen if?</i> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children are adept at generating possible worlds in every day moments, about the house, in play, drawing on their growing knowledge of objects and events. Possibilities emerge as children imagine various ways things might go and bring new worlds into existence. They might pretend there is no gravity. They know that the world doesn’t act that way, but <i>what if it did? How would we walk? fly? eat?</i> These unreal scenarios draw on what children know about gravity, weight, movement and develop their ability to reason counterfactually. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Adults can support children’s play with possible new worlds by encouraging imagination-based play, inviting children to think about alternatives and, predict what might happen. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOZpcE0MfVdDGhLZkMwbJxheKmacgFTTGIdSpDBx1GQBS13yOkiFi8EsQjdDS1qGWIKlVb4r0DwyC7mSyiPiuy8N6i7075KaOBDF5cpRMXxT8-e4Pu57V006J1Ni2_0i8OJKv9yJNj2y-x5AJ8tAY0ExMEjt4q-xXmhDXXaOpmpQKVJ9UO1fvQJUjOOqg/s4032/IMG_6523.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: helvetica; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDOZpcE0MfVdDGhLZkMwbJxheKmacgFTTGIdSpDBx1GQBS13yOkiFi8EsQjdDS1qGWIKlVb4r0DwyC7mSyiPiuy8N6i7075KaOBDF5cpRMXxT8-e4Pu57V006J1Ni2_0i8OJKv9yJNj2y-x5AJ8tAY0ExMEjt4q-xXmhDXXaOpmpQKVJ9UO1fvQJUjOOqg/s320/IMG_6523.jpeg" width="240" /></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;">5. Children are naturals at… <b>having wonderful ideas</b>. Often launched with the </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> exultation, </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">Hey, I got an idea!</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> children talk to, play with, and connect with each other through ideas—how to build something, propose a story idea, solve a problem, make up a game, or make something work in a new way. Children are not just consumers of other’s ideas and creativity. Everyday they generate possibilities from what fascinates them, what they wonder about, their knowledge of the world, and their imaginations. There’s joy in the movement of ideas, ideas that build on other suggestions. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children delight in their ideas </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">adding, </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">I know what we can do</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> and </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">Let’s try this</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;">. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Having wonderful ideas contributes to children’s intellectual and social development. Wonderful ideas help grow more wonderful ideas giving children a sense of the power of their minds, their imaginations, and their relationships. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When adults step back, observe and listen to children’s ideas; provide space and time for children to make, test, and modify connections between ideas; and let children take their ideas where they need to go, children feel empowered in having and sharing ideas. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">6. Children are experts at… <b>being informants </b>on what they like, notice, value, and what is meaningful to them. In areas where they have first-hand experience, expertise, and familiarity, children have abundant and valuable information. They are eager to share their adventures, stories, and accomplishments; feelings emotions, ideas, and possibilities that excite them. They tell us who they are and are becoming, giving us a glimpse of what matters to them that is not otherwise available to us. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When we don’t involve children as participants and co-constructors with us in making decisions on their behalf—in research, design of places for play and learning, creating activities, and selecting materials and objects— we miss insights we need if we are to empower them and serve them well. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When we <u>do</u> partner with children, however, they talk, draw, act out, and use materials, to share their views and express their thinking. They narrate adventures, mention details adults overlook, and make novel connections. We find clues to how they view and make their place in the world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Several approaches—<a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2021/08/in-partnership-with-children-experience.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2018/07/child-friendly-cities-museums-taking.html" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a href="https://www.academia.edu/864263/Children_as_experts_in_designing_a_play_environment" target="_blank">here</a>—inspire us with examples of engaging children in meaningful ways on topics that affect them, and places to live, learn, and play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiKCIMpRJvQzyE2uRdbttEnUO1nS09GwHJ6NnJUQS9TDNxG3XvwkdQorcHrgdoxkLMdBbRtozvsdUaOfVNjb4LmrZTJGjnYdrdRFoAVmPu1IQYOPOlO8RB7HUhI_V-hFsUtFV64yKuCzKyxZ8LsaJ_ucKRcs4RtgeJxqvd_uLd1rtRVt-rRhQ4uAmxmBX/s1439/IMG_3551.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1439" data-original-width="1137" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGiKCIMpRJvQzyE2uRdbttEnUO1nS09GwHJ6NnJUQS9TDNxG3XvwkdQorcHrgdoxkLMdBbRtozvsdUaOfVNjb4LmrZTJGjnYdrdRFoAVmPu1IQYOPOlO8RB7HUhI_V-hFsUtFV64yKuCzKyxZ8LsaJ_ucKRcs4RtgeJxqvd_uLd1rtRVt-rRhQ4uAmxmBX/s320/IMG_3551.JPG" width="253" /></a></div>7. Children are great at … <b>making metaphors</b>. We’re accustomed to thinking of metaphors in art, literature (she has <i>a heart-of gold</i>), and scientific advancements. Metaphor is, in fact, a way of understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. Basic to human communication, <a href="https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/M/bo3637992.html" target="_blank">metaphor is something we use consciously and often unconsciously</a>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children are thinking <a href="https://www.store.reggioalliance.org/products/a-festive-thought" target="_blank">metaphorically</a> when they perceive a visual similarity between two very different objects that are not usually yoked together. Knowledge of the one object amplifies knowledge of the other. Play is full of metaphor, both verbal and visual. In play, the light may have a voice, a feather may evoke a sword, a bald head might be a “barefooted head”. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There is something more complex behind these charming images. Children are using their knowledge of the world and their creativity to exploit the possibilities of an object’s features, opening up rather than confining its perimeters. Object- and experience-rich settings, opportunities to manipulate objects, freedom to explore their features and sensory qualities, varied ways to express ideas and solve problems, and questions such as <i>what does it remind you of?</i> invite metaphor and metaphorical processes. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">8. Children are natural … <b>democratic citizens</b>. Curious, engaged, born researchers, wanting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlWxMc8sp9Gxzx17splpwzFGhz0KhNlKxMFGSb_SlaLNnt36lhhXxvRzvrl6j3Dhea-FvQ-NTknI8kN-XNelUpRi6mimGgXejXeTXO7cSm6VbSPKvBG1XancHRwOEI8YPwaIi38FLaU4XhhHby3G_dvD-hGlr8ywxkwrgNLRLjRLih755FJfsz4qSzIWy4/s1600/IMG_0311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlWxMc8sp9Gxzx17splpwzFGhz0KhNlKxMFGSb_SlaLNnt36lhhXxvRzvrl6j3Dhea-FvQ-NTknI8kN-XNelUpRi6mimGgXejXeTXO7cSm6VbSPKvBG1XancHRwOEI8YPwaIi38FLaU4XhhHby3G_dvD-hGlr8ywxkwrgNLRLjRLih755FJfsz4qSzIWy4/s320/IMG_0311.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>to belong, and attuned to the interests of others, young children possess the habits and dispositions related to democracy. They feel a sense of <i>us</i> which is evident when the child introduces an idea with, <i>Let’s…</i> When other children add, <i>I’ll be the dog</i> or <i>I’ll drive the spaceship</i>, they are playing with a shared mindset. Through listening, talking, and considering other points of view, they think and act for themselves. They create their own activities, make up their rules, solve their own problems, share narratives, and collaborate on projects—together. They create a world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children’s interest in the common good is expressed on behalf of a group of children in a class, on the block, or an informal group at a museum or library. Space that children can claim for themselves—on the front stoop, the sidewalk, in a fort, or under a tree—is space shared with other children, thought about collectively, and an opportunity for learning to live together. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Rather than teach—instruct—children in democracy, adults can model inclusive approaches and provide environments that value differences; invite varied points of view; use language children can use such as I think, in my opinion. Offering children opportunities to see the community and be seen by the community and engaging them in research and planning brings insights into our understandings that are not otherwise available. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">9. Children are born <b>creators of a culture of childhood</b>. More than an age cohort, <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2022/01/museum-notes-jeanne-vergeront-museum.html" target="_blank">the culture of childhood</a> is children’s shared experiences of growing up and finding their place in the world. It is a continuous dialogue: children form the culture of childhood which, in turn, forms them, shaping their social identity, creating a sense of community, and opening possibilities. Encompassing the hallmarks of culture—language, objects, materials, expression, meaning, and symbols—it is a continuing force of connection, community, and hopeful futures. Play in many forms is the native language of the culture of childhood. Children find and solve problems together; figure out, communicate and negotiate rules; and they fill roles that adults take when they were present. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Adults can recognize and encourage the culture of childhood and make it visible. This may involve expanding the cultural space of childhood by engaging children, families, educators, and community members in co-constructing outdoor spaces, museum spaces, nature areas, play environments, and other informal learning settings where children can come together, experiment, and creatively explore using multiple modes of expression, materials, and media. And make their mark on the world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Before Our Very Eyes</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These and other capabilities fundamentally challenge our assumptions about what children can do early in life. When we are optimistic about children’s competencies at a young age, we discover extraordinary strengths and capabilities and are less preoccupied weaknesses and limitations. We don’t need to wait for these capabilities to emerge later in childhood. They are, in fact, present early in children’s lives, bringing joy, and enriching childhood. When we encourage and support these capabilities in children in rich, varied, and welcoming settings, children see themselves as thinkers and doers, makers and creators, friends, and helpers. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Museum Notes</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2015/05/becoming-museum-with-strong-image-of.html " target="_blank">Becoming a Museum with a Strong Image of the Child</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2014/07/engaging-childs-potential.html " target="_blank">Engaging the Child’s Potential</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/10/observation-from-seeing-to-un-seeing-to.html" target="_blank">Observation: Seeing, Un-Seeing, Re-Seeing</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Also</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://medium.com/the-mission/the-culture-of-childhood-weve-almost-destroyed-it-d16af1fa16f1" target="_blank">The Culture of Childhood: We’ve Almost Destroyed It</a></span></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-29764346174211475042023-07-03T13:40:00.000-05:002023-07-03T13:40:36.155-05:00Seeing Joy: Part 2<p> </p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YmJlgA9KBdFsMn1AkZVcarxT62v6y-DI6npCLm9vSDtok3E_MT2Yg3B_2dwMqbJ6QfgMhEGDA0t_03NTF_6cISDArO7G0gQNaDSNhlZgBUImoqTFFA4y5DuxVYt4bbPuX-mNhk7RZwKQqCdZPDzha0EjIMbrTVXPD7FIUARHjhKo_FMRBV-dnukputC4/s1035/IMG_5782%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1035" data-original-width="955" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7YmJlgA9KBdFsMn1AkZVcarxT62v6y-DI6npCLm9vSDtok3E_MT2Yg3B_2dwMqbJ6QfgMhEGDA0t_03NTF_6cISDArO7G0gQNaDSNhlZgBUImoqTFFA4y5DuxVYt4bbPuX-mNhk7RZwKQqCdZPDzha0EjIMbrTVXPD7FIUARHjhKo_FMRBV-dnukputC4/s320/IMG_5782%20(1).jpg" width="295" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo credit: WonderTrek Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />Seeing Joy: Part 2 continues an exploration of what children’s joy looks and sounds like in our museums that I introduced in <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2023/06/seeing-joy-part-1.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Seeing Joy: Part 1</span></a>. Inspired by expressions of joy we see in museums and other settings, Seeing Joy is guided by a collaborative, iterative inquiry process developed with <a href="https://wondertrekmuseum.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">WonderTrek Children’s Museum</span></a> in Brainerd, Minnesota. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #e06666;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYvOBLbWSEPcv5I1097mLo92zZdBnMzP-nPR4uVQ_401dKI9_vdSgi0cEbCXT-P7KMpmc4A79MSTwKYKDdgH-Zl2rZbw4CISvVgBK438rNEY0Ivvtb6kRwJv40s5MoEqsJR4Drt1J9z5ExdLh3fYAlRvlxcHdWaKO9X1v9ueSaAhXM83Qa7TskiEhxCB8F" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="424" data-original-width="590" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhYvOBLbWSEPcv5I1097mLo92zZdBnMzP-nPR4uVQ_401dKI9_vdSgi0cEbCXT-P7KMpmc4A79MSTwKYKDdgH-Zl2rZbw4CISvVgBK438rNEY0Ivvtb6kRwJv40s5MoEqsJR4Drt1J9z5ExdLh3fYAlRvlxcHdWaKO9X1v9ueSaAhXM83Qa7TskiEhxCB8F=s16000" /></a></div><br /></div></div></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The process begins with a <u>Question</u>, leads to an <u>Invitation to Explore</u> that engages children and adults in exploring our question. <u>Investigation</u> involves setting up and observing children in a PlayLab space. We summarize, debrief, and synthesize our findings and, as part of <u>Interpretation</u>, we ask ourselves, “What are we seeing? Moving from Interpretation to <u>Advancing</u> the inquiry, we boil down our insights to a few take-aways and <u>Re-frame</u> the question. And we’re ready to roll again. </span></div></div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Dedicated tools for each part of the process both guide and document our work. The first tool, Question Worksheet, documents the Working Question, the Invitation to Explore, Methods, Timeline, Take Aways, and Possible Ideas to Revisit. </span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The Working Question and supporting questions about joy ask:</span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• How can WonderTrek invite and encourage children to experience and express joy?</span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> • </span>What does children’s joy look and sound like?<br /><span> • </span>What conditions appear to encourage and elicit joy?</span><div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Importance highlights social emotional learning’s critical role in human development; joy’s importance in children’s lives, fighting stress and pain. It is a form of resilience and feels good. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Joyful Work Arounds</span></b><br />When we got to Invitation to Explore,</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> we encountered a problem. Usually, we would find ways to engage children in exploring the setting, structures, and materials with other children in the PlayLab; observe them; and talk to them about their experiences. Given the spontaneous and ephemeral nature of joy; a lack of a unifying concept around joy; and limitations of the PlayLab space and sessions, that approach wasn’t feasible so early in the process. We also wondered whether asking a 3 or 4-year-old “What is joy?” would be meaningful. </span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-family: helvetica; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zpCn5aoCl7VR5eTE1RZvAeJyNG_oA_9F6wqjOI_5Au4knB5wuhuKhiMCpfeAX0qScg4LmUdRZsEEwTWybfKBRT1FY-JrctJlvPRFwdWeioT7JElN4ODphWA9AkNBxNeBej4X9lg1M8ra_Ub_R9D5OBsjzH6BmOcGsAPPnMBxKPxr-ECgyGzCzDTq1ydL/s1048/DCP_2533.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1048" data-original-width="933" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zpCn5aoCl7VR5eTE1RZvAeJyNG_oA_9F6wqjOI_5Au4knB5wuhuKhiMCpfeAX0qScg4LmUdRZsEEwTWybfKBRT1FY-JrctJlvPRFwdWeioT7JElN4ODphWA9AkNBxNeBej4X9lg1M8ra_Ub_R9D5OBsjzH6BmOcGsAPPnMBxKPxr-ECgyGzCzDTq1ydL/s320/DCP_2533.jpeg" width="285" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo credit: Tom Bedard</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">“Pre-research” was needed to grow our understanding of joy before we could proceed with <u>Invitation to Explore</u>. We chose to explore joy obliquely by investigating it in two familiar contexts: the lived experience of childhood and children’s experiences at other museums. We used four methods. </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Childhood Joy Remembered drew on childhood memories of our team members</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Everyday Joy described moments of joy observed in museums</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Borrowed Set-ups used photos showing joy to study the presence of physical and social conditions related to joy</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Parent Question asked about their child’s joy on WonderTrek’s social media (This had no responses.)</span></li></ul><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></b></span></div>Childhood Joy Remembered </span></b><br />We were all children once and experienced joy in our childhoods. Sometimes there was more joy and other times less. Bernard Berenson, a 20th century American Art Historian, recalls a moment in his childhood that tells us something about experiencing joy.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">“<i>… In childhood and boyhood this ecstasy overtook me when I was happy out of doors. Was I five or six? Certainly not seven. It was a morning in early summer. A silver haze shimmered and trembled over the lime trees. The air was laden with their fragrance. The temperature was like a caress. I remember—I need not recall—that I climbed up a tree stump and had no need for words. ‘It’ and I were one</i>.” </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Members of the WonderTrek Project Team were asked to recall a memory of joy from their childhoods, a moment of joy when they were a child, any age up through 10 or 12 years; to explore that memory, plumb the feel and source of it. They shared what they’d been feeling and doing; where they were; who was with them. Memories that they, other colleagues and friends have shared about remembered childhood joy include being outdoors, in nature, a sense of freedom, sensory experience, immersion. </span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Crawling through and disappearing into the tall grass</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Going out horseback riding with my dad early in the morning in late summer</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Climbing on the bus and going to the library by myself to get books</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Riding my bike wearing a freshly ironed shirt my mother made. It was a perfect moment; I felt free</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Floating in the lake with my sisters</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Laying in the grass under trees with light coming through the leaves. All the flickering lights reminded me of a million candles </span></li></ul></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>The Everyday Joy We See</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Knowing that every day, joy comes into our museums, we wondered what those moments of a<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-cbNkgpQCRYMaAuaFQ_DWi0sB8XSP9wyq8jyVs2YoIH9thjVWEZtrwKDO9qgN2FE-Xk2pEktBgWXhFEkWRWEiiv0vrrw5Z10vLC93jn0rUgQbyqofVs83XzQRSrUiikZXs4ZF5AxwTJNG9Unyn-ANBRZ5ddmtTc_WmCrlYO12WDXrfJ66H-3qxymR7Px/s3264/IMG_3781%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQ-cbNkgpQCRYMaAuaFQ_DWi0sB8XSP9wyq8jyVs2YoIH9thjVWEZtrwKDO9qgN2FE-Xk2pEktBgWXhFEkWRWEiiv0vrrw5Z10vLC93jn0rUgQbyqofVs83XzQRSrUiikZXs4ZF5AxwTJNG9Unyn-ANBRZ5ddmtTc_WmCrlYO12WDXrfJ66H-3qxymR7Px/s320/IMG_3781%20copy.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table>child’s joy look like. Looking at photos including the one of the child kicking up their foot, we asked: what does this child’s joy look, feel, sound like? We observed and thought about:<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The child’s facial expressions: body language, tone, sensory qualities of objects and materials</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What might the child be feeling?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What qualities of joy do we think are expressed?</span></li></ul>Joy is hard to define. And while we wouldn’t want to squeeze the joy out of joy by defining it too narrowly, similar qualities of joy came through in the conversations, Berenson’s quote, and the literature.<br /><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Joy is a positive emotion that can be experienced with other emotions, such as sorrow, at the same time</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Joy often brings a feeling of connection – to others, to ourselves, to nature, to something greater </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There is contentment and satisfaction</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A feeling of joy ranges from a peaceful contentment to exuberance</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">It is ineffable, brief, fleeting</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Joy happens in everyday moments</span></li></ul></span></div><div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Borrowed Set-ups</b> </span></p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0nM-gJ2xt7TvWXJHeArm2jBC86IFrh6piMUxXBLfHZoUUYCpE2iPw0qZQCDv_iXEYFtpfEdsTsZS2CL1PogOHViWUbFIQLyM3O5mmuU-9XLiFYKY2gXfyJhf7YDFmyoJhQpEMXj72e8vey_vGMJvu55Pzqaw4rZ3Zjl0fWytMjWfwbwGWE8KELk-wHE3/s6016/BruceSilcox.Courtesy%20of%20MCM.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="6016" data-original-width="4016" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL0nM-gJ2xt7TvWXJHeArm2jBC86IFrh6piMUxXBLfHZoUUYCpE2iPw0qZQCDv_iXEYFtpfEdsTsZS2CL1PogOHViWUbFIQLyM3O5mmuU-9XLiFYKY2gXfyJhf7YDFmyoJhQpEMXj72e8vey_vGMJvu55Pzqaw4rZ3Zjl0fWytMjWfwbwGWE8KELk-wHE3/s320/BruceSilcox.Courtesy%20of%20MCM.2.jpg" width="214" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">Photo Credit: Bruce Slicox. Courtesy <br />of Minnesota Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>Limited in settings we could easily create or access, we <span> </span>“borrowed” set-ups of children experiencing joy in other settings. With photos like the one at left, we could study physical and social features of a set-up; the nature and quantity of materials, the ambience; the presence of other people. Looking at this photo we speculated on conditions that might be giving joy a nudge:<br />• Open space<br />• Natural light<br />• Objects that are soft, plentiful, accessible, unusual in this context<br />• Falling objects in mid-air … surprise and unpredictability in how they fall<br />• Visibility into what’s happening overhead<br />• Space for several children <br /><br />Gathering a few clues from one Borrowed Set-up at a time, we glimpsed what invites joy. Asking ourselves, what we were seeing, we started building <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2022/11/museum-notes-jeanne-vergeront-vergeront.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">Play Conditions</span></a> disposed towards joy. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What are Play Conditions? They are features of the physical and social environment that support and encourage children’s exploration, play, and learning. These conditions emerge from what research, child development, play theory and children’s museum practices indicate encourage and support children’s engagement, and maybe their joy. This is not a causal relationship between Play Conditions and more joy. But we all carry assumptions, hunches, and mini-theories about what we think is likely to encourage some types of interactions more than others. In this inquiry, Play Conditions help us think about creating experiences and environments disposed towards joy. <br /><br />Qualities associated with joy that surfaced in childhood memories and observations fall into WonderTrek’s 7 Play Conditions.<br /> • <u>Image of the Child</u>, children’s strengths and capabilities: expressions of joy accompany a<br /> strong sense of agency and sense of self<br /> • <u>Context or setting</u>, the qualities of the physical and social space: the soft qualities of space: abundant light, natural light, moving air; sensory immersion; and space for moving freely.<br />• <u>An Invitation to Explore</u> encourages children’s engagement or piques their curiosity: with surprise, novelty, or enticing sensory patterns.<br />• <u>Materials</u> seed the set up with possibilities that are: explorable, unscripted; responsive to children’s actions<br />• <u>Interactions and Relationships</u> connect people: children feel recognized and connected to others; and adults are sensitive to children’s spark<br />• <u>Content</u>, or what is fascinating and meaningful to children: the wind, water, animals; movement, nature<br />• <u>Time</u> creates openings for joy: unstructured time, a sense of possibilities and freedom</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>What We’re Learning</b></span></span></p><p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-family: helvetica; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTIO3S88aYk8ImtyuF2zBAoW4dFIXFLf08pKDkOOLSi9bu_DFHrVig_yGIzDI-KcJSWzF9TBIHBDrdX_S4_I_6DalmF_AlApaNmjBd2jujzqrSeqFnEwaMmGhR7AeiuksTcXaZYFDbYN4W3sqkmHY8rj-Z8fHI_7XCK-g-unnFmz0s_t1QD7_Aq4dC-fc6/s1600/RainDance.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTIO3S88aYk8ImtyuF2zBAoW4dFIXFLf08pKDkOOLSi9bu_DFHrVig_yGIzDI-KcJSWzF9TBIHBDrdX_S4_I_6DalmF_AlApaNmjBd2jujzqrSeqFnEwaMmGhR7AeiuksTcXaZYFDbYN4W3sqkmHY8rj-Z8fHI_7XCK-g-unnFmz0s_t1QD7_Aq4dC-fc6/s320/RainDance.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Our learning is on 2 tracks: about children’s joy and about the WonderTrek Inquiry Process. We’re learning that joy is:<br />• A feeling and an experience often shared with others, that happens everyday<br />• Even very young children express joy<br />• Joy’s qualities and expressions take many forms: wonder, surprise, exuberance, a feeling of immensity and connection<br />• Joy and play are closely related<br />• Museums are places for joy<br />• Experiencing joy matters in children’s lives. It may not matter whether we remember childhood joy; it does matter that we have experienced joy as children<br /><br />We’re learning from the WTI process itself.<br />• Bringing in a child’s perspective shows us what we might not otherwise notice<br />• Play-and activity-based methods allow children’s fuller participation<br />• The process is flexible, adaptable to various questions and contexts<br />• Questions matter<br />• We are making meaning a bit at a time <br /><br /><i>This collaborative effort has been made possible by a wonderful team. Thank you, Peter Olson, Cheryl Kessler, Mary Weiland, Jim Roe, Shannon Wheeler, Emilee Maillot.</i></span></p></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-913576922533353492023-06-04T11:42:00.000-05:002023-06-04T11:42:38.051-05:00Seeing Joy: Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrpPTsZwLPeMsc-1v3jSVttjvzz4-FZG50dWhTpNeXhmxbKFGmLBaX6QR5IoGHggvYPJzYmc78CEYtSuI3GKQZm86dBD9DaTSPJP-n58l82xzhhhMC7udbLcMvD4IE6vkYkq0yp3tgLKdeBcS3wEiB8mJ9r9jMuLfr1m7P5x4Mf3ZSsf93830LZh0Ow/s1024/Ian'10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNrpPTsZwLPeMsc-1v3jSVttjvzz4-FZG50dWhTpNeXhmxbKFGmLBaX6QR5IoGHggvYPJzYmc78CEYtSuI3GKQZm86dBD9DaTSPJP-n58l82xzhhhMC7udbLcMvD4IE6vkYkq0yp3tgLKdeBcS3wEiB8mJ9r9jMuLfr1m7P5x4Mf3ZSsf93830LZh0Ow/w400-h300/Ian'10.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>How can we invite and encourage children to feel and express joy in our museums?</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This question has intrigued me. It comes from a long-standing interest in Reggio-inspired practice in children’s museums and <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2021/08/in-partnership-with-children-experience.html" target="_blank">planning in partnership with children</a>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But it was<span> photo above</span>, this look of joy on this little guy’s face and the joy expressed in his body that made me wonder, how can we keep this joy alive? Where can we find it in our museums? Can we open our doors wider to welcome joy? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Social Emotional Learning</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If we didn’t have a clear notion of the importance of social-emotional experiences in children’s lives before the pandemic, children’s absence from social settings and experiencing isolation has provided us with many examples and insights about this critical aspect of children’s growth, development, and wellbeing. We are seeing signs in our museums of children (and adults) emerging from social isolation being stressed out. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Early social emotional development has lasting effect on our lives. Supporting children’s social emotional learning is complex, on-going, important work. Many children’s museums are focusing on this aspect of children’s development for the first time. Museums that serve children have a special opportunity to create possibilities for children to develop, learn, grow socially and emotionally with others; to build relationship skills, manage themselves, and become responsible decision makers. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Museums are social places. They are spaces where families go to spend time together; where children and adults meet and connect with other children and adults. They share these public spaces, amiable environments, and novel materials with friendly strangers. They watch others try something and try it themselves. Children learn about sharing, taking turns, friendship, being part of a group. After a visit, families talk together and remember what they did, what they liked, what was new or hard. And they come back for more! </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Places of Joy</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children’s museums want to be places of joy. Joy is referred to often in children’s museums. </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We say… “Children play for the sheer joy of it.” </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We highlight “joyful play” and “joyful learning” on social media </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Our missions aspire to: </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> … bring the joy of learning and wonders of the natural world to life</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">… create unparalleled experiences to inspire excellence and a lifelong joy of learning</span></li></ul></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgITyZxDOTniApW4t9H2PgDdOWxJ4q1BJCDlIEPYqG6jw_15uakDIHP9AcZjBubA5kw8TrbwoQzTld9EKrX4wc-gHp-l0LEEo5WL8nTJyAsAcREuLqyP9mDigQ7IvGf8TVw6FKyIZdgMduhzE-PgJVTh1X0fGcJ9Bd-BJgVNLQw8IdWLS23RWgeRf6MJQ" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="270" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgITyZxDOTniApW4t9H2PgDdOWxJ4q1BJCDlIEPYqG6jw_15uakDIHP9AcZjBubA5kw8TrbwoQzTld9EKrX4wc-gHp-l0LEEo5WL8nTJyAsAcREuLqyP9mDigQ7IvGf8TVw6FKyIZdgMduhzE-PgJVTh1X0fGcJ9Bd-BJgVNLQw8IdWLS23RWgeRf6MJQ" width="160" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While we believe joy is important in children’s lives and finding their place in the world, we don’t seem to have a shared understanding of what joy is; a sense of what it looks, feels, and sounds like; its importance and benefits; and how we might support and encourage children’s experiences of joy in our museums. Looking at research, we know that: </span><p></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A dose of joy boosts our immune systems, and fights stress and pain </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Positive emotions like joy and excitement powerfully impact physical and mental health over the whole lifespan </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Joy is a form of resilience: moments of joy can help our bodies recover from the physiological effects of stress </span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These benefits get at why joy matters. And then there’s this:</span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">"<i>Joy, particularly through the activities that result from feeling joy, provides the individual with the opportunity to learn new cognitive and behavioral skills and forge new social relationships and skills which enhances resilience to future obstacles and threats</i>." <span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If joy is important and we want to grow its presence in our museums, we need to be attentive and attuned to children’s experiencing it; to reflect on their expressions of joy; notice conditions that might have sparked joy; and invite joy in. </span></p><p><b style="font-family: helvetica;">Learning About Joy in Children’s Lives and Our Museums </b></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">For several years I have been working with WonderTrek Children’s Museum an emerging museum in Brainerd, MN. Our planning work includes co-developing a collaborative inquiry process for exploring how children direct their play. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As part of this, I’ve been exploring joy. The museum’s mission includes, <i>The joy of play and the wonder of learning</i> and <i>Experiencing joy</i> is among a set of essential experiences in WonderTrek's learning experience framework. A site has been secured and a new building is being designed. WonderTrek believes it’s not too early in the process of opening a strong regional museum to use a research-and learning approach in: </span></p><p></p><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">planning experiences at a temporary 900 s.f. PlayLab </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">offering activities at locations across the region’s 5 counties </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">developing exhibit concepts and design </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">growing WonderTrek’s Center for Play and Interactive Learning </span></li></ul><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjExC7xAGpXTmJOZw5SUNR-PXAIO6YvR7UopXkMEoTekP20xuef8LV5ulDUwMjORkVD8Eugydgly6JMgeWoNb0e-Xh18f6GTvLcI2Pqe1q5Hk8obRbhmGqgTCvBuETRgBiVZmSGzFL76wUWg2hq3lnaUJJlVqDKLQSJYfP5xRQVigg_OuQJCLchw9EIeQ/s4032/S.Barbara.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjExC7xAGpXTmJOZw5SUNR-PXAIO6YvR7UopXkMEoTekP20xuef8LV5ulDUwMjORkVD8Eugydgly6JMgeWoNb0e-Xh18f6GTvLcI2Pqe1q5Hk8obRbhmGqgTCvBuETRgBiVZmSGzFL76wUWg2hq3lnaUJJlVqDKLQSJYfP5xRQVigg_OuQJCLchw9EIeQ/s320/S.Barbara.jpeg" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">WonderTrek’s project team has developed a collaborative, iterative inquiry process that actively engages children and adults including staff and consultants. We use a variety of methods to investigate and document roomy questions around children’s play, exploration, and learning; the role of the environment and materials; and how they understand place. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We’ve mashed up and adapted several processes to fit the Museum’s interests. WonderTrek Inquiry (WTI) process brings together <a href="https://www.nisenet.org/tbi" target="_blank">Team Based-inquiry</a> from the NISE Network;<span style="color: #134f5c;"> <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2014/05/documentation-looking-again.html" target="_blank">Reggio-inspired documentation</a></span>; <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/257944497_Practice_Based_Research_A_Guide" target="_blank">practice-based research</a>; and <a href="https://base.socioeco.org/docs/center_for_collaborative_action_research.pdf" target="_blank">collaborative action research</a>. We’re making up the process as we go along: developing and modifying it, sometimes at the same time. </span><p></p><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Supporting this practice-based research is a belief that, if we can recognize joy in our museums and find ways to encourage it, we can shift from <i>hoping</i> that children will experience joy to greater confidence in creating the conditions that support joy in exhibits, programs, environments, and interactions. We can invite more joy into our museums, tweak experiences, nurture resilience, and contribute to children’s long-term well-being.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>WonderTrek Inquiry Process </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitWpFp7NM1KvpHYy81LNrQS5VDqJysLmbimhyfpZk2vAqPf2AkZ79-ACH_i7TC5CM8GMCM192yBi8WiW9-BbuJbfCca063zRc6Lo7F5U0aSj8Mc9syLWRMgNm73cuzOXX-DqSytFIyqmrxIOKaYbkwgRgtfczyex6ltrQ9wZHCq-B8xbWQaVQMm3xG-g" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="680" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEitWpFp7NM1KvpHYy81LNrQS5VDqJysLmbimhyfpZk2vAqPf2AkZ79-ACH_i7TC5CM8GMCM192yBi8WiW9-BbuJbfCca063zRc6Lo7F5U0aSj8Mc9syLWRMgNm73cuzOXX-DqSytFIyqmrxIOKaYbkwgRgtfczyex6ltrQ9wZHCq-B8xbWQaVQMm3xG-g=w400-h274" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This is the WTI inquiry process in its neat and tidy form. Walking through it, this work clearly requires time. So far we have been able to prioritize time for several reasons. Not only is the approach key to developing museum experiences and environments, but its continuous professional development is core to creating shared understandings of WonderTrek's foundational ideas and putting them into practice from the start. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Taking a quick spin through the cycle, the process starts with a <b>Question</b>, developed collaboratively. Often one person offers a question that has been floating around and we polish it together. Sub-questions support the lead question and focus the inquiry. At this point we probe why this question is important to the Museum. We've learned to value the time for thinking about importance.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The <b>Question </b>leads to an <b>Invitation to Explore</b>, which challenges us to think together about how we might shape opportunities to engage children and adults in exploring our question.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">When we think about <b>Investigation</b> and documenting, we look for activity- and play-based methods—visual, digital, participatory methods that fit the question, setting, children and families, and our capabilities. We are particularly interested in ways to bring in children's voices and perspectives. These might include: brief written observations of children, conversations with them, photos, videos, a talk-back board for parents, and traces of children's works: drawings, constructions, stories.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We move into action, setting up the PlayLab, observing, listening, documenting. After reviewing and summarizing data, we debrief and synthesize. As part of <b>Interpretation</b>, we ask ourselves, "What are we seeing? What might it mean?" Moving from <b>Interpretation</b> to <b>Advancing </b>the inquiry, we do a group reflection, boil down or insights to a few take-aways and <b>Re-frame</b> questions. And we are ready to roll again.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In my next post, I will write about the work-arounds we needed to come up with to continue our exploration of joy when we encountered a challenge. We needed to grow our understanding of joy before we could proceed with an <b>Invitation to Explore.</b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><br /></div></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(1)</span> </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Johnson, M. (2020). Joy: A review of the literature and suggestions for future directions. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 15(1), 5-24</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-23940343213075077492023-05-02T13:33:00.002-05:002023-05-02T13:33:17.524-05:00<div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: small;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></h3><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #134f5c;"><i>What's a Learning Framework, Anyway?</i> was the question explored at a session at the Association of Children's Museums' annual conference in New Orleans April 26-28. I was asked to start the session with some background on learning frameworks. Three children's museums presented their learning frameworks: Tiffany Espinosa and Lisa Williams from</span> <a href="https://www.cmhouston.org/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=gmbhouston" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Children's Museum of Houston</span></a><span style="color: #134f5c;">; Hardin Englehardt from</span> <a href="https://www.marbleskidsmuseum.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Marbles Kids Museum</span></a>; <span style="color: #134f5c;">and Peter Olson from</span> <a href="https://wondertrekmuseum.org/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Wondertrek Children's Museum</span></a>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div style="text-align: justify;">In 1992 I was head of Exhibits and Education at Minnesota Children’s Museum when we started planning for a new, much bigger museum in downtown St Paul. We invited 5 colleagues from other museums to be peer reviewers for a programmatic master plan that would guide development, design, and fabrication of 20,00 square feet of gallery space and new programs. </div></span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">At our first gathering, the MCM team asked the peer </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="text-align: left;">reviewers, “What’s a programmatic master plan?"</span></div><span style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTF7H1cuFcxTcdQK4YreAymFdWTraeUEsaV0mE9rPRYKnmc___IcetwSV1g9Ng8BuUMgHI6NoEBzz1pfz8U-HafscDffWd8h8LXqjzk42a_utlnsM4T0tu92pzuAA8HhJ4RHO4JFgDZl1KyD-gK82KCJMW26McacVERs8c47atldpNR0JEdkAHdGGSLg/s3582/MCM1992ProgPlan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3582" data-original-width="2930" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTF7H1cuFcxTcdQK4YreAymFdWTraeUEsaV0mE9rPRYKnmc___IcetwSV1g9Ng8BuUMgHI6NoEBzz1pfz8U-HafscDffWd8h8LXqjzk42a_utlnsM4T0tu92pzuAA8HhJ4RHO4JFgDZl1KyD-gK82KCJMW26McacVERs8c47atldpNR0JEdkAHdGGSLg/w262-h320/MCM1992ProgPlan.jpg" width="262" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Everyone shrugged their shoulders and looked perplexed. It wasn’t the response we’d hoped for. Undaunted, our peer reviewers did work with us to create a programmatic master plan that went beyond “what” exhibits and programs would be about. It also focused on the children for whom the experiences were intended. We connected exploration, play and learning; identified varied engagement strategies and how we thought children would be likely to explore the spaces, materials, and activities; and the roles of adults. </div></span></div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">That 1992 Programmatic Master Plan was followed by an Education Framework in 2000. MCM’s 2013 Visitor Experience Master Plan for its expansion and renovation updated its approach to learning experiences. In 2019 a Learning Framework was developed. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEN1QKnUDNH0ku87AocTwBZkpcmZyq9_Drsus7-3TZALiTRUYiMbzlCHoGTbOaoHlDkDP2rOyu8PuG_V1kdLrK2velLuTbjM2tAKfgopAPh0dBj1_7JvCWdnE_qUXc8HgUwnDU5G-tJl6wZMSOavkibyVP6dphniCDLheu0pSLNc3DOvQfJyWA-MEX9A/s4032/MCML.F.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEN1QKnUDNH0ku87AocTwBZkpcmZyq9_Drsus7-3TZALiTRUYiMbzlCHoGTbOaoHlDkDP2rOyu8PuG_V1kdLrK2velLuTbjM2tAKfgopAPh0dBj1_7JvCWdnE_qUXc8HgUwnDU5G-tJl6wZMSOavkibyVP6dphniCDLheu0pSLNc3DOvQfJyWA-MEX9A/s320/MCML.F.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>Children’s museums have been charting a course from “what is a programmatic masterplan?” to having a learning framework as a best practice — asking new questions, drawing on current research, deepening an understanding of what learning looks like, how we can support it in our settings for the children, families and communities we serve. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Still, learning frameworks are generally newcomers to museums’ core documents including a mission, vision and values; a strategic plan; business plan, and marketing and communications plans. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This movement enjoyed a boost when a project of ACM’s Children’s Museum Research Network in 2014 looked at learning frameworks in 5 network museums. It noted that learning frameworks are both institutionally specific and have the potential to inform the larger field’s understanding of how children’s museums conceptualize and operationalize learning. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">From my work developing learning frameworks in our field over the last 30 years, I’ve noticed that: </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Learning frameworks are both becoming an established practice and are evolving. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There’s variety among learning frameworks from one museum to another. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Learning frameworks are developed by museums at all stages of development, from emerging museums to ones that are expanding or reinventing themselves; or doing some backfill on their learning focus. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> And interestingly enough, I think children’s museums are leading the way among museums in developing, using, and advancing learning frameworks.
What is a learning framework? </span></li></ul></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As the 2014 Research Network study concluded, there are many answers to this question. For me a learning framework is a process and a product that consolidates and articulates a museum’s most important ideas around learning and learners for its intended audience and its community. It’s a: </span></div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">foundational set of ideas grounded in its vision, mission, values, and audience </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">resting on research and conceptual foundations around children’s growth and development, their play and learning, and their futures </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">and is developed collaboratively. </span></li></ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A learning framework gets at not only what a museum does, how it does it, and why that matters. What museum couldn’t benefit by better understanding that? </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The process of creating a framework articulates the relationships among the aspirations of vision and mission, the experiences visitors enjoy, children’s take-aways; and how the museum believes it can help a community accomplish its goals for children. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The framework itself focuses and sets priorities about where a museum intends to direct its expertise and resources to bring valued, engaging experiences and opportunities to children in family, school and community groups. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As a tool, a learning framework assists a museum in doing its work. It informs exhibit, experience and program development and design; guides evaluation of exhibits and programs; and research on what the museum makes possible. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: justify;">A clear focus helps a museum be accountable. Instead of just hoping that children will engage in child-directed play, or thinking critically, or working cooperatively, we can deliberately shape experiences, select materials, offer choices, and create possibilities that are likely to do so. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Dhg1C_KSPHjcmt8GiIOIZzNpkiYHvgeXas-PY_WtrBqsydMsZWyLQ_mt7ETY3dkZnk3z2PssTYxGGHS9KJlZ9eH-v7tdWhKMvJ24LObjjtXrqdbXO2nCPMsWiSHaEPPwxOn1mtRulhPxWfyyVhD3ZCH79c0nZ7iLL-SlylYWhqwD8o4Pn4mjeY9mxw/s1200/scott-8%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2Dhg1C_KSPHjcmt8GiIOIZzNpkiYHvgeXas-PY_WtrBqsydMsZWyLQ_mt7ETY3dkZnk3z2PssTYxGGHS9KJlZ9eH-v7tdWhKMvJ24LObjjtXrqdbXO2nCPMsWiSHaEPPwxOn1mtRulhPxWfyyVhD3ZCH79c0nZ7iLL-SlylYWhqwD8o4Pn4mjeY9mxw/s320/scott-8%20copy.jpg" width="240" /></a></div></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">For instance, a framework could focus on connecting children’s play with being life-long learners. It might base its view of children as learners who are curious, social, and active in research; identify relevant social-emotional skills; prioritize compelling engagement strategies; and create contexts that that are fascinating and meaningful to children. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The framework provides a common vocabulary and understanding about the meaning of core ideas on project teams, writing grants, staff development, even website design. Do you mean what I mean when I say “agency?” or “place-based experiences?” or “multiple entry points?” Do Marketing and exhibits share a vocabulary based in the learning framework? </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Equally valuable is the role these frameworks play in communicating with partners and stakeholders about how the museum fits into the local learning, cultural and civic landscape; or have a positive impact on the lives of children in the region. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">To the question of why children’s museums seem to be taking the lead among various types of museums in developing learning frameworks, I have a hunch. “Traditional” museums such as art, history, and science museums rest on an accepted body of work, a canon. Even if that canon is evolving and being challenged, it is associated with a discipline and connected with content, processes, and tradition as well as school curriculum and careers. While not tailored to a particular museum, community or age group, those bodies of knowledge serve some of the functions that learning frameworks serve for many museums. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While children’s museums engage children with varied content, that is not their primary focus. Children are. Children’s museums are for children, not primarily about something. We may be envious of a museum’s having pretty much of a ready-made framework in a canon of knowledge. For me, however, adopting a ready-made framework for children’s museums is unimaginable. How would a canon of knowledge acknowledge the naturally interdisciplinary<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rxPIoT0WtI0zCC2cYEAyXOJok8ipk88ElCtsiS3ynTcv7QyiXxui5PM7slzTvOVjSjf20p0eGd5Edqhsft6mS7aa9U-0V5Bpmk_j9nmf3cpyNV0QujmY3G3sdN9hPVLVjjV5H36hFwSBv5dvb4zsl5mJcTuYJf3uHmm9wfGT9FhGPqa7G1hwGucnjw/s3264/IMG_2057.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9rxPIoT0WtI0zCC2cYEAyXOJok8ipk88ElCtsiS3ynTcv7QyiXxui5PM7slzTvOVjSjf20p0eGd5Edqhsft6mS7aa9U-0V5Bpmk_j9nmf3cpyNV0QujmY3G3sdN9hPVLVjjV5H36hFwSBv5dvb4zsl5mJcTuYJf3uHmm9wfGT9FhGPqa7G1hwGucnjw/s320/IMG_2057.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: x-small;">Mud is quintessentially interdisciplinar</span>y</td></tr></tbody></table>way that children investigate mud or explore and find their place in the world? In fact, developing a learning framework for a children’s museum is an opportunity to articulate how we support children’s burgeoning interests and capabilities; their ways of making meaning of their experiences; and how we champion children in our communities. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">You may have noticed that I’ve slipped “play” and “exploration” in with learning. Frameworks allow museums to define their interests, agendas and their roles in their communities. With a focus on children and families, as free choice settings, as object centered, children’s museums are not required to follow formal-education, its methods, standards, or assessment. Rather, learning frameworks allow us to define learning broadly—social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and linguistic learning; to connect play and learning; focus on engagement; and characterize the positive changes we believe are possible. That’s perhaps why frameworks have shifted from being called programmatic plans, to education frameworks, to learning frameworks, to play and learning frameworks. Every framework reflects its museum’s interests. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">That variety is, in my view, a good thing. What’s important is having a learning framework grounded in a museum’s mission, vision, and values; actively using it in planning and evaluating experiences to deliver learning value; and benefiting children, families, and the community in planned and unplanned ways.
</span></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-80405950869970915942022-11-02T14:01:00.003-05:002022-11-05T09:10:15.610-05:00Play Conditions: A Framework<div><h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: small;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></h3><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQE8zdrA7_ylRUc5Tl5WqT9pc9I_AZyojD_-S2Nvs_tRGOnPLnJTrwzHI_SUliyPcJKBcSFplSf6sq4KDyGYFLV6nkCPmvrI0rzsSBadTshawBl94a5P-yo-nj6QAOzdMGPf7YA3maGVmXRSlpPPDSiH0WJ9B4M7Zs4-gwfOxAQDR_Co53lakIi61Uw/s2729/Scarves&BBB.2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2636" data-original-width="2729" height="309" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYQE8zdrA7_ylRUc5Tl5WqT9pc9I_AZyojD_-S2Nvs_tRGOnPLnJTrwzHI_SUliyPcJKBcSFplSf6sq4KDyGYFLV6nkCPmvrI0rzsSBadTshawBl94a5P-yo-nj6QAOzdMGPf7YA3maGVmXRSlpPPDSiH0WJ9B4M7Zs4-gwfOxAQDR_Co53lakIi61Uw/s320/Scarves&BBB.2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront (WonderTrek)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div></div><div>Play Conditions are a bit like Robinsyard. Robinsyard, you ask? </div></span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When my nephew Matthew was 4 years old, he carried a small rolled up piece of paper tucked into a yarn belt that he liked to wear. I asked him what had he drawn on the paper and he replied, “Robinsyard.” I knew he had a friend name Robin, but I didn’t know what a Syard was. So, I asked, “What’s a Syard?” Matthew replied, “I don’t know but Robin has one.” After some mulling about what a Syard might be, I guessed that it was Robin’s <b>Yard</b>. The precise meaning is not so critical. What is important is that: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <b>Play conditions are like Robinsyard: </b></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>It’s hard to explain what they are, but we have them. And play conditions have meaning in children’s lives.</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We may not have precise terms for play conditions, a shared vocabulary, or a taxonomy for them. (We don’t really have a definition of play, either.) We do, however, have a sense of when play conditions are just right: when children are engaged actively, deeply, and joyously in play—play that they direct and find enjoyable. That’s when play conditions are well tuned. Conversely, when interactions are few, focus and attention is brief, conflict is frequent, children’s affect is flat, and ambience is bland, play conditions are out-of-whack with the intentions for the experience, the space, and those children. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Play doesn’t happen independently of the conditions surrounding it. Since we think, in general, very little about the conditions that encourage exploring, playing, and learning, we are hazy about just what they are and how to harness them. For about the last 10 years, I’ve been exploring the idea of play conditions in planning work, learning frameworks, and master plans. Currently, I am part of a team at <a href="https://wondertrekmuseum.org/" target="_blank">WonderTrek Children’s Museum</a>, an emerging museum in north central Minnesota, working with play conditions in a collaborative question-driven, iterative process that explores, documents, and shares insights from children in play-based settings. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This work is giving shape to a framework that helps get at the complexity and simplicity of<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkbVKDDelVCat7RcHP76cScVztDgiiCpjbOMDIe3O6WRlKYKgzOfoQaCVsev0uivw2VIjuIgNbmuqgplqlzdP9E9kjoOgmBcf8uy3SEbb-2z4d545GrOVmy7ZboIHOX8tujGndqw6bqOV1G4V3UmD1FvBzNbaDRcxgqn2PFTuEmaN7l5GyVz_U5JbYBg/s3264/2015-08-28%2011.56.10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkbVKDDelVCat7RcHP76cScVztDgiiCpjbOMDIe3O6WRlKYKgzOfoQaCVsev0uivw2VIjuIgNbmuqgplqlzdP9E9kjoOgmBcf8uy3SEbb-2z4d545GrOVmy7ZboIHOX8tujGndqw6bqOV1G4V3UmD1FvBzNbaDRcxgqn2PFTuEmaN7l5GyVz_U5JbYBg/s320/2015-08-28%2011.56.10.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Photocredit: Vergeront (MIA)</div></span></td></tr></tbody></table> play </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">and play conditions. Starting with working definitions, this framework acknowledges related concepts, identifies a set of play conditions, and frames principles that tell us something about the nature of these play conditions. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While the framework focuses on play conditions, it is relevant to shaping spaces and experiences in every kind of museum as well as encouraging inquiry and learning. In fact, museum planners, developers, designers, and educators often draw on qualities and varied conditions in creating exhibits, environments, and programs that engage visitors— but they may not be doing so intentionally nor focusing on play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Play and Play Conditions</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Exploring play conditions relies on having a shared understanding of play among staff, team, or partners. This can be challenging. Affected by age, setting, and who’s controlling it, play is not always easy to recognize. It is connected to exploration and learning which children seem to move between seamlessly. Definitions of play are abundant as well. One I am drawn to places the child at the center and works across varied contexts. <a href="PPSG, Playworkers Principles Study Group2005" target="_blank">Play is freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated</a>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Viewing play conditions as <i>the qualities or variables of the physical and social environments that are likely to encourage (or discourage) and support children’s play</i> accommodates this definition of play and others. It also recognizes that there can be conditions that interfere with play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrLUk0MXDsf4RjYsbDmp9OCx9ARAi3Rci-8q4-ygBCYc0vQGV7y19VSRJNKM3PaKSkIl6VIKlXvLtpAVeoEjnw2ch4bzTmYpgYHfXNsHBqTroUQL52eZdD5HnaEsqpLU9Y4eoy9o31xu9pKJHdtKSjHw_C6H_T3UIEXaLNbSVUXH1PVls5rIY4BiOwQg/s1600/TubePlay.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrLUk0MXDsf4RjYsbDmp9OCx9ARAi3Rci-8q4-ygBCYc0vQGV7y19VSRJNKM3PaKSkIl6VIKlXvLtpAVeoEjnw2ch4bzTmYpgYHfXNsHBqTroUQL52eZdD5HnaEsqpLU9Y4eoy9o31xu9pKJHdtKSjHw_C6H_T3UIEXaLNbSVUXH1PVls5rIY4BiOwQg/w221-h320/TubePlay.JPG" width="221" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront (CMOM)</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Play conditions share some qualities with the concept of affordance, the features or property of an object that define its possible uses or how it can or should be used. A chair’s properties afford sitting or standing on it. An affordance provides strong cues about the operation of things. It is an actionable and discoverable possibility. In some design contexts like user-interface, an affordance prompts users to take specific actions. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While play conditions may include affordances, they are not limited to physical features nor are they directive. More than 3-dimensional space, physical design, furniture, or arrangement, play condition’s qualities are also temporal, social, and affective. They tap into all senses, give cues, and suggest possibilities. Neither a recipe nor a formula, nor a way of scripting children’s play, play conditions are as open-ended as play itself. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Seven Play Conditions</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">An understanding of play conditions emerges from what research, child development, play theory and museum practices suggest will encourage and support children’s exploration, play, and learning in informal learning settings. Dimensions such as space, materials, relationships, and provocations, salient to different aspects of play, help in understanding play conditions. Observations, imagination, and intuition add to this knowledge, filling gaps and inviting us to think together. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">By separating and clustering these dimensions, we discover examples and possibilities, and begin to examine and manipulate play conditions in intentional and new ways. Seven play conditions are summarized below. Each is characterized by the general role it plays, its valued qualities, and a small sample of possibilities. </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Image of the Child</u> is about the child’s strengths and capabilities and means engaging children at their highest level of ability; and making their strengths and capabilities visible. </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Valued qualities are: children’s curiosity, capabilities, social disposition, caring and empathy </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Possibilities that support and reflect the child’s capabilities: choices for one child and different choices for different children; traces of children’s thinking, doing, and making; focus on shared interests, etc. </span></li></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Context or Setting</u> is about both physical and social space, ranging from macro to micro, where children can explore, play, and learn. </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Valued qualities are: safe, welcoming and accessible settings </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Possibilities for shaping settings: different scales, large and small spaces; light and sound; recognizable features; wayfinding clues; edges that define and differentiate areas, etc. </span></li></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <u>Invitation to Explore</u> is about arranging selected elements to provoke or encourage children to notice and wonder, explore ideas—without giving too much direction. </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Valued qualities are: sparking curiosity; the child taking the experience where it needs to go; offering something worth noticing and discovering </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Possibilities for encouraging exploration: something fascinating; questions incongruities; multiple provocations; a sound walk, etc. </span></li></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Materials and Objects</u> is about loose parts, tools, phenomena, art materials, digital media, etc. that give children agency and choice; encourage exploration and experimentation that is physical, social, emotional, cognitive, and linguistic; that generate new possibilities; and reveal new perspectives and insights about the world. </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Valued qualities are materials that support children’s agency, promote noticing and wondering; change with use and generate new insights; work at multiple ages</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Possibilities for materials: engage some and sometimes all the senses; are real stuff; can be carried, lined up, and moved; change with use, etc. </span></li></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Relationships</u> is about children and adults engaging with others; feeling a sense of<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpasCmiknMHXePLjZmnpfQyRprigxcW7lX2su1k0I0IRcraUCPUxV9TuLzWmZdQRzp7UlrhD2t5ZP_TC3U18f2lKugiiy5_wfTuAPgw-BmveVO2sK7jb9-zNf6MgFSmXFEN4-x4t6hnbuE2HzkoctouO4KAWd95MCrDpiyj9Z41t5z0s8FiOTJZWNHLg/s1812/MadisonCM.Friendship.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1701" data-original-width="1812" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpasCmiknMHXePLjZmnpfQyRprigxcW7lX2su1k0I0IRcraUCPUxV9TuLzWmZdQRzp7UlrhD2t5ZP_TC3U18f2lKugiiy5_wfTuAPgw-BmveVO2sK7jb9-zNf6MgFSmXFEN4-x4t6hnbuE2HzkoctouO4KAWd95MCrDpiyj9Z41t5z0s8FiOTJZWNHLg/s320/MadisonCM.Friendship.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront (Madison Children's Museum)</span></td></tr></tbody></table> welcome, respect, and connection </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Valued qualities foster social connections, value the individual and the group, are collaborative </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Possibilities for connecting: exchanging ideas among children; scaffolding; conversation; multiple places and positions, roles or seating, etc. </span></li></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Content</u> is based in children’s interests and what is fascinating and meaningful to them about the world </span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Valued qualities are interdisciplinary content; implicit content from child development; meaningful connections for the child </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Possibilities for engaging with content: comes through the senses, is embedded in the world, is released through interactions, can be experienced from different points of view, etc. </span></li></ul></ul><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Time</u> is about a sense of open and unregulated play; time to direct play, follow an activity to a satisfying moment, and find enjoyment</span></li><ul><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Valued qualities are children deciding when play starts and ends; play stretching out over time</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Possibilities for opening up time come from discouraging distractions and interruptions; allowing experiences to come to a natural end </span></li></ul></ul><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> A set of play conditions with examples helps us move away from predictable approaches towards deliberately thought through play set-ups. Working with play conditions nudges us into thinking in the languages of space, materials, relationships, and provocations and developing new ways of thinking. Considering possible play conditions slows us down from leaping to a finished idea or design. We see how play conditions, like children’s play, lean into and interact with one another, virtually seamlessly. We realize, for instance, how Materials are instrumental in creating an Invitation to Explore; how Materials prompt conversations which support Relationships; and how the Image of the Child and Time can’t be separated from other conditions. Finally, play conditions tell us as much about inviting rich play as they do about getting out of the way of children’s play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Ten Principles of Play Conditions</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Bringing a play conditions approach into creating opportunities for play takes time. It can be a new way of thinking. Integrating the approach into existing practices can involve problem solving and collaboration, backing up and starting over. Tailoring specific play conditions, these or others, to your context, whether for indoor or outdoor play, is always an on-going process. Paying attention to the following 10 principles along the way will provide support and add to your insights. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Play conditions: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1. <u>Are always present</u>, whether we are aware of them or not, and whether they are favorable to play or not. </span> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2. <u>Impact children’s agency in their play</u>. Play conditions can let the child direct the play, allow children to make of their play what they need to—or play conditions can interfere with play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">3. <u>Span all scales</u>. From the full volume of a space, to the smallest loose parts, to open sight lines, to the ambiance of a space, play conditions are all sizes and proportions.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">4. <u>Are more than objects and more than space</u>, more than the architecture, design and decoration. They are tangible and intangible.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGBEahmeOkWlTFJeWhPkT4j72tkRy3JnG6TYFmClXDhaUSJEMWU3NVhzgfx1GNkJY0jr7NvvFqpPosVCV1jpBtCi83prHem5puvkHGZMNrdAUiNPw490fhEH4q-w9Z9Ufza4xJ7l6Ck94kERSZ_PLChWU2x2dmrgTYXczVokeUjk3IDAH67GytsT24XA/s3264/IMG_1577.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGBEahmeOkWlTFJeWhPkT4j72tkRy3JnG6TYFmClXDhaUSJEMWU3NVhzgfx1GNkJY0jr7NvvFqpPosVCV1jpBtCi83prHem5puvkHGZMNrdAUiNPw490fhEH4q-w9Z9Ufza4xJ7l6Ck94kERSZ_PLChWU2x2dmrgTYXczVokeUjk3IDAH67GytsT24XA/s320/IMG_1577.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Jim Roe (SMM)</span></td></tr></tbody></table>5. <u>Interact with one another as well as with children</u> making the conditions fluid and dynamic. There is no one, or right, way to create play conditions. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">6. <u>Induce something to happen</u>, not by removing choices, but by creating the conditions that will increase the chances that children will engage deeply in play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">7. <u>Balance intentions for the experience</u> with opening up possibilities, creating a place between what we think might happen and what we don’t yet know is possible. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">8. <u>Require imagining to build a picture of what might</u> happen if...; how </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">a particular possibility</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> might interact with other qualities and how children might engage with it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">9. <u>Come into clearer focus over time</u>. Children are teaching us about play conditions all the time. We can learn by observing, listening, imagining, and reflecting on what they show us. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">10. <u>Are more than the sum of their parts</u>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>What Happens When…</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Working with play conditions is, fundamentally, forming a hypothesis, or a succession of hypotheses about the relationship between children’s play and ways to support the place and processes of play. While not causal, relationships are operating. And while we don’t know what’s going to elicit play, with practice we can be more attuned to these connections and, increasingly, use them deliberately. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Prompted by an exploratory question or experiential goal, play conditions help us in shifting from our hopes for play in general to lived experiences of deep, enjoyable, play that engages children’s bodies, minds, and feelings. We begin with conjuring up openings for play with our wonderings. How might we engage children in investigating properties of found objects and using them in their play? What materials might encourage children to change their physical space? How can we support children in setting challenges and taking risks? How do children share their ideas with one another? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As we interrogate the content of play conditions, reflect on past experiences, observe children <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1nbHGNur1t4RhSOxR7kOQup9jwQRurYGMKQIA-416bnNNAvH8a0yBIfRTsVtyJEaWqb9P0SRb1DOV1wQZ1EvQQSMmLxvrX_p4LIDeKpaImr_iCSPW0b3sGcR58bDCiD6lXoeIhtsJkYE0OxtfxKe6bqzQVBMEScC45u2IpZ9l4wiw1el3yhGMhl6mhQ/s800/276_snarkitecture-the-beach-01-noah-kalina.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1nbHGNur1t4RhSOxR7kOQup9jwQRurYGMKQIA-416bnNNAvH8a0yBIfRTsVtyJEaWqb9P0SRb1DOV1wQZ1EvQQSMmLxvrX_p4LIDeKpaImr_iCSPW0b3sGcR58bDCiD6lXoeIhtsJkYE0OxtfxKe6bqzQVBMEScC45u2IpZ9l4wiw1el3yhGMhl6mhQ/s320/276_snarkitecture-the-beach-01-noah-kalina.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Snarkitecture</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br />at play in varied settings, we have new hunches, generate possibilities, find fresh combinations, and ask another “what if?” question. We begin to discover, and hypothesize about, connections between the presence of certain features and children’s play. We build theories—temporary explanations—that express what might happen when particular qualities or variables of the physical and social environment are brought together. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These hypotheses and mini-theories about places for play help us keep track of this world we are creating with </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">children for play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Over time, we test, improve, and edit our understandings of the conditions that encourage the kind of play that we hope children will enjoy—rich, flexible, and full of possibilities for them to discover. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Museum Notes</b> </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2015/02/cultivating-experimental-mindset.html" target="_blank">Experimental Mindset</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2014/04/experience-goals-for-exhibitions.html" target="_blank">Experience Goals for Exhibitions</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2021/04/listening-to-how-children-see-their.html " target="_blank">Listening to How Children See Their World</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2020/03/when-plays-thing.html " target="_blank">When Play’s the Thing </a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-museum-environment-as-teacher.html " target="_blank">The Museum Environment as Teacher</a></span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-between-research-practice-and-theory.html" target="_blank">In Between Research, Theory and Practice</a> </span></li></ul></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-38281491645937497022022-08-22T09:55:00.004-05:002022-08-22T09:55:22.304-05:00Children as Placemakers and Worldmakers<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-size: small;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></h3><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div class="post-header" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 10.8px; line-height: 1.6; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><div class="post-header-line-1"></div></div><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-3703800867509646409" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 630px;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AyxzrigDvWE/WrApD0oTZTI/AAAAAAAADHE/FO5taZRmTRAOFQ8wGz2xi4751CtiD2iPACLcBGAs/s1600/frode16.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: #044f72; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="486" height="227" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AyxzrigDvWE/WrApD0oTZTI/AAAAAAAADHE/FO5taZRmTRAOFQ8wGz2xi4751CtiD2iPACLcBGAs/s320/frode16.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><i>Place</i> means something to children discovering their world, who they are, and where they belong. Sensitive to their surroundings, children’s encounters with spaces and places are immediate, multi-sensory, physical, emotional, and full of information. Place, whether it is small or large, familiar or new, invites children to explore, discover, make meaning, and learn. It shapes their understanding, experiences, and ideas. A powerful way for them to know and understand themselves and their world, place calls to them to climb, check out new perspectives, pour water over sand and see what happens, stack sticks, use their whole bodies to measure a space, and hypothesize about <i>what happens here</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Children are natural and active placemakers. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">T</span>heir placemaking is an open, exploratory process of transforming a space through play, imagination, stories, and friendships <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">that brings new meaning to it, builds their knowledge of the world, and expands their sense of self.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Children’s constructions are the most obvious expression of their placemaking </span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">and initially what placemaking suggests to us. Images of forts, hideouts, and dens come to mind, hiding places tucked into a hedge or behind the curtain of low spreading boughs. Found across many settings, special places may also be under tables, nestled among sand dunes, in the attic, enclosed by sofa cushions, or deep in the woods. Sometimes ephemeral, children’s places may also be where they return physically and in different seasons. Special places are sometimes enduring and remembered throughout life. </span><span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; font-size: 13.2px;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W5qr-Kt5Xz8/WrAsUTXLxBI/AAAAAAAADHg/RC_TdhnwXkUPJ0y46DSIPVc-8fymVMiMACLcBGAs/s1600/05-13-11%2B028.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #044f72; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W5qr-Kt5Xz8/WrAsUTXLxBI/AAAAAAAADHg/RC_TdhnwXkUPJ0y46DSIPVc-8fymVMiMACLcBGAs/s320/05-13-11%2B028.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: black; font-family: Calibri;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Seemingly empty spaces–under the stairs, the corner of a lot, behind the garage, the depths of a snow pile–summon children and invite them to explore their potential; they fill in with their imaginations. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Qualities of space–openness, enclosure, height, scale, shape, fragrances, sounds and silences, different textures, even drops of water–suggest possibilities for what a space might become. An old, old tree, a distant view, a rise in the landscape, a remembered story can envelop a space and make an ordinary spot extraordinary. Likewise, something fascinating may call out to a child or pose a question. The blurred pathway that crosses a clearing, a place of brilliant light changing to deep shadow might inspire placemaking.</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Placemaking-possibilities may be triggered incidentally: stumbling on an old wooden crate, digging up pottery pieces, discovering a dented hubcap, finding traces of past activities, or remembering the fragment of a story or song. But the power of a place is itself a compelling invitation. Sunlight, lacy shadows, or cool shade can summon placemaking. Subtle, unusual, and capricious environmental conditions–wind, mist, springs, echoes–are qualities that can add drama, mystery, and possibility for shaping space and supporting exploration.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">The open-endedness of placemaking<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> supports a wide range of activity. Children hunt for and gather materials; they build and modify their space; and they embellish it with finds and treasures. They climb, chase and challenge one another. Stories live in the dens and hideouts children create. New narratives about events of daily life, movies seen, the lives of dolls, action figures, and cherished animals enter and enliven life inside. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Groups form and friendships grow in the shelter of a camp, fort, or snow cave.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Play and placemaking are closely connected in many ways but are also not the same. Clearly the forts, dens, and hideouts created during placemaking become places for play, contexts for pretend play, and backdrops for games. But, at the same time, placemaking is the serious work of children exploring, testing, understanding, and making their mark on the world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">More than Building</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #0c343d;">Placemaking goes well beyond building forts and hideouts. In this dynamic process of exploration, change, and discovery, children are making a place for themselves in the world. They are mastering materials, building confidence and competence, forging relationships, and shaping a sense of self.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">German social intellectual Walter Benjamin noted in 1928,</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">Children are irresistibly drawn to the detritus generated by building, gardening, housework, tailoring, or carpentry… In using these things they do not so much imitate the works of adults as bring together, in the artifact produced in play, materials of widely differing kinds of new, intuitive relationships. Children thus produce their own small world of things within the greater one.</span><span style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; font-size: 13.2px;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NyD5kVW7BMY/WrAwSkMwjbI/AAAAAAAADHs/ccCdxnZ1E8Q07jEolYta5hannBsX-v55wCLcBGAs/s1600/Harper.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #044f72; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-decoration-line: none;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1043" data-original-width="813" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NyD5kVW7BMY/WrAwSkMwjbI/AAAAAAAADHs/ccCdxnZ1E8Q07jEolYta5hannBsX-v55wCLcBGAs/s200/Harper.png" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="155" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">Children use materials and objects, their knowledge of how the world works, and ingenuity in placemaking. </span>Loose parts, found objects, and discarded building materials are instrumental in transforming a space. They use what’s at hand: bricks, boards, boxes, and blankets; clay, cloths, crates, and cushions; sand, seeds, sticks, stones, string, and stumps; Legos, leaves, and license plates.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Random as they might be, collected objects and materials contain valuable and actionable information about altering a space and realizing a vision. When they gather, move, and arrange materials; when they dig holes; when they drag a piece of sheet metal, children experience properties such as weight, mass, strength, and rigidity. They discover <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">what different materials can do. Sticks help outline boundaries; some sticks bend while others are brittle and don’t. Blankets, burlap, and branches span a distance; stones can weigh down a blanket; carefully stacked stones become a tower.</span> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In exploring places, hideouts, and landscapes, children are constructing an understanding of space and themselves. They measure space, size, and dimensions using their bodies, hands, eyes, and voices. Through their movements, they know the prepositions of space: <i>under, above,</i> <i>inside</i> and <i>out</i>, <i>through</i>, <i>between</i>, and <i>on top of</i>. Being <i>in</i> or <i>out</i>, <i>up</i>, <i>down</i>, or <i>underneath</i>, children encounter distant views and unusual perspectives, uncover new routes, and make connections to another time or place. With playmates, they work to make something big happen together. <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">They </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">share secrets, make-up ideas, negotiate how to work together, make up stories, layer in rules</span>, and <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">take on roles</span></span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: Calibri;">.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: right;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: right;">Children</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-family: helvetica; text-align: right;"> come to know something about themselves as well through placemaking. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: right;">They<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNI-Rf_p0AZb8weui5Io-i84cmSqOUh1qJeSPl9WPT3E-e5jogiGHJH9InJIHlKvHlcFm2VKdVbJ9gTeBdfU2nf3p712qPUm9wt_388u0Km8fPdlGPQ2YDfREhWcxcKVXLTL0Lncvoy-9gQkFJ1Ye9cMNTCzk126Ij7i6DQ8ABn8DL185gQFBAdd5-GA/s615/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="615" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNI-Rf_p0AZb8weui5Io-i84cmSqOUh1qJeSPl9WPT3E-e5jogiGHJH9InJIHlKvHlcFm2VKdVbJ9gTeBdfU2nf3p712qPUm9wt_388u0Km8fPdlGPQ2YDfREhWcxcKVXLTL0Lncvoy-9gQkFJ1Ye9cMNTCzk126Ij7i6DQ8ABn8DL185gQFBAdd5-GA/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Chicago Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> test themselves </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">against the space, undertake feats, push their limits, and explore their identity. Can I pull myself up on this branch? Can I make my idea happen? Who am I in this space? What can I be here? They search for risk and the promise of challenge perhaps in building small fires, sharpening tools against a rock, or testing the ice for thickness. Moments of fear and triumph sweeten the experience.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Arial; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;">As placemakers, children are experimenters, agents of change in charge of transformation. They find a spot that is undefined or open to being redefined and dictate its meaning. As they incorporate new materials and ideas, they continue to modify the space, its qualities, and meaning. This opportunity, ordering the physical surroundings in ways that express their own ideas and interests, is rare for children, but it engenders a feeling of competence and satisfaction. That anonymous patch of dirt transformed into a place with an original identity, yields a tangible, lasting sense of accomplishment.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Often children find something in a space that speaks to them of possibilities and <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">invites them to investigate their connection to the world. In working that space, t</span>hey<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> </span>develop a relationship with it<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"> and come to know it, from its </span>smell, sounds, or silences and from what has taken place there. A special place can stay with children even when they are not there, over time, into their adult lives. Who doesn’t remember a place from childhood, created or found; a shelter for play, friendship, hiding; visited through changing seasons; and revisited over time in our memories?</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Related Resources<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2013/07/place-matters.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #0c343d;">Place Matters</span></a></span></li><li><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2012/03/planting-for-play.html" target="_blank">Planting for Play</a></span></li><li><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2012/03/planting-for-play.html" target="_blank">Placemaking in Museums</a></span></li><li><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2020/07/its-great-time-for-making-forts_21.html" target="_blank">It's a Great time for Making Forts</a></span></li><li><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><a href=" http://actrees.org/files/Research/PlaceAndPlay.pdf" target="_blank">Play and Place: Transforming Environments</a></span></li><li><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><a href=" https://www.childinthecity.org/2017/04/28/inspiring-young-place-makers/" target="_blank">Inspiring Young Place-makers</a></span></li><li><span style="color: #0c343d; font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/21173" target="_blank">Children's Special Places: Exploring the Role of Forts, Dens and Bush Houses in Middle Childhood</a></span></li><li><span style="color: #073763; font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://learningmaterialswork.com/product/dialogues-with-places/" target="_blank">Dialogues with Places</a></span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Originally posted March, 2018</span></div></div><!--Go to www.addthis.com/dashboard to customize your tools-->
<script src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-61f1a3cdbc22a9db" type="text/javascript"></script>
Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-1606690864863133152022-07-26T21:55:00.001-05:002022-07-26T21:55:43.748-05:00Observation: Seeing, Un-seeing, Re-seeing<!--Go to www.addthis.com/dashboard to customize your tools--><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="color: #b93031; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexopEv_mrkJweMMBDMPIyTCe1zHgHDwOjeCHNnNiZhL-FOJIxzWgkePSMJSgUAuhSx1kUIaYOzTHxkJEnx1iE4cKnz--9bdYL_-FD8eW_woWRrvdSSL_hITSagEuztQ3vKmOfHkPkcob3OUSWdIbMumUz-STTeb3liwM1H4I-Wzga4zL9q6TmghKHog/s594/Sennitt.Tarp.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="518" data-original-width="594" height="349" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjexopEv_mrkJweMMBDMPIyTCe1zHgHDwOjeCHNnNiZhL-FOJIxzWgkePSMJSgUAuhSx1kUIaYOzTHxkJEnx1iE4cKnz--9bdYL_-FD8eW_woWRrvdSSL_hITSagEuztQ3vKmOfHkPkcob3OUSWdIbMumUz-STTeb3liwM1H4I-Wzga4zL9q6TmghKHog/w400-h349/Sennitt.Tarp.heic" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Aaron Senitt, Guelph, Ontario Canada<br /><a href="https://www.definitions.net/definition/PHYSARUM+POLYCEPHALUM" target="_blank">Seeing, Un-seeing, Re-seeing</a></span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><br /><span style="color: #b93031; font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #990000;">These shifts of seeing again are precisely what the word ‘respect’ means. To look again is to ‘respect.’ Each time we look again at the same thing, we gain respect for it and add respect to it.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000; font-family: calibri; font-size: 10pt;">James Hillman, </span><i style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #990000;">City and Soul</span></i></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: right;"></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Over the past few years, I have been thinking about observation and its value as a tool for learning, stretching our thinking, seeing new possibilities, and being better museums.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Daily, we walk through our museums and what do we notice? We watch a family move through the lobby and pause before the door to a gallery. What is this moment about for them? We see someone step in front of a painting and lean in, peer closely at the lower right hand corner, and step back again. What new insight has that closer look added? We watch someone slowly brush away gravel to reveal the form of an enormous bone. What happens next? What does it mean for them? What might we do differently knowing this?<span style="color: #a6a6a6;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These, among so many questions, reveal our on-going search for a deeper understanding of visitors and a greater familiarity with the conditions that encourage and support exploration and meaning making in museums. So much is going on in a single exhibit, program, gallery, or classroom in any one moment. Without thoughtful observation, what can we know and understand about what is happening around us in our museums, in the experiences we create, and the connections we hope to foster?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Yet, as powerful and valuable as observation is in advancing our understanding, thinking, and imaginations, we rarely engage in it extensively in museums–at least, from my experience and in my own work.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNVVc-HJ1vhlnY_eVV7BTXdiBQ57KjHSeu_EhaePWiAXSnvNdSUUES274JYWihHwlIvCTSO6P-qIJKH_sDS98GO4FhhATEaL-RInMRqSVIeUhN3ZCelmykuyTti0NXK5GOKsu97lXHUaQa5tbHx0gZWhbVNtCOnVDg5LFUrKuAmN6tL6yW957nFqXXAA/s3264/IMG_0338.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNVVc-HJ1vhlnY_eVV7BTXdiBQ57KjHSeu_EhaePWiAXSnvNdSUUES274JYWihHwlIvCTSO6P-qIJKH_sDS98GO4FhhATEaL-RInMRqSVIeUhN3ZCelmykuyTti0NXK5GOKsu97lXHUaQa5tbHx0gZWhbVNtCOnVDg5LFUrKuAmN6tL6yW957nFqXXAA/s320/IMG_0338.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Of course, we do observe in museums. We engage in both formal and informal observation in research and evaluation, during prototyping, and sharing visitor comments. We follow visitors’ movements through an exhibit and sometimes sit in observation booths and videotape. This kind of observation, however, is typically short term and narrowly focused. It is intended to answer a single question, assess and fix a problem, or confirm what we already believe. Often it is to check whether exhibits are being used as intended.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Brief observation episodes that are ends in themselves or serve other agendas have a limited capacity to build new knowledge with long-term value that changes perspectives and reveals new possibilities about how people interact with objects and learn in museums.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><div><br /></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">With this view of observation, we are unlikely to take time to study how families explore together in our museums; how visitors negotiate turn-taking with one another; how children of different ages approach open-ended materials; what traces of use and engagement visitors leave to offer glimpses into their thinking; what having an idea looks like; and what building on someone’s idea looks like.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="letter-spacing: 1pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>What We Don’t Already See</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">How do we go beyond the obvious behaviors we are able to identify and code and the minutes we can count to glimpse the extraordinary moments in museums and other settings?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There is no quick, easy, or single way to engage in deeper observation. More and longer observation episodes are likely involved. Opportunities to think together, to frame <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2013/12/2014-resolution-shiny-questions.html" target="_blank">shiny questions</a><u> </u>are important. Time to give our careful and steady attention to what is around us without deciding too soon what is before us is critical. In opening ourselves to being present to what is happening we can create room to notice what we don’t already see.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xRVop3lhV_bis8-Rq3NR_vhDxpVYgVKclvhFXmTcyFBbm2ABPbuiUGIBXjWp0b_QT2Y1gbbBJvZx-RtKU5EodaSHrK8YQcFOYlNI-x-710leVB0us9ACSs_qcjXTMj6uNiCVS15NTE60CR387KLkBnb8dByEodcofHqBeNkNNKpAdNBWaUb8C8LlQQ/s640/IMG_0588.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="461" data-original-width="640" height="231" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9xRVop3lhV_bis8-Rq3NR_vhDxpVYgVKclvhFXmTcyFBbm2ABPbuiUGIBXjWp0b_QT2Y1gbbBJvZx-RtKU5EodaSHrK8YQcFOYlNI-x-710leVB0us9ACSs_qcjXTMj6uNiCVS15NTE60CR387KLkBnb8dByEodcofHqBeNkNNKpAdNBWaUb8C8LlQQ/s320/IMG_0588.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Reggio-inspired Network of MN</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Observation is a process of attending, noticing, capturing, and revisiting. Keeping notes, taking photos and videos, and charting and mapping give value but not certainty to what we notice. What we have captured even temporarily allows us to return to the traces of those moments and ask, what am I noticing? How can I account for it? What does it mean to me? To others? What might others bring to the process to probe what matters here?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As good observers, we must also be observers of ourselves, studying our attention, checking our assumptions, and registering our focus. Questioning ourselves as we observe reminds us that we arrive at subjective interpretations, partial findings, provisional insights, and, hopefully, new questions.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="letter-spacing: 1pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Seeing Differently</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As I was working through these thoughts, the subject of observation surfaced in my Thursday study group with Lani and Tom, two retired early years educators in the Twin Cities. As these weekly conversations so often do, this one pushed my imagination not just further, but into a different realm: <i>from seeing more to seeing differently.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Lani had marked a passage to read from <i>Art and Creativity in Reggio Emilia: Exploring the Role and Potential of Ateliers in Early Childhood Education</i> by Reggio atelierista, Vea Vecchi. This brief, but extraordinary account of when Vea started in the Reggio schools in the 1960’s describes her year of observation. Yes! A year of observation.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">At the direction of Loris Malaguzzi, founder of the Reggio Emilia educational philosophy, Vea was asked to observe children in the school. She invited 4 children at a time into a studio space to work with paints in a nonfigurative way. Her observations of 90 children of different ages in the school continued over the year with Vea taking notes on her observations of children and their paintings. She also referred to books by more knowledgeable guides like Jean Piaget, Herbert Read, and Viktor Lowenfeld that Malaguzzi had given her. Malaguzzi then poured over her notes and the children’s paintings. He commented on her observations and shared his interpretations with her. At the end of the year, using his notes and comments, Vea wrote a report for the school on the children’s work; it later became a book.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vea has described Malaguzzi’s strategy that changed her mental framework and identity from a secondary art educator to a professional in a new role as an atelierista. Malaguzzi helped create the conditions for change with a process of observation, formative reading, notes, discussion and shared interpretation, and documentation through which Vea unlearned her certainties and opened her eyes to the potentials of the children.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="letter-spacing: 1pt;"><b>See, Un-see, Re-see</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Tom called this process: see, un-see, and re-see. In observation, as in many activities we engage in, we think we are being neutral and seeing the truth. Actually we are often affirming what we already think, reinforcing beliefs we have arrived at by other means. This happens for a number of reasons. Learning, memory, expectation, and attention shape what we perceive, see, and believe. Pressures of accountability in schools and other institutions subtly insist we see what we are asked to see around standards and benchmarks. In museums we are susceptible to a dominant view of learning imported from schools that is content focused and teacher directed. We are also eager to demonstrate our value and our impact to supporters with evidence. These factors influence what we see when we observe in galleries, study exhibits, and describe museum visitors. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Even when we do see something new, we are likely to name it something else, something we have seen before. Twentieth century philosopher and public intellectual, Marshall McLuhan, expressed this as, “I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t believed it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Realistically, un-seeing is difficult, if not literally impossible. But we can work to undo old learning, find ways to displace certainty, and see fresh versions of what we are viewing. The conditions of Vea’s extraordinary journey are not easily replicated, but her effort and goal can encourage us to observe from a new stance. We can shift our observation from looking for what we expect, to looking for what we haven’t seen before. We can be open to what surprises us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Tom, Lani, and I thought together about what might create movement from seeing to re-seeing to create a crack in our thinking through observation by:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Being curious, open, and eager to be surprised<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Wholeheartedly pursuing the opportunity of the moment<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Revisiting the experience and its possible meanings <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 3pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>When we are open, curious, and eager to be surprised, we are:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Awake to our surroundings and the people, spaces, and materials</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Accepting uncertainty and the complexity of what we are noticing</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Comfortable with not knowing what we are seeing</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Exposing ourselves to other thinkers and knowledgeable guides</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 3pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>When we wholeheartedly pursue the opportunity of the moment, we:</b><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Are prepared to capture traces of the experience in multiple ways: notes, video, photos, images</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Are open to what we may be seeing that is contrary to the apparent direction and we follow it</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Observe until we are surprised</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 3pt;"><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When we revisit the experience and its possible meanings, we:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoListParagraph" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin-bottom: 3pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Return to all of the collected traces of observation: notes, photos, images, and videos</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Pursue questions to reflect on what we have noticed: how do visitors influence each other in exploring an exhibit? How do ideas about how something works change over the course of an experience?</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Attend to strategies, not outcomes: ways that individuals engage with the group; patterns of choices; leaps in thinking; the roles conversation plays</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Share, and invite others to contribute what they see</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Stretch to consider what something might mean that is beyond our imagination</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span>Think together: what might we do to make this or that unusual gesture or activity more likely to happen again?</span></li></ul></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This is a bigger, more complex, process than can possibly be captured here. In fact, the above list, or any list, is fundamentally at odds with deep, open-ended observation. We must keep in mind that seeing what we already see is a poor strategy for the positive change and transformation we seek for our visitors, our communities, and ourselves. Fortunately, the benefits of what Lani calls a <i>radical </i><i>openness</i> to what’s out there and what it means are ample and worthwhile: a livelier, richer experience of our work and its potential value. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Are you ready to be surprised?</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><b><span style="color: #465b4b; letter-spacing: 1pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Related Museum Notes Posts<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #0c343d;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/01/making-learning-visible-what-is-it.html" style="color: #044f72; text-decoration-line: none;">Making Learning Visible. What Does It Mean? </a></span><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">• <span style="color: #0c343d;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-between-research-practice-and-theory.html" style="color: #044f72; text-decoration-line: none;">In Between Research, Theory and Practice</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">• <span style="color: #0c343d;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2013/11/documentation-from-reggio-schools-to-us.html" style="color: #044f72; text-decoration-line: none;">Documentation: From Reggio Schools to US Museums</a></span></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Thank you, Lani and Tom<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #990000;"><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">Stand aside awhile and leave room for learning, observe carefully what children do and then, if you have understood well, perhaps teaching will be different</span><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 11pt;">.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #990000;">Loris Malaguzzi</span></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 10pt;"><span style="color: #990000;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #1e3021; font-family: helvetica; font-size: small; text-align: right;">Originally Posted October 2017</span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0.5in; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: calibri; font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-45564867064012754932022-07-06T12:14:00.001-05:002022-07-06T12:14:32.055-05:00There are Loose Parts, ...and Then There Are Loose Parts<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3d00HgdoeFOgx3duY9cEAtHAgq3SefrXbLM-4ZXmdiKvUy_bLW1yRXdIFQMNGfXr4uDOdSb7ZXjr-fNl-ErWxmfYZ5h9pFIUwdkYNpCqNJVoIadZ9NqGwEBlEjbdY7aKpItROn0cEHwQsv0jwEOsooAYQQyqGhCgNbC2MdLrslLzMmhlfXhFGqLwNw/s550/Spielgaben.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="550" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM3d00HgdoeFOgx3duY9cEAtHAgq3SefrXbLM-4ZXmdiKvUy_bLW1yRXdIFQMNGfXr4uDOdSb7ZXjr-fNl-ErWxmfYZ5h9pFIUwdkYNpCqNJVoIadZ9NqGwEBlEjbdY7aKpItROn0cEHwQsv0jwEOsooAYQQyqGhCgNbC2MdLrslLzMmhlfXhFGqLwNw/w400-h300/Spielgaben.com.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo Credit: spielgaben.com</span><br /><span style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Originally Posted June 2018</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Loose parts</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, or at least the term, has captured attention and imaginations in museums, early childhood centers, libraries, nature centers, parks, and playgrounds. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">The assorted, </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">moveable, and found materials and objects that spark, enrich, and extend children’s play and imaginations can be almost anything: feathers, pinecones, corks, bricks, shells, spools, or sticks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">In a world where increasingly little is left to chance in childhood and play, loose parts are wonderfully </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">unscripted. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">These uncategorizable pieces and parts come with no specific directions </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">for what they are or what children might do with them. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">Tucked into pockets, resting as a sedimentary layer in the bottoms of backpacks, clutched in small hands, or reverentially collected at the shore, children find, pick up, and carry treasured objects. They combine, line up, take apart, exchange, and rearrange loose parts in countless ways. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In their play, children are writing the operations manual for shells, a cache of pinecones, bottle caps, or buttons with their play and imagination.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="background-color: white; clear: both; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mmbh1IrapY/Wxw2uTQvI9I/AAAAAAAADKk/MdHzL4eVork4_POvCP5oJa3uArGuJSJswCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6261.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5mmbh1IrapY/Wxw2uTQvI9I/AAAAAAAADKk/MdHzL4eVork4_POvCP5oJa3uArGuJSJswCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_6261.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="320" /></span></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Loose parts</span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, however, are not just stuff, junk, or a jumble of pieces and parts no one else wants or can use. To be sure, there are treasures in discards and by-products of households, industry, and, nature. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">But since children explore the rich possibilities of these objects, meaningful exploration relies on thoughtful selection of materials. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Thinking with their hands, bodies, minds, and imaginations, they observe, ask questions, and have ideas. They arrange and change objects, their settings, or even themselves. These explorations and creations are beautiful, but they're not necessarily art.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">When children </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">build, collage, or trade objects, they are comparing, sequencing, and seriating</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. They are exploring and valuing color, size, shape, and materials. As they lift, move, and occasionally drop glass pebbles, marker caps, or paper clips, they are</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;"> discovering the properties of glass, plastic, and metal.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> In building with tubes and discs, they </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">deal with</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> balance and stability, use spatial reasoning, and solve problems three-dimensionally. New words about shapes, texture, designs, and structures are essential to describing how the fabric feels, the certain flat blue disc that is needed, or the delight a child is feeling.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">The value, however, is not in working with specific concepts, but in the curiosity, agency, imagination, and knowing the world that these materials afford</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We might think that only young children are inclined to explore possibilities and make discoveries with loose parts. In fact, regardless of age, exploring materials not only changes the material, but changes the way we see materials. Anyone with limited experience to freely follow their curiosity and ideas about interesting materials and loose parts–and to do so often–will engage in similar ways. As children of every background have fewer experiences of messing around with “stuff” from the basement workbench, sewing drawer, or the town dump, they have less fluency with materials, objects, and their own vocabulary of materiality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;"><b>What Makes Good Loose Parts?</b></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There are many objects that can be gathered for exploring in a classroom, an exhibit, home, under the bushes, or at the playground. Are all loose parts equal? What makes the difference between materials that foster meaningful, extended engagement and ones that fail or minimally engage children’s delight, imaginations, and experience?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">As <i><a href="https://withoutwindows.com/2017/06/07/reggio-the-dollar-store-and-transformative-parts/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Without Windows</a></i> Misha blogger asks, why not just shop at the dollar store? Cheaper materials do save money. But, he argues, their low cost is at the expense of child labor somewhere else. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Why not make loose parts from scrap lumber? The measuring, cutting, and sanding are time consuming. Keva Planks/Kapla Blocks probably do it better with greater precision. Besides, loose parts are more than blocks.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Why not use toys or commercial play objects as loose parts? </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Usually these are single purpose play objects. O</span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">nce a child has mastered the key function—pushing the button to make a pinwheel spin—the child is ready for more. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Due to their cost, these objects are seldom in great enough quantities to combine in novel ways. Ultimately, however, when children use designed toys, even very well designed ones, they become consumers of someone else’s creativity. </span></span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">With loose parts, children exercise their own. Loose parts, especially natural loose parts, change with time and use. They acquire a patina, reveal something new about their nature; they decay.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Rich in Possibilities</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gifsJ6htGRw/Wxw0iy5VTII/AAAAAAAADKQ/qEWuqxYBPdkupud6M7ywPOYRwUlRA4QpgCK4BGAYYCw/s1600/69c69180c98cdf9d42198b24c260c709.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; color: #044f72; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gifsJ6htGRw/Wxw0iy5VTII/AAAAAAAADKQ/qEWuqxYBPdkupud6M7ywPOYRwUlRA4QpgCK4BGAYYCw/s320/69c69180c98cdf9d42198b24c260c709.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="298" /></span></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">While dollar store items and commercial toys may be loose and moveable, they lack other vital qualities that imbue loose parts with powers of attraction, fascination, exploration, and discovery. They are open-ended</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">, beautiful, and plentiful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As Antoinette Portis’ book, <a href="http://www.antoinetteportis.com/not-a-stick" target="_blank">Not a Stick</a> assures us, a stick is no single thing in children’s play. It is not scripted; it can be a </span></span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">wand, a baton, a fishing rod, or a snake—or combinations. Like other open-ended materials, it is responsive</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;"> to children's </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">questions, interests, and ideas and capable of changing use or meaning in a flash. Often an object’s very simplicity or its ambiguity lend versatility and provoke new ideas. Small tree cookies, for instance, are variously stacked into a tower, used for money, become stepping stones, or are incorporated into a design–all in quick succession.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Features like shape, color, texture, and smell make loose parts even more interesting, suggesting new paths to explore. A child may gather all the red objects or all those that sparkle; arrange keys in a radial pattern and then end-to-end in a train; set pine cones on end to create a forest and arrange them in a spiral. Loose parts sized for small hands allow children to pick up easily, bring close for careful visual inspection, and arrange in many ways. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Adding paper and markers to the mix can further extend the exploration and thinking.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GTvEH6MgMRU/WxwxOXm2rrI/AAAAAAAADKA/67FvQxz1pyM2srBTdd477wZ0OiuaTmM3wCLcBGAs/s1600/ScienceMuseumLondon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; color: #044f72; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="535" height="211" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GTvEH6MgMRU/WxwxOXm2rrI/AAAAAAAADKA/67FvQxz1pyM2srBTdd477wZ0OiuaTmM3wCLcBGAs/s320/ScienceMuseumLondon.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="320" /></span></a><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Beauty</span></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While saying that beautiful loose parts are more engaging than “ugly” ones may seem obvious, deciding what makes some beautiful is not. <i>In the eye of the beholder</i> will always be at work, but some qualities tend to make loose parts intriguing, attractive, and promising, if not, in fact, beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When all of an object’s qualities are not immediately apparent, an object can become more extraordinary. Up close, tiny sparkles in the stones are apparent, as is the fringe of the Burr Oak acorn caps. The crack in the stone looks like a bird. Objects that are similar but not identical are intriguing; natural variations in color, pattern, shape, carry information, reveal the diversity in nature and invite new language.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Ordinary objects and materials also become more fascinating when combined, mixed, and set in different contexts. Light interacting with objects shines through, reflects off of them, and casts shadows. Adding mirrors multiplies objects. Water splashed on objects intensifies colors and makes them shiny. Combining ordinary objects points to new possibilities: shells arranged on an oval mat creating a mandala; sticks alternating with stones in a giant running pattern; a giant star defined by sticks filled with colored leaves; or multi-colored glass beads pressed into a large disk of clay.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wXHz8X22IWA/WxwvW9aPfoI/AAAAAAAADJY/_Kv-pD3rRbM5yQsGJjB4kJUalXldyIbxACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_6228.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wXHz8X22IWA/WxwvW9aPfoI/AAAAAAAADJY/_Kv-pD3rRbM5yQsGJjB4kJUalXldyIbxACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_6228.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="320" /></span></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Ideas about what is beautiful may be particular to the context. In a nature preschool, for instance, natural and local materials might be a high priority. Without Windows blogger, Misha, is particularly interested in “loose parts from the earth” that “can be disposed of in the earth.” Tree cookies, sand, rocks, and acorns might be valued over cardboard and buttons.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">At the same time, manufactured discards and by-products can be compelling when carefully selected. Clear plastic colored shapes, especially when placed on a light table, or multi-colored plastic caps in great quantities can inspire designs, patterns, narratives, and self-portraits. Discarded objects like tubes, reels, and gaskets in similar shapes and sizes, and deliberately selected in only black and white invite exploration of shape without the distraction of other colors. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Abundance</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">As important as open-ended and beautiful materials are, seeing objects in <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2012/04/abundance.html" style="text-decoration-line: none;">great abundance</a> jolts us out of our usual mindset. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">Perceptions of the object itself and what it can do change</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. Seemingly ordinary objects like buttons, brushes, cardboard tubes, or rubber bands suddenly seem remarkable. </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">The abundance of objects feels contagious, infecting us with a sense of expanding possibilities.</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> Vast quantities </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; font-size: 11pt;">seem to confer permission to explore freely, take risks, make mistakes, and start again.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When time is also in abundance–when there is time to look closely at each pebble, feel and compare them, arrange them just so, and rearrange them again–then the possibilities for thinking and creating that loose parts offer also expand. </span></span></div><!--Go to www.addthis.com/dashboard to customize your tools-->
<script src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-61f1a3cdbc22a9db" type="text/javascript"></script>
Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-29795852058714480722022-05-22T16:51:00.000-05:002022-05-22T16:51:19.592-05:00The Uneasy Relationship Between Play and Educational Outcomes<div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdK1_-VuIMinc2obPfiHDJGIRGiPf4rezoAq6TVTXgYisBCv7qHIe7AFBQYdTy0rtLao5R1wQn6LQWfYIn8H0Y53l9zjuc03pD7SbS8xNVU3k6IFpBT3iwNe_PSCCFzuM1jD7EjByYuihbi5RhOwJrdn3Tk3vtfRIn4VBYmT-H0CNDCue0bav0cxlSg/s1642/43234182_2046228652101637_335350204658089984_o%20copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1096" data-original-width="1642" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCdK1_-VuIMinc2obPfiHDJGIRGiPf4rezoAq6TVTXgYisBCv7qHIe7AFBQYdTy0rtLao5R1wQn6LQWfYIn8H0Y53l9zjuc03pD7SbS8xNVU3k6IFpBT3iwNe_PSCCFzuM1jD7EjByYuihbi5RhOwJrdn3Tk3vtfRIn4VBYmT-H0CNDCue0bav0cxlSg/w320-h214/43234182_2046228652101637_335350204658089984_o%20copy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: helvetica;">A query on ChildMus several years ago captured a tough situation so many of us face so often. 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. From a rumpled copy of my reply to him and notes on how museums struggle with similar versions of this expectation, I’ve explored the uneasy relationship between play and the quest for educational outcomes. What follows is the core of my response on ChildMus with some changes for flow and clarity and more recent thoughts on managing the relationship in favor of play. </span><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>The situation you describe around play vs. measurable educational objectives is one so many in our field can relate to and one that is frustrating. I agree with some of the responses you’ve received about play and educational outcomes. I would go further, taking an approach that explores what play can deliver in the spirit of play and equivalent to objectives. The organization that wants to support exhibits with specific measurable outcomes for at-risk children is well intentioned but misunderstands some basic realities about children, museums, learning, and play. </i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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 easy way to reconcile these interests, it would be a mistake to abandon play in favor of measurable educational outcomes even with the promise of funding. 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 in order to serve the interests of children, museums, and their communities. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>The Nature of Learning.</b>
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. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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, play, moving, or experimenting. Without the agency of the learner, repetition, revisiting and connecting past experiences; without time, and social and physical interactions with objects, materials, people, ideas, and the environment, learning does not occur. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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 generally in relation to others. Regardless of their experiential approach, museums serving children 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 missing the mark, moving, and making connections among objects, tools, materials, and environments. Even without museums setting any measurable learning outcomes for them, children will learn in rich, engaging museum environments. It happens through play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Professionals in museums and other informal learning environments need to be clear about play and the nature of learning themselves as well as educate stakeholders, partners, and supporters about this. Those insisting on educational outcomes for play are doing a better job than play advocates have in communicating the value of play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0p-9CusrWoovx0YfgUjNPIFZk3M_N8a6k3nq5YPDUyCYGH7PLn-C5YEvtUsNJx1cn4cTEruUnwXJJOQmk81E1lwQ1mUherjrrnQKq4ErZlUlaN2LAIfQpPpTit9vtHr2y82E53vANHN0A1smLPmt-KGMdIQm3kSDZgNox6YvPhS9HOrnBYCuhCxIZA/s720/preschool3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="720" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ0p-9CusrWoovx0YfgUjNPIFZk3M_N8a6k3nq5YPDUyCYGH7PLn-C5YEvtUsNJx1cn4cTEruUnwXJJOQmk81E1lwQ1mUherjrrnQKq4ErZlUlaN2LAIfQpPpTit9vtHr2y82E53vANHN0A1smLPmt-KGMdIQm3kSDZgNox6YvPhS9HOrnBYCuhCxIZA/s320/preschool3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Reggio Children<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Play, a Powerful Strategy for Learning</b>. From infancy on, children are naturally drawn to play<br /> which adults label variously as: sensory, exploratory, construction, physical, imaginary, and dramatic play. Most often, play is a seamless mix of all of these and exploration and learning. Understood as freely chosen, personally directed and intrinsically motivated, real play embodies qualities critical to learning as well as to children’s well-being. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The learning that occurs through play is unlikely to resemble the kind of learning we think of in schools </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">delivered </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">primarily through instruction. Active, fluid, joyous, iterative, 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). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This is precisely what makes meeting a request for measurable educational outcomes fundamentally problematic. If children direct their play—which is a key criterion of free play—then no one else but the child can really set the educational outcome for their play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While play’s benefits do not appear as tidy, measurable learning units, they are no less valuable. Their value is of a different, and essential, nature. Real 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, linguistic, and cognitive domains, boosting the whole child. 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. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Framing Play’s Benefits to Children</b>. While museums for children may be passionate about the value of play, they have generally not been successful in articulating play as a valued and productive strategy for learning. “Play is learning” is not a convincing case for play. Communicating how play is a productive strategy for learning must draw on relevant research and be supported by observations of how play appears in various conditions. Without this foundational understanding, museums chase others’ priorities, adhere to cherished beliefs, and fail to follow-through. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Museums must be proactive in defining the benefits of play for children rather than try to construct ill-suited educational outcomes. Advancing play as a credible strategy requires understanding play, integrating strategies fully across museum experiences, and gathering evidence of play’s benefits. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Foundational experiences of greatest importance to the museum</u>. Building a convincing case for play begins with a museum focusing on where it believes it can contribute to positive change in children’s lives. It can look to <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2020/11/foundational-experiences-in-museums.html" target="_blank">foundational experiences</a> that provide solid underpinnings for a good start in life and to the attitudes, dispositions, and skills that research indicates valuable throughout life and encouraged by play. Not facts, math problems, calculations, or the direct results of structured activities, foundational experiences are among the life dividends, benefits, or impacts of play opportunities. Benefits might include a child feeling connection, acceptance and belonging; a growing sense of competence; or having a enjoying well-being and optimism. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>A focused set of dispositions, skills, or awareness important for children now and in the future is critical</u>. Developing a deep understanding of foundational experiences, dispositions, and understandings is neither quick nor easy. It involves delving into research and learning what these experiences might look like in this exhibit, at that component, in this interaction, or in that program. While a museum may come across a list of possible benefits of play, it can’t simply import that list, from a recent study or from an admired museum. These attitudes and dispositions must align with 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. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUz0nkRkoIKvnAdgrH7fiJF58JnW_F7ALSO43sXQ-VC97hJs6L9ZGS8BwabxHgYTBetJ_p2eFAs976puSvyp6FZ426OzDtNquGAF3l-iz8jzn7u9q0jGiJsnE0LxpW8WPKSxrbyxw9tVizza2VPOFlG37zQxvrRXUcEm6smY1YvUwf9lbs2CV4p7J0fg/s320/IMG_2875%20copy.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table><u>Creating the conditions for play</u>. Exhibit and program experiences and staff engagement create the conditions for play which include a supportive and relevant context; engagement with others; touching on multiple play patterns; rich and varied materials; and prolonged play episodes connected to the play benefits of highest interest. The better aligned a museum’s play opportunities are with specific components, activities, images, materials, and caregiver, staff, and volunteer interactions, the more likely children will have the opportunity to tap into and exercise those dispositions. Multiple play experiences, during one museum visit, on repeated visits, connected with everyday experiences, are part of the growth and development process for children. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>A theory of change</u>. Connecting the museum’s experiences with the impact it hopes to have is its theory of change; it describes how and why a museum expects desired changes associated with the play opportunities in its environments, exhibits, programs, initiatives, and events. For a museum with an established play approach, a theory of change suggests that children spending more time in rich, varied, connected play experiences with others that they </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">themselves </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">direct will enjoy benefits of, for instance, a sense of well-being, a growing feeling of competence, understanding other perspectives and feelings. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Benefits, Action.</b>
These are not short-term educational outcomes, but are life-time benefits of play. While not measurable educational outcomes, play-related benefits laid out in a <a href="https://www.esu.edu/ospr/documents/15-16/Introduction_Logic_Models.pdf" target="_blank">theory of change and logic model</a> demonstrate focus, an understanding of relationships, and rigor. Connecting the pieces logically also provides a critical foundation for being explicit about what those changes might look like for children, their parents and caregivers, and community. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A theory of change provides a museum with a plan for action. The focus, connections, and reasons for believing change is possible lead to identifying impacts and results that can be noticed, described, made visible, and measured in various ways. They can be expanded and carried forward and change lives. No less important, these are the steps allowing a museum to clearly communicate the value of its work to others–including its community and funders that want to support its work and its purpose.
</span></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-66447882422589676682022-04-15T11:39:00.000-05:002022-04-15T11:39:07.150-05:00Thinking Ahead, Thinking Big<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJLJkhIsDucwZZ3sUBsOaTed6njOwRtbZVODybB68hDgKMfvVD5DnUaVRIxLq-dzgOPZtoNE060asGng1LzzXelI_vcv1ep627F6JW6jhXviM0usnqO3-jlw3t_AoqJjF-Tkpx0wi44jFOzBO-QxRBRzpHrORaPsjOOqBntYg09RfbU7FZo6i_p4Ylw/s4032/IMG_2113.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgJLJkhIsDucwZZ3sUBsOaTed6njOwRtbZVODybB68hDgKMfvVD5DnUaVRIxLq-dzgOPZtoNE060asGng1LzzXelI_vcv1ep627F6JW6jhXviM0usnqO3-jlw3t_AoqJjF-Tkpx0wi44jFOzBO-QxRBRzpHrORaPsjOOqBntYg09RfbU7FZo6i_p4Ylw/s320/IMG_2113.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Denver Children's Museum (Photo: Vergeront)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> </div><div style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #45818e; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
I have been hearing from museums taking stock, looking ahead, and facing their futures boldly. Some are consolidating changes made and lessons learned during the pandemic. Others are addressing new realities as extreme weather events increase. Some are anticipating leadership changes. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> Regardless of their size, situation, or location, museums are challenged to make sense of the last few years and prepare for a less certain future. They wrestle with the number, scale, and variety of changes they’ve experienced, or recognized, over the last two years. Changes across the museum in attendance, staff transitions, and finances are occurring in the context of great changes in the lives of visitors and the communities they serve. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> With museums viewing themselves in new ways and facing the future with courage, I have been wondering what might assist them in their endeavors. What started out as notes from conversations with children’s museum folks, blogs, and articles has evolved into a framework for museums to think big and move forward boldly. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Resting on four pillars fundamental to a museum’s value to audience, communities, and itself, this framework is neither a roadmap nor is it exhaustive. It is a tool for stimulating discussion and reflection, challenging assumptions, and opening possibilities. Four pillars for thinking ahead are:</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>• For Someone and About Something </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>• A Distinctive, Experiential Approach </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>• A Better World Strategy </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>• Making Change Visible </b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Museums are complex entities. Guided by an enduring purpose, they are made possible by people to serve people. They manage valuable resources and interact with a dynamic external environment. Moving a museum forward is likewise complex. The four pillars support the rich complexity embedded in museums as well as help reveal opportunities that can strengthen museums in meaningful ways. Taking big steps starts with understanding what is core, distinct, valued, and full of potential and is advance by bold thinking. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These four pillars are explored with museum examples and suggestions for reflection and discussion to engage the museum’s thinking. As these examples show, a museum doesn’t have to be big to think big. While using examples from children’s museums, the framework works for other museums that also serve children on field trips, at camps, and with their families as part their broader purpose to enrich the community by making art, science, or history accessible. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>For Someone and About Something</b>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children, their interests, their people, and long-term well-being are at the very heart of <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2021/08/in-partnership-with-children-experience.html" target="_blank">children’s museums</a>. Guided by vision, mission, and values, they create engaging and fun play and learning experiences and environments for children and their adults. Children’s museums are highly committed to a core audience of young children and the trusted adults in their lives: parents, grandparents, caregivers, and teachers. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXWTJvflAqpJTP88XKrNZI71ZOfJoKge4FzZHVTJ9kG3yKW-0izzQwJj9jNxHJ4vhvK7Cn-nf2x2pCjEh_WkgmljmTTxLB6F8_JZFiEvvdpt7m93KRRjMTCVfRe33DqxYagUt0GeaSmNKUlg28toqL-NEeOQYrEoOxhmlNIsAVItmV0_eSlxLYhTyAHw/s640/Madison.ChildrenHelp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXWTJvflAqpJTP88XKrNZI71ZOfJoKge4FzZHVTJ9kG3yKW-0izzQwJj9jNxHJ4vhvK7Cn-nf2x2pCjEh_WkgmljmTTxLB6F8_JZFiEvvdpt7m93KRRjMTCVfRe33DqxYagUt0GeaSmNKUlg28toqL-NEeOQYrEoOxhmlNIsAVItmV0_eSlxLYhTyAHw/s320/Madison.ChildrenHelp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Madison Children's Museum (Photo: Vergeront)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <u>Museum Examples</u>: Children’s <span> </span><span> <span> </span><span> </span></span>museums define their audience <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>variously as: children birth to 12 years; <span> </span><span> </span>children’s first decade; children 2 <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>through 10 years and their families; and <span> </span>ages newborns through eleven years <span> </span><span> </span>old, but designed to engage learners of <span> </span>all ages. <a href="https://pittsburghkids.org" target="_blank">Pittsburgh Children’s Museum</a> <span> </span><span> </span>has opened Museum Lab on its <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>campus for youth 10+. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div></blockquote><p> </p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Who must your museum serve fully to advance its vision and mission? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What are capabilities and strengths of these children that inform your museum’s experience planning? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In addition to identifying a core audience of children across an age range, children’s museums often identify strategically important groups it intends to serve recognizing that these children may not have a high presence at the museum. These might be children from under-resourced backgrounds; with special needs and abilities; from diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds; or non-English speaking children and families. </span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9Z2jVEFQzCwgq-fpjazKnJMTV6hIuHXhapLoFN4Sz1YlkV9zZ875Uvkjv2NqV0z1CZ4ZzZcDY303wShXVSfybc6qBEVJuv4frtttTp_vtnxyEXbDyNyUTPmRtIpQNfSfFwdRffgsgkthmUynPF4PePjh1X2QaEj5iXgshgFihJsVHJVLBUR5_7YVCA/s1152/DSCN1134.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1152" data-original-width="864" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf9Z2jVEFQzCwgq-fpjazKnJMTV6hIuHXhapLoFN4Sz1YlkV9zZ875Uvkjv2NqV0z1CZ4ZzZcDY303wShXVSfybc6qBEVJuv4frtttTp_vtnxyEXbDyNyUTPmRtIpQNfSfFwdRffgsgkthmUynPF4PePjh1X2QaEj5iXgshgFihJsVHJVLBUR5_7YVCA/s320/DSCN1134.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: small;">Explore & More (Photo: </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Explore & More</span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: small;">)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: The youngest of these emerging audiences are often served in a separate early years space while targeted experiences such as camps serve youth 13 and up. <a href="https://exploreandmore.org/visit/accessibility/" target="_blank">Explore & More</a> offers sensory-friendly accommodations for children with special needs. Many museums have access programs that reduce barriers related to cost. </span></div><div><u style="font-family: helvetica;">Think About</u><span style="font-family: helvetica;">: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• How does serving children in these groups help your museum accomplish its mission and vision? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• In what ways is your museum welcoming and creates a sense of belonging for all children? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children’s museums are also about something important in children’s lives. Some are discipline- based concentrating on STEM or the arts. Many center on childhood and quintessential experiences of childhood especially around play—building, climbing, pretending, stories. Some museums highlight what is interesting and important to children about where they live and places they know; or on understanding the world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: A sampling of focus areas include: Everyday Science, Backyard Nature, Imagination and Inventing; the Arts and Sciences; and health and wellness and cultural connectedness </span> </div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">: </span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What is your museum about? What are its primary areas of focus? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Why are these areas important to your museum’s purpose? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children’s museums are also for and about their communities. They understand their audience and consider the context of the community or region. The opportunities, challenges, and changes an area is experiencing and will experience also inform the museum’s focus. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhFoIE2KZw8fWN-hfF9NWTJfAVEhRBVzHLwpUfu1mAl5Lqp8Gd3IXC30WHkwFE0mCkNcNiyx3ZlvSWo2H6YAapHfVAhLn3OH6fIL-21cY_-PP7ZSORUs29NAef5K9eUV4_j-tulCdkSh-AzWzOGC-b-2NO2H_4ss55SfkyE9ykBHXx59yYuLl2gZg3Q/s4032/IMG_9069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlhFoIE2KZw8fWN-hfF9NWTJfAVEhRBVzHLwpUfu1mAl5Lqp8Gd3IXC30WHkwFE0mCkNcNiyx3ZlvSWo2H6YAapHfVAhLn3OH6fIL-21cY_-PP7ZSORUs29NAef5K9eUV4_j-tulCdkSh-AzWzOGC-b-2NO2H_4ss55SfkyE9ykBHXx59yYuLl2gZg3Q/w150-h200/IMG_9069.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Amazeum (Photo: Vergeront)</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Museum Examples</u>: The <a href="https://www.amazeum.org/" target="_blank">Amazeum</a> focuses on: Land, industries, and people who built <br /> and sustain Arkansas culture. <a href="https://www.thedoseum.org/" target="_blank">The DoSeum</a> explores connections between STEM, Arts, and Literacy. <a href="https://madisonchildrensmuseum.org/exhibits/" target="_blank">Madison Children’s Museum</a> explores arts, science, history, culture, health, and civic engagement. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What does your museum offer children and the community that is currently missing and valued? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What kind of a difference in the lives of children could you make? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>A Distinctive Experiential Approach</b>. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As places for children, museums create varied experiences that engage, support and delight children, invite play, spark learning, and create a fund of memories. When these experiences and offerings carry a distinctive, consistent style, a museum stands out from other venues serving a similar audience: schools, libraries, summer camps, and even other museums. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Grounded in its purpose, audience, focus, and community, a museum’s approach comes through in its exhibits, programs, environments, and events and how they engage visitors in exploring, playing, and learning. A museum’s image of the child, its view of play and learning, insights around its focus, and something essential in its character contribute to its particular experiential mix and its brand. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: Across children’s museums, approaches often emphasize exploration, play, discovery, and learning. Many consider themselves to be child-centered, object-based, interactive, immersive, accessible, process-oriented, and/or community-focused. Approaches may play with novelty and surprise, focus on relationships, highlight beauty, prioritize local and sustainable materials, or incorporate making and co-creating with artists. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What is included in your museum’s experiential approach? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Which qualities play a more significant role? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLVeWdUOMfKDF82naGLVfkC6EuMvi0yEwc4Y0siot1a4E5zTpM3-_uqHyuLXQhXF0IrgPG6yCkqVF57m3NKwak0EWN1Y3qivrAf0ZZHREq50aAtH5f7rl6w_T1fI3OuiWFKz3K3cgFEjo_eCiOdzUomtAZtvm-X2xa7-0vyLDEV24Vt0I6E_OSm5jUw/s3264/IMG_3348.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3264" data-original-width="2448" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinLVeWdUOMfKDF82naGLVfkC6EuMvi0yEwc4Y0siot1a4E5zTpM3-_uqHyuLXQhXF0IrgPG6yCkqVF57m3NKwak0EWN1Y3qivrAf0ZZHREq50aAtH5f7rl6w_T1fI3OuiWFKz3K3cgFEjo_eCiOdzUomtAZtvm-X2xa7-0vyLDEV24Vt0I6E_OSm5jUw/s320/IMG_3348.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Minnesota Children's Museum<br />(Photo: Vergeront)<span> </span><span> </span><br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span> </span>A distinct approach blends elements that support content, <span> </span>connections, and context to generate varied engagement <span> </span>strategies for rich and varied exhibit and program <span> <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span></span>experiences. A strong approach is capable of engaging a <span> </span>wide age range and multiple generations, connecting <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>domains, accommodating both individual and group <span> </span><span> </span>interests, and serving first time and regular visitors. Most <span> </span>elements of an approach have multiple dimensions. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <u>Museum Examples</u>: “Accessing the material world” not <span> </span><span> </span>only reflects being object-centered, but also expanding <span> </span><span> </span>access; encompassing small objects and large spaces; <span> </span><span> </span>indoors and out, and placing objects in unusual contexts. <span> </span>“Nature” may cover nature play, natural materials, play as <span> </span>biomimicry, or art and nature. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>• How does your museum’s approach engage with the interests and salient characteristics of your audience? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>• How does your museum translate its approach into exhibit design and program development? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Clarity of approach provides a museum with a shared understanding and tool for developing experiences with appeal and impact. When well-integrated into the organization, an approach is supported by expertise, capacity, fluency, and resources. It evolves with time without chasing trends. It supports innovation and attracts new opportunities. If thoughtfully layered, consistent, and meaningful, the approach contributes to the museum’s value. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><br /></u></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: Investing in its approach, might mean building internal capacity around play; increasing staff expertise on environmental education; working regularly with artists; and being guided by allies and advisors on cultures. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• In what ways does your museum keep its distinctive approach front-and-center internally, among staff and with the board? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• How is the approach reflected in your museum’s staffing, exhibit planning processes and design, program formats, staff interactions with visitors, graphics, etc.? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>A Better World Strategy.</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Setting a museum’s experiential approach in a strategic context is an opportunity to think forward, act boldly, and grow impact. Recognizing a museum’s assets and where it has a track record points to where a museum can take a leadership role in responding to community priorities related to children’s well-being and resilience; to environmental justice; to diversity, equity, access and inclusion. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">An early step in scaling up and increasing impact is packaging museum assets into projects and multi-year initiatives. Assets include successful, well-tested exhibits, programs, learning resources, digital products, and staff expertise, as well as partnerships, financial resources, and community goodwill. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85oaXWoWtxyB2T9lS__mIDxv-o7yGHsi7UUqJJ9-mlSbedm5NSoyRnK552zdu9bcRaBapHSjrWMTmTxmgQdX9vpBIAZuCVT_L-7KlpBTKrJTuDqYHB57oO7wG15d4AVeqZAhladdyukVZTzsck7w2XypzkUWkELgBJ4wYdyH10BiqZXIaJ4aHYch3wg/s4032/IMG_2706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg85oaXWoWtxyB2T9lS__mIDxv-o7yGHsi7UUqJJ9-mlSbedm5NSoyRnK552zdu9bcRaBapHSjrWMTmTxmgQdX9vpBIAZuCVT_L-7KlpBTKrJTuDqYHB57oO7wG15d4AVeqZAhladdyukVZTzsck7w2XypzkUWkELgBJ4wYdyH10BiqZXIaJ4aHYch3wg/s320/IMG_2706.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Louisiana Children's Museum (Photo Credit: Vergeront)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><u>Museum Examples</u>: <a href="http://www.lcm.org" target="_blank">Louisiana Children’s Museum</a>’s popular early years gallery and programs are anchoring a multi-year initiative for parents and babies during the first 3 years of life supported by resources co-developed with university and community partners in child development and infant-toddler mental health. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think about</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What museum assets with connected purposes could work together more effectively by focusing them, investing in them, and building on them? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What large-scale project or set of initiatives might your museum develop or develop further? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When a museum organizes its assets into coordinated offerings and actions, it can build strategy. Strategy that supports children’s growth and development in the context of challenges they face now, and in the future, is a means to focus efforts and grow impact. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: <a href="https://www.steppingstonesmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Stepping Stones Museum for Children</a>’s ELLI preschool classrooms are grounded in a research-based early language and literacy framework and supported by the museum’s rich environments and professional development. Creativity in the Community is <a href="https://providencechildrensmuseum.org/play/creativity-initiative/" target="_blank">Providence Children’s Museum</a>’s three-year state-wide initiative to connect all of the state’s children to its creative community. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• In what ways could an emergent strategy link to children’s futures and community priorities? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Where can additional research and new partners direct and strengthen this strategy? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Change can happen at many scales. System-level change involves engaging at meaningful points with a system that can impact children’s lives. Engaging with educational, healthcare, safe streets, or public housing can initiate system-level change around school readiness, childhood obesity, child mental health, or sustainability. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: <a href="https://www.aam-us.org/author/karen-ackerman-witter-and-leah-wilson/" target="_blank">Kidzeum</a> worked with teachers, curriculum specialists and administrators in one school district to transform science learning outcomes for elementary students by developing curriculum and using the museum as science classrooms. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Where are opportunities for your museum to effect system-level change? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What resources does your museum have and will it need—partners, space, expertise—to create change? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As strategy develops, goals, and objectives take shape. Potential benefits and impacts, both qualitative and quantitative, come into focus. Linking museum resources and efforts to the impact it intends to have is the museum’s <a href="http://museumtwo.blogspot.com/2015/03/developing-theory-of-change-part-1.html" target="_blank">theory of change</a> which maps out the change process. </span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuUoR0IA77kc4HBHkcjzLLrIGCfNf_3KvdlE00tAxxTMm2bAvVZddzt4ImLYP1lG_JtJ6nyxZy4QhqXAsaaMdVLQw_sIWxBCXX6wjyCH4slyxzSMrJQXkc7veGBSmZi2XdcBKHalImtwJvcf1a0BjSZ-8yU1GAhAH7WozeHPLcMX7VPuG_MwW45YA8w/s4032/IMG_1169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQuUoR0IA77kc4HBHkcjzLLrIGCfNf_3KvdlE00tAxxTMm2bAvVZddzt4ImLYP1lG_JtJ6nyxZy4QhqXAsaaMdVLQw_sIWxBCXX6wjyCH4slyxzSMrJQXkc7veGBSmZi2XdcBKHalImtwJvcf1a0BjSZ-8yU1GAhAH7WozeHPLcMX7VPuG_MwW45YA8w/w150-h200/IMG_1169.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">Discovery Museum </span> </td></tr></tbody></table></u></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span> </td></tr></tbody></table></u></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><u style="font-family: helvetica;">Museum Examples</u><span style="font-family: helvetica;">: </span><a href="https://childrensmuseums.org/2022/03/17/seeing-the-future-and-taking-steps-to-get-there-discovery-museum-acts-on-its-commitment-to-sustainability/" style="font-family: helvetica;" target="_blank">Discovery Museum</a><span style="font-family: helvetica;">’s long-time focus on environmental education was extended with development of Discovery Woods and expanded to become intentionally and visibly sustainable in its operations. </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About:</u></span> <span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What do your museum's community impact goals look like?</span> • <span style="font-family: helvetica;">What is your museum’s theory of change that shows how the museum believes it can reach those goals? </span></p></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Meaningful change takes time—time to fully integrate transformative work into the life of the museum. This process involves a deepening understanding of the conditions that support consequential change, taking action on multiple fronts, implementing and improving the work at the same time. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: <a href="https://www.bostonchildrensmuseum.org/" target="_blank">Boston Children’s Museum</a>’s long-running Powering School Readiness starts with its Play Space early years exhibit. It includes Countdown to Kindergarten, the exhibit and guidebook, and web-based resources on executive function, language, and play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What expertise, experience, and resources are critical for your museum to sustain and grow its strategy? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• How can your museum hold itself accountable for these changes over time? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Making Change Visible</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
If a museum wants to matter, it must find ways to show that it does matter. Sharing its commitments, occupying a public role, communicating what it learns, and telling its story well are critical to awareness of a museum’s work on behalf of children. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A museum’s values guide its everyday decisions and actions. Largely intangible, commitments often go unnoticed. Unless it acts with great intention a museum’s core beliefs can become good intentions. Operationalizing commitments, calling attention to even small activities, and connecting actions to current issues help spotlight where heart, energy, and resources converge. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: The <a href="https://uticacm.org/" target="_blank">Utica Children’s Museum</a> has merged with the ICAN Family Resource Center and will use trauma-informed approaches to design exhibits and develop programs to be a welcoming place for all children. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• How does your museum demonstrate to the child, parents, staff, volunteers, trustees, supporters, and partners that it values the child’s capabilities such as creativity, caring, or agency? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• In what additional ways can your museum demonstrate its values and priorities more obviously? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The position a museum occupies on the local landscape, the role it intends to play and how it wants to be viewed by stakeholders, is a public expression of its identity and the contribution it plans to make. This leadership position is grounded in actual accomplishments and strengthened with networks of relationships. Among the roles a museum might play are convener, connector, catalyst, resource, advocate, or thought leader around its values and priorities. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrjvacPJ6Biy7DUE-i7qEhj9YV84ByIooYH5WY0CEj39kY4hdEwmWltngTK9mkZsCIn7pk14tx1fETi4ujbsdPBrwfncKKSaLuoRy2MEn5xNGd4BlC46RwGqTkPxZBjdz4ma4-rMEHvIQtuNNXjLP_BrtYKN3O6sHl_RRm8oaR3fp5inhA2960SWn94A/s800/Jblm-from-1200x630-1-e1646864268497.webp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="800" height="168" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrjvacPJ6Biy7DUE-i7qEhj9YV84ByIooYH5WY0CEj39kY4hdEwmWltngTK9mkZsCIn7pk14tx1fETi4ujbsdPBrwfncKKSaLuoRy2MEn5xNGd4BlC46RwGqTkPxZBjdz4ma4-rMEHvIQtuNNXjLP_BrtYKN3O6sHl_RRm8oaR3fp5inhA2960SWn94A/s320/Jblm-from-1200x630-1-e1646864268497.webp" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Greentrike's Children's Museum at JBLM<br />Photo Credit: Greentrike</span></td></tr></tbody></table> <u>Museum Examples</u>: <a href="https://greentrike.org/" target="_blank">Greentrike</a>, an evolution of the Children’s Museum of Tacoma, is an <span> </span><span> </span>education and advocacy organization with <span> </span><span> </span>multiple sites and services that also <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>convenes an annual symposium around <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>being a children and youth-centered <span> </span><span> </span><span> </span>community. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>• What visible presence in the community does <span> </span>your museum currently have that it can build <span> </span><span> </span>on? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> • What public leadership role can your museum occupy where it has a track record and strong partnerships? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Museums are learning organizations. They ask questions, learn from and with their audiences, and draw on research from the museum field and beyond. Increasingly museums are integrating research into creating play and learning experiences; audience engagement; and local conditions affecting children’s well-being. By articulating its research interests; working with college, university, and healthcare research partners; and conducting its own research, a museum can initiate change and move the field forward. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: Through ACM’s <a href="https://childrensmuseums.org/initiatives/childrens-museums-research-network/" target="_blank">Children’s Museum’s Research Network</a>, children’s museums have researched play, learning, adults’ perceptions of learning, and social emotional behaviors in children’s museums. <a href="https://www.mychildsmuseum.org" target="_blank">Denver Children’s Museum</a>’s Play Institute includes multiple research partners. <a href="https://bayareadiscoverymuseum.org" target="_blank">Bay Area Discovery Museum</a>’s mission is to transform research into early learning experiences that inspire creative problem solving. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• How does your museum stay current with research in areas of high relevance? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• What are your museum’s compelling questions about children, their well-being and futures it can explore through research on its own and with partners? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children’s museums have high hopes for children, their communities, and their futures. Powered by purpose and passion, they are in a unique position to make better childhoods and promising futures for children a reality. To move forward, museums must translate their mission and strategies into fresh, compelling stories for multiple audiences. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The same creativity and passion that fuels engaging and memorable exhibit and program experiences, can tell museums’ stories and make their case. They can share new research findings, document and present children’s work in and beyond the museum’s walls, and share their own studies with stakeholders, leaders, connectors, and the field. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Museum Examples</u>: Many museums have produced publications on play, making, and kindergarten readiness. Parent resources on play can be found on <a href="https://mcm.org/parent-resources/" target="_blank">Minnesota Children’s Museum</a>’s website or blog and on the science of brain development on <a href="https://bostonchildrensmuseum.org/power-of-play" target="_blank">Boston Children’s Museum’</a>s website. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Think About</u>: </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> • How can your museum make the research-to-practice connection visible to help stakeholders better understand the critical importance of early childhood experiences for bright futures? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> • What if your museum’s annual report published what it had learned in the past year about supporting play and learning? </span></div></blockquote><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIfpN0HAEEKeGH5laVRBZ0aduAa-XUzXij31blIbxRq9JkXjLYTHj1nHlMY8CdotShld9RgVEFiOANrqrAchu78Otw74RHs2ocVbAPZXySQcc23Q4pxItfO2Jcdi6vOP_NH4DSsVkUxGXyQ8BbVLQ1HOUH9VB8MlW9y3RQT5uMs3hxAxrTaN4QdPncKA/s3264/IMG_2652.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIfpN0HAEEKeGH5laVRBZ0aduAa-XUzXij31blIbxRq9JkXjLYTHj1nHlMY8CdotShld9RgVEFiOANrqrAchu78Otw74RHs2ocVbAPZXySQcc23Q4pxItfO2Jcdi6vOP_NH4DSsVkUxGXyQ8BbVLQ1HOUH9VB8MlW9y3RQT5uMs3hxAxrTaN4QdPncKA/s320/IMG_2652.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Museum Notes</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2020/08/between-planning-and-chance.html" target="_blank">Between Planning and Chance</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2015/08/building-capacity-to-have-capacity.html" target="_blank">Building Capacity to Have Capacity</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2011/05/nice-necessary.html" target="_blank">Nice + Necessary</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Carol A. Scott: <a href="https://www.aam-us.org/2022/03/01/beyond-the-walls-demonstrating-the-social-impact-of-museums-is-critical-to-their-success/?utm_source=American+Alliance+of+Museums&utm_campaign=cc59edfc8a-FieldNotes_2022_Mar14&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f06e575db6-cc59edfc8a-59602617 • 2022" target="_blank">Beyond the Walls</a>: Demonstrating the social impact of museums is critical to their success </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://www.aam-us.org/2022/03/22/introducing-the-2022-edition-of-trendswatch/" target="_blank">Trends Watch 2022</a>: Museums as Community Infrastructure</span></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-64475543536768739592022-03-26T09:20:00.003-05:002022-04-06T12:02:54.334-05:00Learning Together in Museums<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></span></div><div><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Museum Planning</span></div><div><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #990000; font-family: "helvetica neue", arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Originally posted December 2017 </span></div><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yuK4OGJV4JQ/Wjab1EINiqI/AAAAAAAADDI/8z5-FlvW--YdpXn4XaL1ZN2AavvHVqhdACLcBGAs/s1600/barbican-6.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="466" data-original-width="700" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yuK4OGJV4JQ/Wjab1EINiqI/AAAAAAAADDI/8z5-FlvW--YdpXn4XaL1ZN2AavvHVqhdACLcBGAs/s320/barbican-6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">New views on learning together<br />(Dalston Mirror House by Leandro Ercich)</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">When we think about learning together in museums, we note that museums are social spaces. We focus on visitors as part of groups, small intergenerational social groups–families–and school or community groups. We plan for learning in such groups in exhibits, on tours, and in structured program activities.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">While the group is a powerful context for learning in museums, learning together also occurs in ways that are not necessarily visible, within a group, or planned.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Adults and children; first-time visitors, seasoned members, staff and volunteers; people in groups and exploring solo are each likely to be learning together. That’s not surprising. This is how we learn. Beginning with the finely tuned interactions between mothers and infants, we build meaning together through social interaction. David Hawkins, referencing Vygotsky, Dewey, and Malaguzzi, stated there’s never learning that is not socially constructed.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Because we do make sense of our world through interactions with others, we are often learning from them informally through conversations, gestures, and observation. In a gallery this may be a visitor noticing how someone handles a tool or refolding a paper airplane after watching how another paper plane floats down. It may be a docent learning from a tour member’s question or someone eavesdropping on a conversation about a painting on view.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">The ideas we pick up from others and build on are part of learning together and critical for us doing our jobs. Someone’s stickie note posted on the talkback board may spark an idea for an idea for an exhibit activity. The grant proposal you are writing or the conference session presentation you are working on is your learning together with colleagues. Without learning from others’ well-framed question, study results, or trenchant observations, my blog posts would consist of a few phrases and some examples.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Learning together is not the same as getting people together in a group with an intention for them to learn from a given agenda. Just being together in a public lecture, at a staff training, or at a funder’s gathering of grantees to learn about its projects does not necessarily involve learning together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">A working definition for learning together might be the active, co-exploration among informal learning partners to make meaning through watching, listening, talking, or gesturing. These learning partners may, or may not, be obvious, known to one another, or even present.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">A visitor engaging with an exhibit might be inspired by seeing how someone uses their body to lift a heavy object; from noticing the features of an elaborate block tower created and left by others; or from observing a technique for working with a new material. Nearly hidden as these moments are in the flow of words and movement at an activity, in front of a fish tank, tapping on a screen, learning together is learner driven, on-the-spot, and occurring before our very eyes. And they happen in a flash.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Learning together in the Zone of Proximal Development<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y6rpHltWkAY/WjakVbXM7PI/AAAAAAAADDY/B-5X73fCY_UTuVQ629mE29uIvUPqzSGlACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_5283.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-y6rpHltWkAY/WjakVbXM7PI/AAAAAAAADDY/B-5X73fCY_UTuVQ629mE29uIvUPqzSGlACLcBGAs/s200/IMG_5283.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">For instance, we sometimes see a child pair up with another child or call on an older partner to work with on an activity or solve a problem. Bringing together different levels of information, skills, interests, and experience expands the available range of capabilities, of sense making and meaning making. These interactions produce new learning and insights such as, “Oh! I see how to do that now.” Learning is occurring through what Vygotsky calls the Zone of Proximal Development, the difference between the actual and potential level of development available through collaboration with a more capable peer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">• When museums create collaborative experiences and activities that invite a wide range of capabilities, skills, knowledge, and previous experience they support learners in benefitting from more capable or knowledgeable peers and enhance meaning making.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Just-in-time information pertinent to the moment<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">In the lively mix and mingle that can occur around a display case or an exhibit activity several conversations may be murmuring along at one time. Anyone nearby might overhear someone’s excitement about what they are looking at, hear an explanation of how something works, or pick-up on the significance of a tiny detail. At that moment, the learner gets something they would be unlikely to get otherwise: just-in-time information pertinent to the moment, the place, the activity, and what’s going on. Not everyone leaves with the same understanding, but each does have a relevant understanding of their own<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 31.5pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">• Museums can add to the richness of visitors’ explorations and inquiry by facilitating opportunities for conversation in spaces where people can bump into one another, work or stand side-by-side, and eavesdrop. Something fascinating to notice and talk about in places to linger also encourage conversation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">A dialogue through the medium of materials<o:p></o:p></span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3WGt7X8B8s/WjabDONpWXI/AAAAAAAADC8/AitTvK1uufsV-QVRNWPzXPUR656fPcdtgCLcBGAs/s1600/70897_orig.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img border="0" data-original-height="412" data-original-width="550" height="239" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q3WGt7X8B8s/WjabDONpWXI/AAAAAAAADC8/AitTvK1uufsV-QVRNWPzXPUR656fPcdtgCLcBGAs/s320/70897_orig.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Spielgaben.com</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Two children work side-by-side exploring clay at a worktable. One child looks at the other child’s clay construction, a construction with wires. Noticing the wires, the child adds wires to their construction. When the other child sets a piece of fabric on top of the wires, the other does as well. That child then carefully presses one shell and then several more into the clay and announces that this is treasure at the bottom of the ocean. At first we may be inclined to view this dynamic as one child copying from another. That moment when one child glances at another’s choices and process to shape and elaborate a piece of clay may be a dialogue between them through the medium of a material. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">• Museums can support back-and-forth explorations by creating places to work side by side with easy visual access that allows seeing what someone else is doing. Offer a wide range of materials that prompt rich, new dialogues. Mirrors mounted overhead showing what’s happening from a different perspective provide additional opportunities to borrow, expand, and learn together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Revisiting what we have heard others say<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In an out-of-the way spot, someone sits alone in relative stillness. Waiting for someone? Seeking quiet time? Enjoying a moment of reflection? </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In what may appear to be a solitary moment, someone could be considering any one of a number of things: </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">the light in this space, the source of light in a painting the docent noted, and echoes of others’ comments about changing light and shadow</span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">One of the processes that occurs in museums is reflection, through which we</span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> learn. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In reflection we revisit something we have experienced, something we have heard others say. We continue the conversation through our silent inner speech; remembered voices of others enter our thinking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">• To support reflection and internal conversations that build connections and understanding, museums can create quiet spaces with comfortable seating, and views that engage and calm.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Learning from others who are not present<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pQumREfcv5U/WjaaajfQyVI/AAAAAAAADC0/L-q5aCj6W70v8BlPv1lQz7sCeF0-mKIjgCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_8963.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pQumREfcv5U/WjaaajfQyVI/AAAAAAAADC0/L-q5aCj6W70v8BlPv1lQz7sCeF0-mKIjgCLcBGAs/s320/IMG_8963.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Voices from the past make<br />connections in the present<br /><br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Even when we are exploring an exhibit by ourselves, we are not alone. In fact, we are likely to make connections between what we are experiencing and what happened previously and with others who are not present. </span><span style="background: white; font-size: 11pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We interact with the artist when we think about what we see in a painting, even if it’s a silent, “I don’t get it.” We transport a strategy we saw someone else use and apply it to another situation. Reading and responding to a question on a text panel is a silent conversation with the author, unknown to us, who composed the question. We may share our experience later with someone over coffee.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">• Museums support connections with others across time and space by asking questions, offering suggestions, creating challenge and uncertainty…in text panels, through staff engagement, through discrepant objects. These and other strategies encourage learners to make multiple connections that are meaningful physically, with others, and with previous experiences.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt; letter-spacing: 1pt;">Everyone learns something different together<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Sometimes a group of visitors spontaneously becomes a team working together at an exhibit. They create a challenge or invent a problem they must solve together and organize themselves around the challenge. It may be to move blocks on a crank-operated conveyor belt from one level to the next in record time. Commands come down to crank faster, updates are issued on how time is ticking away, tasks are added to the challenge, new workers are added to cause, and materials are adapted. In these moments, everyone learns something different together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 0.5in;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">• Connected experiences, ones that flow physically, that work with varying numbers of visitors and allow visitors to assume different role support self-forming groups of visitors directing their experiences and learning together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: 11pt;">Learning together makes possible what might not otherwise occur. No amount of planning on the museum’s part could provide the on-the-spot support or information, the extra pair of hands, or the just-in-time idea that makes learning together happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><!--Go to www.addthis.com/dashboard to customize your tools-->
<script src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=ra-61f1a3cdbc22a9db" type="text/javascript"></script>
Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-37952196274120036852022-01-25T12:52:00.001-06:002022-01-25T12:59:06.326-06:00The Culture of Childhood<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: small;"><span style="color: #134f5c;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Museum Planning</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVfF0aMqKbeDqbyubIrpGYZ52ln4b8qp20hgLgwHI_SMRr3ZtzDFEZeYFNvUx-lulLcQwvSmpODaCX4EhtdSaI0qQZWOr1w3sq6UWY8boAPU0dIyPyBTKwvi4lt6EjaUeAR2UVx98eNLLhfY8Msh8i06swowtD5dkQP2sNZ-DdfXVsvSEzEiYyYCj_ww=s1632" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1162" data-original-width="1632" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgVfF0aMqKbeDqbyubIrpGYZ52ln4b8qp20hgLgwHI_SMRr3ZtzDFEZeYFNvUx-lulLcQwvSmpODaCX4EhtdSaI0qQZWOr1w3sq6UWY8boAPU0dIyPyBTKwvi4lt6EjaUeAR2UVx98eNLLhfY8Msh8i06swowtD5dkQP2sNZ-DdfXVsvSEzEiYyYCj_ww=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">Photo credit: Leona Yordy</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;">Over the last few months, I have been having conversations about childhood with Maeryta Medrano, AIA, Founder and President of Gyroscope, Inc. an architecture, museum planning, and exhibit design studio in Oakland, CA. Childhood comes up regularly in planning museums and experiences for children. In fact, in saying that they are for and about children, children’s museums all but assert they are part of childhood. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;">After of a kick-off meeting with a museum that is planning to relocate, Maeryta and I sat in a hotel lobby, processing the discussions, jotting notes, picking up and following threads, and tossing out questions. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;">When Maeryta wondered if there is a culture of childhood, we took off again. We excitedly connected ideas from books, articles, research papers, and experience to conclude that, </span><i style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;"><b>yes</b></i><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;">, there is a culture of childhood. As a culture, it embodies a unique world view of, for, and about children and the ways in which they find their place in the world and become themselves. </span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>What is Childhood?</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">For readers of this post, childhood is something we all experienced. Childhood was that time in our lives stretching from 1-2 years through 10-12 years. Even if the specifics of our childhoods were different based on where we grew up, our families, our backgrounds, or our cherished memories, our first decade of life was our childhood—foundational, formative, and enduring. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, is there a culture of childhood? The idea of a culture of childhood is not completely new and has been the subject of research and writing. Some examples begin to frame what a culture of childhood is. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.opiearchive.org/about/iona_and_peter_opie_biography" target="_blank">Iona and Peter Opie</a>, an English team of researchers, studied and documented the oral culture of childhood in England from the 1950’s – 80’s. Observers of urban children’s street culture in England, they conducted primary fieldwork, library research, interviewed thousands of children, collected children’s literature, toys, and games, and published books of children’s songs and games. In documenting the shared experiences of childhood, focusing in particular on language, the Opie’s work established the culture of childhood as a serious area of study. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Peter Gray, psychologist and research professor at Boston College, considers the critical role<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxmbzkItozF1gl5RTs4RaOv2OMXk3zBsQuht8vQuzA6u06_nKvwtPB_JxpVYOF4ZpoIvS-uMmuuC6eLjN2Bth0YWedMuUxHJRO5sHRcORbxWiOFu4d3KWxDeFEAcg2SN71F6-biw0sqbRBMDTb7GnQvxNvLBY7N89dMrr1i6AX3O9Th0Sp1sXP9oPsTQ=s640" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="494" data-original-width="640" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgxmbzkItozF1gl5RTs4RaOv2OMXk3zBsQuht8vQuzA6u06_nKvwtPB_JxpVYOF4ZpoIvS-uMmuuC6eLjN2Bth0YWedMuUxHJRO5sHRcORbxWiOFu4d3KWxDeFEAcg2SN71F6-biw0sqbRBMDTb7GnQvxNvLBY7N89dMrr1i6AX3O9Th0Sp1sXP9oPsTQ=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo credit: Sarah Hall</span></td></tr></tbody></table>of children in the lives of other children as central to the culture of childhood and undervalued in the lives of today’s children. In <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201610/the-culture-childhood-we-ve-almost-destroyed-it" target="_blank">The Value of Play</a>, he describes critical roles children play in one another’s growth and development, and expresses concern about adult intrusion into children’s lives. Children become increasingly independent through their relationships with other children. They find and solve problems together; establish, communicate and negotiate rules; and assume roles that adults would assume if they were present. Children playing with other children prepares them for roles as adults in collaborating and getting along, true social advantages in adulthood. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Author of <a href="(https://www.redleafpress.org/Discovering-the-Culture-of-Childhood-P1428.aspx" target="_blank">Discovering the Culture of Childhood</a>, Emily Plank describes her ‘ah-ha’ moment when she recognized how adults and children occupy different cultures: “What if we adults are outsiders to children? What if the problem that we see sometimes as adults interacting with the children in our care and with our own children are intercultural and not biological or not a product of the phases of development? What if there’s a cultural component to it?” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small; text-align: center;">Photo credit: Nature Explore</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdAIdeaaTBVF0KSmGm9tcMqiZyuTLvYg2ALm6NI8JSVD3teTpVo70ug4N5jDHpDBSlGWlVQQBjbsDaB7SmCJUteH7IpMHsPBo2-1aNS4FI9MghCUVpRGE2J6DlqA0uVNNpS8Y-kGmZQTuBgCZAfUe_DiGGSSlPwvWgD12oKrEQyS82OgHtNSjjQ3nSrA=s400" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgdAIdeaaTBVF0KSmGm9tcMqiZyuTLvYg2ALm6NI8JSVD3teTpVo70ug4N5jDHpDBSlGWlVQQBjbsDaB7SmCJUteH7IpMHsPBo2-1aNS4FI9MghCUVpRGE2J6DlqA0uVNNpS8Y-kGmZQTuBgCZAfUe_DiGGSSlPwvWgD12oKrEQyS82OgHtNSjjQ3nSrA=s320" width="320" /></a><span style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;">The lens of culture provided by these thoughtful observers of children and childhood suggests its presence, its fundamental importance in children’s lives, and its value in understanding the transformative process of children composing their common world. </div></span></div></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>What is Culture?</b>
Although we may not be accustomed to thinking of a culture of childhood, we are familiar with the idea of culture. Understood broadly in relation to the groups of people, culture is viewed in an anthropological framework as customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. We also associate culture with the arts and with other manifestations of collective human intellectual accomplishments. Individuals’ and groups’ attachment to cultural activities, beliefs, and traditions are integrated into their daily lives and are core to their identity. Cultures are ethnic, religious, familial. They are global, national, and local; social, organizational, and team. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Across this wide range of meanings of culture are some basic characteristics that are relevant to exploring the culture of childhood. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Culture is something that everyone possesses in some form or forms. Often unseen or unnoticed, we may not be very aware of culture in ourselves. But it’s there. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• We all carry cultural traits that we have acquired from others in our group(s) in the ways we listen, give gifts, honor, celebrate, and what we find meaningful. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Cultures overlap, rather than exclude one another. Just as cultures interact with other cultures, the culture of childhood interacts with other cultures including the culture of adults. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Culture gives us a sense of belonging and contributes to a sense of identity. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Culture informs our way of life, permeating everyday experiences—foods, friendships, traditions, language, a sense of place, and play. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Culture changes. It evolves over time through interactions with others, with places, with events. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In unpacking the culture of childhood, we encounter dimensions of culture—spatial, social, emotional, scientific, philosophical, and spiritual—and associated elements of language, belief systems, social structure (friendships and relationships); objects (toys and materials); and arts (expression and meaning making). </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Bringing the Culture of Childhood to Light</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>The culture of childhood is children’s shared experience of growing up and finding their place </i><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWlSQ5oJ8IkOaSOgEWyyxC4XBQSU-ScU2KB6eS8chAO1t93B-H7kCOKfT2wFaBW0zge2Y-tfTnF8C01KQmsDemwAmKpYx89eu2enYKaGq_oRsljrMGeR2pei1KRFywEEx2HsN7p0Gk9k_X40L8qoFLzsiNyNGDwuQIqh7lgE0v4aby4rf277MYNm4ihw=s2813" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="2003" data-original-width="2813" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiWlSQ5oJ8IkOaSOgEWyyxC4XBQSU-ScU2KB6eS8chAO1t93B-H7kCOKfT2wFaBW0zge2Y-tfTnF8C01KQmsDemwAmKpYx89eu2enYKaGq_oRsljrMGeR2pei1KRFywEEx2HsN7p0Gk9k_X40L8qoFLzsiNyNGDwuQIqh7lgE0v4aby4rf277MYNm4ihw=s320" width="320" /></i></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Photo credit: Jeanne Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table><i>in the world shaping children’s social identity, creating a sense of community, and opening possibilities</i>. Wrapping around and weaving through the time from 1-2 years through 10-12 years, the culture of childhood is a frame for viewing, understanding, respecting, and valuing children and childhood. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>The child and childhood are at the center of the culture of childhood</u> not adult agendas, goals, growth charts, and developmental frameworks. Touching on and interacting with every aspect of the child and their world, this culture engages with all developmental domains—physical, social, cognitive, language, and emotional—and the unfolding developmental processes. While there is a sequence most children follow (crawling first, then walking), culture is less about timelines and more about experiences, relationships, and children learning and inhabiting their world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>The culture of childhood recognizes what children have in common as well as variations among individual childhoods</u>. It embraces both the individual child’s particular childhood experiences, settings, and contexts and the shared, evolving childhood constructed over time with other children in a larger context. The culture of childhood embraces an age cohort of children who are increasingly eager to connect with other children and learn from one another what they can’t learn in other ways. As with any culture, there are variations. Childhoods differ depending on children’s backgrounds, their race, specifics of their family, and where they live—their town, region, or city. But, as one father and city leader noted, “Six-year-olds are 6-year-olds. There are experiences all children enjoy.” </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgV5SPZ_VIZqlZaPioyaEYkSFPY4vkPlmZynrcm00Pcj2ZuzLQLpCTWBh50Q-D3lM6HHaN2kSMmTNIUTAw7DVenRhE6KJ1hxsPmofSNAL9WcVRD3GOoAEfPWWr9R9X8Wi6Kv67OYUUqyKWzMBIUKDqIAFFG7pIcw88hG7iuP0JyaZZpuOExeO6hgNXmsQ=s1600" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgV5SPZ_VIZqlZaPioyaEYkSFPY4vkPlmZynrcm00Pcj2ZuzLQLpCTWBh50Q-D3lM6HHaN2kSMmTNIUTAw7DVenRhE6KJ1hxsPmofSNAL9WcVRD3GOoAEfPWWr9R9X8Wi6Kv67OYUUqyKWzMBIUKDqIAFFG7pIcw88hG7iuP0JyaZZpuOExeO6hgNXmsQ=s320" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Jeanne Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table> Multiple contexts of children’s lives are backdrops for the culture of childhoo</u>d. In addition to developmental and social factors, the culture of childhood is shaped by settings, place, people, and practices. Culture is present in and influenced by contexts that are urban and rural; home, school, neighborhood, and recreational; within family and community; and ethnic, religious, and national. Carrying stories, games, and jokes, norms and behaviors, the culture of childhood lives in forts and found spaces, public and civic places. It moves from group-to-group, from home-to-school- to-the-playing field, from one part of a region to another. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>The culture of childhood is both universal and local</u>. Childhood exists in cultures around the world, shaped by universal fundamentals. Developmentally, children move from dependence to greater independence. They develop new skills and capacities and move from sheltered family relationships to friendships and associations with peers. Early experiences begin in the intimacy of home but soon move beyond the house, around the block, into the neighborhood, to school, camps, and beyond. Seasons, weather, and landscape account for some local variations of childhood culture since children know best what is immediate and local. Weather and geography influence culture and seasonal clothes, activities, play choices, local foods and foodways. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Shared experiences are central to the culture of childhood</u>: Children need to be part of a group with a coherent identity, shared vocabulary, and collective purpose. As part of an age cohort, they go through experiences together that shape perspectives, interests, enthusiasms, and milestones of their age group. Celebrating birthdays, learning their address, losing a tooth are quintessential moments of childhood that connect children to one another in lasting ways. Favorite toys or books, special clothing, movie characters also create shared memories and moments of meaningful connection. Such shared experiences of growing up together make a mark on childhoods. Public, civic, and social events of communities, disruptive events, and community and national tragedies and triumphs become collective memories that can define childhoods and leave a mark on adult lives. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>The culture of childhood supports children’s social development outside the famil</u>y. Childhood is a passage from “me” to “we.” While attachment to parents and caregiving adults is important, children increasingly want to connect with and build strong bonds with other children. They make friends and discover the power of friendship. Through social learning, they find ways to function in and as a group. They figure out how to join a game; invent rules and negotiate with one another; they choose leaders and sometimes question the order of the peer group. Some of the transformation involved in children becoming themselves necessarily occurs away from watchful adult eyes. Children develop a perspective on their lives and encounter new perspectives from other children that they can’t gain from adults. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj77SY3WBtLjkQareHqTmjfAG00h677WHmioW_VT85tdyoX6c8uIpOrCnW37AW98-8yqV8atHrg9rb1d8AqZk8CR4RTQYptsh-Ep50wLORaTaalhn3wZBpk7damem1JFOuaFfjp5ACpEFGIbNxlxMlpHIRvMRihlLJWxgGUz9zcVZRjhIW_rr-4aVWnGg=s1600" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj77SY3WBtLjkQareHqTmjfAG00h677WHmioW_VT85tdyoX6c8uIpOrCnW37AW98-8yqV8atHrg9rb1d8AqZk8CR4RTQYptsh-Ep50wLORaTaalhn3wZBpk7damem1JFOuaFfjp5ACpEFGIbNxlxMlpHIRvMRihlLJWxgGUz9zcVZRjhIW_rr-4aVWnGg=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Jeanne Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Play is the native language of the culture of childhood</u>. In play, children learn from and reimagine their world. Playing with other children engages hallmarks of culture—language, objects, materials, expression, meaning, and symbols. Play is a social space where children communicate with one another, with gestures, special words, and shared ideas. They organize themselves; they make up, and revise rules to make play more challenging; in their games they monitor behaviors. Composers, storytellers, actors, and humorists, children propose and discuss ideas, develop plots, assume roles, act-out stories. They bring symbols into their play with words, language, and objects. Their pretend worlds have back stories, rules, special words, and relationships. Constructed and inhabited through play, these worlds provide a wide range of imaginative ways of seeing the world. They carry ways of thinking, doing, and being. In play, children have fun, grow friendships, see themselves as part of a group, and develop a sense of belonging that rolls out into the future. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>By its very nature, the culture of childhood is dynamic</u>. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Childhood is in a perpetual dialogue with the world that for children is constantly revealing itself to them.</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While all cultures evolve, children’s alertness to their world, their curiosity, and rapid development across all domains guarantees a changing child. Children are immersed in making meaning and finding their place in an ever-expanding, shifting world using multiple languages, modalities, and media. Through on-going interactions with other children in varied settings, children learn from one another, pass on games and words, and share ideas from other contexts. This is a culture that welcomes and hosts ideas from other settings to influence and enrich it going forward. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj67BbvRz0EOnp2VpYjhJD0AGuToFhItnlLOmKvqOomrWWJd_5ffmBMgt0SuD0IyC4zfj63ygpujduG1gTLNnLzBidqc7jsP5fEpw7AlmMfJ1PaOn4iugp7I0mUDBAjR1jFhXlfiQgffWdaUQCMMOVRdt8vYl6bxFJavI1XIZ_tcwuBAuLeO9nBfRuvkA=s2272" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1704" data-original-width="2272" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEj67BbvRz0EOnp2VpYjhJD0AGuToFhItnlLOmKvqOomrWWJd_5ffmBMgt0SuD0IyC4zfj63ygpujduG1gTLNnLzBidqc7jsP5fEpw7AlmMfJ1PaOn4iugp7I0mUDBAjR1jFhXlfiQgffWdaUQCMMOVRdt8vYl6bxFJavI1XIZ_tcwuBAuLeO9nBfRuvkA=s320" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Madison Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table>Nourishing the Culture of Childhood</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Recognizing and supporting the culture of childhood matters. More than just a time period in children’s lives, the culture of childhood is a living force that becomes an endowment of connection, community, and hopeful futures. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But how do we expand the benefits to more children of this overlooked and often undervalued cultural experience? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Let's begin by recognizing the culture of childhood itself. By doing so, we affirm our respect for children and our confidence in their becoming caring, engaged adults and future dreamers, connectors, and leaders. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We can also: </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <b>View children as competent learners</b> with mastery over skills, and rich in ideas, rather than as smaller, messier, unfinished adults. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <b>Commit to creating better childhoods</b> for more children, especially children facing challenges and limited resources by increasing access to places, community, people, programs, and opportunities. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <b>Make the culture of childhood visible</b> to a larger circle of parents, educators, decision-makers and highlight the roles they can play to strengthen the social infrastructure that supports childhood and its culture. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <b>Advocate for the culture of childhood to influence the culture</b> of our towns, cities, and regions rather than the reverse that allows busy schedules, structured time, and commercialization to shape the culture of childhood. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <b>Prioritize play</b>. Besides guarding time and places for children to be children, we need to support children’s freedom to explore, experiment, solve problems together, and take risks. We need to let more of childhood happen out from the watchful eyes of adults. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <b>Expand the cultural space of childhood</b>. Engage children, families, educators, and community members in co-constructing outdoor spaces, museum spaces, play environments, and other informal learning settings where children can come together, experiment, and creatively explore using multiple modes of expression, materials, and media. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>MUSEUM NOTES</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2012/01/raising-citizens.html" target="_blank">Raising Citizens</a> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2018/10/misunderstanding-children-in-museums.html" target="_blank">Some Misunderstandings of Children in Museums</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2018/07/child-friendly-cities-museums-taking.html " target="_blank">Child-friendly Cities, Museums Taking a Role</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>OTHER SOURCES</b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Peter Gray: <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200811/the-value-play-i-the-definition-play-gives-insights" target="_blank">The Value of Play</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Emily Plank. (2016) <a href="https://www.redleafpress.org/Discovering-the-Culture-of-Childhood-P1428.aspx" target="_blank">Discovering the Culture of Childhood </a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Peter Moss and Pat Petrie. 2002. <a href="https://www.routledge.com/From-Childrens-Services-to-Childrens-Spaces-Public-Policy-Children-and/Moss-Petrie/p/book/9780415247825" target="_blank">From Children’s Services to Children Spaces</a>. </span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-18791204088862366032021-12-02T13:52:00.000-06:002021-12-02T13:52:11.391-06:00Because a Good Question is Hard to Find<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;">MUSEUM NOTES </span></p><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-2151928333333611910" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 630px;"><div style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"> Jeanne Vergeront </div><div style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"> Vergeront Museum Planning </div><div style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="color: red; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> Originally posted April 2018</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9jEINnki1g/WsZsY0qUhAI/AAAAAAAADH8/HLnuAh2ksYMMr7PD3GVT8Qj7kKHlXEO4ACLcBGAs/s1600/NASA.article-1172519-04971BBE000005DC-684_634x762.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="color: blue; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="634" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-u9jEINnki1g/WsZsY0qUhAI/AAAAAAAADH8/HLnuAh2ksYMMr7PD3GVT8Qj7kKHlXEO4ACLcBGAs/s320/NASA.article-1172519-04971BBE000005DC-684_634x762.jpg" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236); box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.1) 1px 1px 5px; padding: 5px; position: relative;" width="266" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I love a really good question: chewy, shiny, juicy, provocative. Like a brilliant cup of coffee or morning pastry it makes my day.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A good question can be strategic or tactical; pedagogical, experiential, or operational; evaluative or reflective. Really good questions are like an itch. When we have been bitten by a good question, we simply have to come back to it again and again.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">But really good questions are hard to find and have at the right moment. Gradually, however, I have realized that appreciating good questions has also helped me find more good questions. I notice questions in reading and interviews and I collect them. I write them down on scraps of paper and in notebook margins. I borrow and up-cycle promising questions. Sometimes I search stacks of sticky notes to get unstuck myself; frame a blog post, prepare for a workshop, or push my thinking. I occasionally suggest a question when someone’s process is off track and needs a reset. Framing questions has become my tool for thinking, learning, and working.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">As our questions go, so goes our thinking</b><span style="color: #1e3021;">, noticing, choosing, experimenting, and acting. Consequently thinking hard about what makes a really good question is thinking well spent. Yes, good questions are open-ended, but they are far more than that. They help us focus and get at more complex or inaccessible aspects of the world. They generate more questions. Asking, </span><i><span style="color: #38761d;">Who owns this place?</span></i><span style="color: #1e3021;"> easily prompts another one like, </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">What can we do to increase a sense of ownership in our museum</span><span style="color: #38761d;">?</span><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The questions that follow come from various sources: questions I have heard and read; borrowed and modified; constructed and revised. My appreciation goes to many, especially Lani, who forms many, good, strong, useful questions that reveal other questions. The questions I have selected are not only roomy, but help get at what we frequently miss until it's too late. They also help illustrate qualities of robust, productive questions. Perhaps they will invigorate your thinking about questions, offer a just-in-time question to hone, or start your list of really good questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">Really good questions serve different functions</b><span style="color: #1e3021;">. Some are openers, inviting exploration and opening dialogue. By asking, </span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><i>How can we develop an identity together as a group, or as a community?</i> </span><span style="color: #1e3021;">a question can initiate changes in how we see others, ourselves, or situations and create greater change. A question like, </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">Whose agenda is it, any way?</span></i><span style="color: #1e3021;"> can challenge our thinking. Questions to invite analysis are different than ones to invite reflection. A question for sustained study will not help in deciding how to begin an experiment. Some questions, like, </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">What makes a good stick?</span></i><span style="color: #1e3021;"> provoke thinking with their simplicity.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">Seemingly small differences among questions matter</b><span style="color: #1e3021;">. Questions get better when we take a close look, push on what is being said and not said, and compare. For instance, the question, </span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><i>What partners can we collaborate with to create a better version of our ideas and learn from</i>?</span><span style="color: #1e3021;"> offers meaningful distinctions compared to, </span><i style="color: #1e3021;">Who should we partner with on this project?</i><span style="color: #1e3021;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">Frequently, questions nestle inside of other questions </b><span style="color: #1e3021;">and we must look for those questions. Examining them uncovers assumptions and reveals lacking relevant or foundational knowledge. When we wonder, </span><i style="color: #1e3021;">how can we serve families in our community</i><span style="color: #1e3021;">, we might want to start by asking, </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">What ideas do we have about families in this neighborhood?</span></i><span style="color: #1e3021;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #1e3021;">So it’s not surprising that </span><b style="color: #1e3021;">a really good question does not emerge full-blown</b><span style="color: #1e3021;"> but is developed by peering into it, pushing on its assumptions, honing it, and finding the right language for it. This circling around and through a question is explored in </span><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2013/12/2014-resolution-shiny-questions.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #800180;">A Shiny Question</span></a><span style="color: #a64d79;">.</span><span style="color: #1e3021;"> An initial question moves through four versions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: helvetica;">• <i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;">What do children learn in a neighborhood-based learning environment?</span></i><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #a64d79; font-family: helvetica;">• <i>How do children become connected to the neighborhood?</i><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">• <i>How do children of different ages experience their community?</i></span><span style="color: blue;"></span><span style="color: #1e3021;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial;"><span style="color: #1e3021;">• Finally: </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">How are children of different ages and cultural groups building connections to their neighborhood through our community program?</span></i></span><span style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">Staying with a really good question is important</b><span style="color: #1e3021;"> because often we don’t know the answer to it. In fact, a really good question often is one that </span><u style="color: #1e3021;">can’t</u><span style="color: #1e3021;"> be answered. </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">What does your museum make possible?</span></i><i style="color: #1e3021;"> </i><span style="color: #1e3021;">tugs at our thinking, encouraging us to back up and reexamine beliefs and aspirations. While challenging us to be compassionate, generous, and bold, (and imagine what that looks and feels like) we are not likely to come up with a crisp to-do list or measurable goals but we may have a stronger sense of what creates meaningful change.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">We can end up with the same old answers unless we find new starting points. </b><i style="color: #1e3021;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What does this mean? </span></i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #1e3021;">is a familiar question</span><i style="color: #1e3021;"> </i><span style="color: #1e3021;">when we look at information gathered from observations and surveys. How much more thinking, discussion, and insight could emerge from asking, </span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><i>What is the deeper structure of these ideas?</i> </span><span style="color: #1e3021;">This may surface more thoughts about what lies beyond the obvious words, numbers, drawing, shapes, or activity that produced them.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt;">An uncomfortably open question like, </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">What is worth discovering?</span></i><span style="color: blue; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt;">pushes us to consider new starting points as does, </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">What is fascinating to children?</span><span style="color: blue;"> </span></i><span style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt;">We might ask, </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">What are we not seeing in this situation or opportunity?</span><span style="color: blue;"> </span></i><span style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt;">when familiarity with a situation clouds our vision. On the other hand, asking </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;">What questions have I <u>not</u> asked that I should be asking?</span><span style="color: #1e3021;"> </span></i><span style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt;">can help in navigating unfamiliar territory or exposing biases that hinder us.</span></span></div><span style="color: #1e3021; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Because we often confuse intention with achievement </span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #1e3021;">we need more productive questions. We want visitors to set challenges and take risks. We want them to care about climate change. Goals that insist this will happen because we plan for it are highly unlikely to be realized. However, a question that asks more of us and our thinking, like, </span><span style="color: #a64d79;"><i>How can we encourage and support visitors in setting their own challenges?</i> </span><span style="color: #1e3021;">may push us to imagine new ways of thinking about agency and engagement.</span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;"><span style="color: black;">When we want to bring others’ perspectives into our thinking</span></b><span style="color: black;"> and planning, for instance in visitor experience planning, we might ask, </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">What relevant competencies and questions do visitors bring with them to the museum that we are not thinking about? </span><span style="color: blue;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">Often our thinking stops short of where we hope it will take us</b><span style="color: #1e3021;">. Our team, department or partners may enjoy a deeply satisfying exploration about shared values or practices. Will it continue? To create new space we may need to ask, </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">How can we keep our shared understandings open and moving, experimental, improvising?</span></i></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b style="color: #1e3021;">Sometimes a rich and complex question emerges from dropping a single word</b><span style="color: #1e3021;">. Consider, </span><i style="color: #1e3021;">What are the rules? </i><span style="color: #1e3021;">compared with </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">What are rules?</span></i><span style="color: #1e3021;"> The latter opens a whole new line of exploration about who makes the rules and where they come from.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #1e3021; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #1e3021;">While asking a lot of questions is important, being alert to really good ones is critical. The more attuned we are to finding good questions, the more likely we’ll come across one that someone has thoughtfully honed and asked. Then it is ours to write down, revise, and polish. Ultimately, being inclined to refine a promising question to suit our purposes is the best way to answer the question: </span><i><span style="color: #a64d79;">What makes a good question?</span></i></span></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-65111295520679033952021-10-20T11:05:00.000-05:002021-10-20T11:05:16.370-05:00I Have a Problem with Failure<div style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;">MUSEUM NOTES </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;">Jeanne Vergeront </div><div style="background-color: white; color: #1e3021; font-family: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-align: center;">Vergeront Museum Planning </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-id7DF0yvsKY/YXA44B3hg1I/AAAAAAAAEBY/94Ykrc_8LhE3KC8a__E-Cnm43cWHQJePwCLcBGAsYHQ/s275/images.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="183" data-original-width="275" height="183" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-id7DF0yvsKY/YXA44B3hg1I/AAAAAAAAEBY/94Ykrc_8LhE3KC8a__E-Cnm43cWHQJePwCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/images.jpg" width="275" /></a></div><div><br /></div>I have a problem with failure. Let me be more specific about that. I have a problem with how we celebrate failure, especially for children. <div><br /></div><div>How many times have you heard, or said yourself: <i>children learn from failure</i>, <i>failure is good for children</i>. We say, <i>fail forward</i> with such certainty and confidence that we believe it. How do we know children learn from failure? Or that it’s good for them? </div><div><br /></div><div>Yes, failure is a part of life. Mistakes are inevitable. It’s valuable for children to be able to deal with setbacks. Distress or frustration tolerance is an important life skill to master. And fostering <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2021/08/resilience-what-do-we-mean.html" target="_blank">protective factors and resilience</a> has life-long benefits. Is celebrating failure the way to accomplish all that? </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Children, as novices in this world, take on many new things every single day: forming words, riding a bike, making friends, learning to read, helping around the house, understanding the physical world. But block towers crash. Estimates are off. A cherished toy is left on the plane. It’s what happens. Children get hurt and they will experience disappointment. Some setbacks are difficult to observe. </div><div><br /></div><div>When there is so much to marvel at in children’s urge to play, their eagerness to try so many things, and their delight in their accomplishments, why are we so eager to celebrate their failures? Remarkably, we even ask them to <a href="https://growkidsminds.com/gkm008-why-failure-is-good/" target="_blank">enjoy their failures</a>. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ghhAqx5Fzng/YXA56NBcpCI/AAAAAAAAEBg/ETx8NhLw9WIJ9IBzJn7dl_lvFQfV1Y-XACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_2645.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ghhAqx5Fzng/YXA56NBcpCI/AAAAAAAAEBg/ETx8NhLw9WIJ9IBzJn7dl_lvFQfV1Y-XACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_2645.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Our assumptions about children and failure suggest that we underestimate them and their capabilities. When we see failure as a tool for teaching competence, we are not recognizing that even very young children are already competent learners. They are curious and resourceful. They are already exploring, experimenting, learning, and they are ready to move on to something new. We also underestimate children’s capabilities to follow their interests, assess their capabilities, meet challenges, and ask for help when we make their world too narrow, safe, and predictable. Celebrating failure is, unfortunately, becoming an antidote to relentless perfectionism in the lives of too many children. </div><div><br /></div><div>I am puzzled about why we are so certain that how we, as adults, view failure would be the same as a child’s experience of failure. I suspect our adult lens on children’s experiences is clouding our perspective. We confidently assume that we know what’s going on for the child when they climb a tree and can’t get down, spill milk, forget to do their homework, or hurt a friend’s feelings. </div><div><br /></div><div>We might consider what the possibility of trying something risky, stretching to meet a challenge, learning something new, or accomplishing a hard task feels like to a child. Fascination with what might happen is powerful; a child wonders what will happen if they try this, then what will happen, and then what will happen next? When things didn’t go as <u>we</u> think they should, we assume failure. The child, however, finds new information, a better idea, something else to try, and moves on. Where we see failure, a child finds an opportunity to figure out how a lid snaps closed, how to slow down a bike, how to make-up with a friend, or build a sturdier fort. </div><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8ivQP3aIHQM/YXA60KDBlOI/AAAAAAAAEBo/gQINM3gEduoIJ0WmOfTL5xLH5V5bseAHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/114_1487.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8ivQP3aIHQM/YXA60KDBlOI/AAAAAAAAEBo/gQINM3gEduoIJ0WmOfTL5xLH5V5bseAHgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/114_1487.JPG" width="320" /></a>Before labelling something as a failure, we should consider what’s happening for the child. For instance, what does a child experience as a setback? And what does that mean to them? Especially for young children, an adult idea of success or failure is irrelevant. Children don’t know about failure until we teach them about it, often with sharp words, a look of disappointment, or a rush to fix everything. In play, children often incorporate setbacks into a play narrative, a new construction, or the rules of a game. When a child plays, tinkers, or putters, they don’t have a checklist or time frame as adults do in many areas of child development and education. “Shares with a friend.” CHECK. “Carries a bucket of sand without spilling.” CHECK. </div><div><br /></div><div>Championing failure implies that we view life as a test. For children, especially younger children, life is practice, not a constant, on-going set of tasks and tests. By celebrating failure, we are judging all the time, placing everyday happenings on a game field of win-lose, success-failure, right-wrong. Is it really helpful to label an effort a failure and add a dose of shame or embarrassment to how a child understands what happened? Lost a mitten? Dropped something down the drain; knocked over the glass vase, didn’t make the team? </div><div><br /></div><div>What else are we saying by celebrating failure? There's a message that we value failure over persistence or having new ideas. That adults’ naming failure takes precedence over children understanding and incorporating what they’ve learned, or finding new ways to solve their problems. Ironically, by calling out failure we might just be stigmatizing rather than celebrating it. </div><div><br /></div><div>True failure does exist and should not be trivialized. We don’t, however, need to celebrate failure in order to accept that life and learning are seamless ways of wondering, exploring, finding out, and growing. Richard Feynman, 1965 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics reminds us: </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span> </span><span style="color: red;">Being wrong is not a bad thing like they teach you in school. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">It is an opportunity to learn something. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">There are no mistakes, only lessons. </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: red;">Growth is a process of trial and error. </span></div><div><br /></div><div>We might fail less and celebrate accomplishments more if we were to create physical and social-emotional environments and experiences for children in museums, classrooms, playgrounds, backyards, and homes that: </div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Value persistence and having ideas </li><li>Highlight open-ended materials and activities </li><li>Encourage focus and absorption </li><li>Make room for children to choose and follow their choices </li><li>Manage expectations and patience </li><li>Invite conversation about ideas and what’s happening </li><li>Trust children to direct their play, exploration, and learning </li><li>Celebrate accomplishments, small and large </li><li>Let play happen; in play, outcomes are undefined, consequences are minimal </li></ul></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-707023702286697502021-10-03T19:06:00.001-05:002021-10-03T19:06:26.725-05:00Seeing Ourselves as Learners<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">MUSEUM NOTES </div><div style="text-align: center;">Jeanne Vergeront </div><div style="text-align: center;">Vergeront Museum Planning </div><div><br /></div><br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HO1e2BuaXIM/YVo_zW3Et9I/AAAAAAAAEAs/XxOZEr9LdOc40FhHtn18KMmYHKzuRjOJACLcBGAsYHQ/s468/book-art-d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="312" data-original-width="468" height="266" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HO1e2BuaXIM/YVo_zW3Et9I/AAAAAAAAEAs/XxOZEr9LdOc40FhHtn18KMmYHKzuRjOJACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h266/book-art-d.jpg" width="400" /></a><br /></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: center;">Photo Credit: Anagram Bookshop</span></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div>Fresh from a recent 2-hour Zoom with my Thursday morning thinking group, I
wondered what I would do without them and, for that matter, without my Wednesday
afternoon talk group. For years these lively, meandering conversations have
excited my mind, introduced me to new ideas, and dislodged me from some brittle
certainties. They have sharpened my thinking for some Museum Notes posts. To be
honest, these rich collegial conversations (along with videos of babies and
dogs) have recharged and delighted me over these pandemic years. </div><div><br /></div><div>So, when I watched Paul Orselli’s FAQ interview with Dr. Preeti Gupta and Dr. Lynn Tran on <a href="https://www.orselli.net/aiovg_videos/how-can-professional-learning-help-rebuild-the-museum-field/" target="_blank">professional learning’s role in rebuilding the museum field</a>, my mind took off
to think about museum staff and volunteers as learners. </div><div><br /></div><div>Learning happens everywhere, all the time and over time. All of us, from all walks of life,
throughout our lives, learn in everyday moments, casually, in virtually every
setting we are in. We learn at home, work, school; on-line, in the garden and on
walks; when we talk to neighbors over the fence or travel the world. We are
constantly adding to, tinkering with, or revising our thinking and learning.
That’s just the way it is in this world and it's just the way we are as humans. </div><div><br /></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lw4XwDJBkKk/YVpEd-klUdI/AAAAAAAAEA0/dy_rr2zwl743J1LR__7MGiQb-VN6MEwtgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/117_1794.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lw4XwDJBkKk/YVpEd-klUdI/AAAAAAAAEA0/dy_rr2zwl743J1LR__7MGiQb-VN6MEwtgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/117_1794.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo: Portland Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table>We are so wired to learn from birth that we almost have to try to not learn.
Still, we do have to work to continue learning in meaningful, relevant ways to
stay abreast with our dynamic world and changes in our jobs, museums,
communities, and ourselves. We encounter new technologies, theories,
perspectives, relationships, vocabulary, health research, etc. all the time. </div><div><br /></div><div>How
do we prepare ourselves as individuals and as professionals for these changes?
How do we keep up with, be invigorated by, and enjoy the changes we encounter?
Discover and explore new ideas? I can’t think of another way than to grow
ourselves as active, engaged learners, the kind of learners we hope our visitors
are. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, we all grow somewhat as museum learners, but I am certain we could grow
more as self-directed, supported learners if we were more intentional and viewed
our learning more broadly. I have found myself thinking about the following
questions. </div><div><br /></div><div>• How do we square our explicit museum commitment to advance learning
without also committing to being active, intentional learners ourselves? </div><div>• What
limits supporting vibrant learning communities among colleagues? </div><div>• How can we
engage and support learners in a vibrant, on-going museum learning community? </div><div>•
Why not get started right now? </div><div><br /></div><div><b>How do we square our explicit museum commitment
to advance learning without also committing to being active, intentional
learners ourselves?</b> This is a critical question to address honestly. Museums
liberally sprinkle their visions, missions, and values with learning; life-long
learning; education and educational. Learning is at the heart of other ideas:
expanding public knowledge, an ever-deeper understanding, or engage, educate,
and enlighten. Museums identify as places of informal learning and as part of
the learning ecosystem. They focus on family learning, early learning, and
experiential learning. Websites highlight how museums accomplish their learning
interests—educational outreach, field trips, teaching strategies, innovative
learning experiences, and PD workshops for teachers. Museums often talk about
co-constructing experiences with visitors, but less so about co-constructing
knowledge among colleagues. </div><div><br /></div><div>Being true to museums’ roles and responsibilities
means seeing ourselves as learners, infusing our work with an energy around our
learning as well as visitors’. It means working in a state of curiosity,
questions, ideas and making meaning together. This is a responsibility of both
the organization and its staff and volunteers. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>What limits supporting vibrant
learning communities among colleagues?</b> Time, always scarce, is inevitably the
big hurdle in growing a robust learning community among colleagues. We are busy,
often carrying large workloads which hardly allows enough time to cover
everything; schedules vary. Unfortunately, time is also critical for growing a
community of learners. It is necessary for reading, reflecting, and discussing
articles, studies, and ideas; for exploring complex issues in a meaningful way;
for following ideas and integrating practices into the museum’s work; for
tracking impact; and, for building trust. Professional growth during brown bag
lunches simply doesn’t communicate that the activity is valued as much as saving
time is. </div><div><br /></div><div>Funding is also critical to staff learning being a priority.
Realistically, professional growth isn’t likely to reduce costs. More likely it
will add costs and compete for time with demands of job responsibilities.
Fortunately, other benefits accrue: improved staff satisfaction, innovative
strategies, greater collegiality and long-time friendships; and increased
capacity and impact. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9MuVD0YvzY8/YVol8EohIUI/AAAAAAAAD_0/istHoJqgXqcCh9N7l5uhrdH85tTZ3UfGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s640/photo_3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="458" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9MuVD0YvzY8/YVol8EohIUI/AAAAAAAAD_0/istHoJqgXqcCh9N7l5uhrdH85tTZ3UfGQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/photo_3.JPG" width="229" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mini-YMEC reunion at ASTC:<br />Paul Richard & Paul Tatter</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><br /></div><div>How we see
ourselves as thinkers and learners plays out here as well. While we come into
our positions with expertise and skill, we may not question 5 or 10 years later
how sharp our skills are. When confident in our expertise and experience in our
area, we may not challenge assumptions, consider new scholarship, or try new
practices. So busy doing, preparing, and moving to the next set of deadlines, we
assume our work has a beginning and end rather than fits into repeating cycles
which invite reflection and learning. </div><div><br /></div><div>Responsibility for professional growth may
receive inadequate attention in a museum, as an afterthought, or tucked into
“other duties as assigned.” A patchwork of responsibilities in HR, department
budgets, or director’s choice means required training tops the list and annual
conferences are automatically approved. Midyear budget trimming takes a bite out
of it. </div><div><br /></div><div>A robust professional growth and development program is not an item on a
checklist, but an expression of a museum’s values, its commitment to its people,
a belief in its impact, and its investment in its future. It takes time,
resources, collaboration, and imagination. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>How can we engage and support museum
learners in a vibrant, on-going museum learning community?</b> Conjure up the most
powerful professional learning experience you’ve ever had, something that really
inspired you, changed your perspective, or energized you to do something
differently. Was it discovering a new practice? A deeper understanding of a
familiar concept? Glimpsing how to engage more effectively with visitors? And
what about it was so valuable? Navigating diverse perspectives? Extended time
with colleagues? Time to consider ideas critically? Moving at your own pace? </div><div><br /></div><div>As
informal learning settings, museums start with an advantage in creating learning
experiences that are participatory, learner-directed, offer choice, and reflect
an understanding of adult learners. Then, museums limit themselves to a few
formats like trainings and conferences to deliver targeted professional content.
This contrasts with museums encouraging staff to shape experiences that reflect
their own learning interests. </div><div><br /></div><div>These interests vary widely across any museum.
Staff may be brand new or long serving; have a museum background or not; have
practical or philosophical inclinations; be drawn to local or national issues.
Still, everyone deserves access to professional learning and growth
opportunities that suit them. The following examples (many of which are,
unfortunately, no longer active) illustrate just how wide-open learning
opportunities can be, opportunities where museum learners adapt formats, play
with group size, and modify along the way. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Thinking Groups</u>, self-forming groups
of practitioners, are connected by an interest such as facilitation, design
thinking, assessment and documentation, early years, or cultural competency.
Thinking groups are flexible. Small or large, they may be contained within a
museum or reach across museums, link with academic or other settings. Familiar
in museums as communities of practice (CoP), members get together regularly
around a shared concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do
it better together. </div><div><br /></div><div>Thinking—or working—groups may be formed to address museum
as well as field-wide needs such as <a href="https://childrensmuseums.blog/2021/07/29/new-hand-to-hand-the-power-of-we/" target="_blank">regional support networks</a>,
<a href="https://www.astc.org/astc-dimensions/lessons-from-the-noyce-leadership-institute/" target="_blank">leadership development</a>; and exhibit resources.
Thirty years after two groups of children’s museums formed YMEC (Youth Museum
Exhibit Collaborative) and MC2 exhibit collaboratives (Midwest Children’s Museum
Collaborative), members still talk about how much they grew professionally
through their involvement, sharing with others, and solving problems together. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Extended Inquiry</u> is not just for evaluators and researchers, not just for
scientists, and not just for grants. Rather, on-going inquiry can be carried out
with colleagues at a museum and in other places with shared interests. Do you
have a chewy question? Most everyone does—about their practice, learning,
observation, the power of objects that can be explored through various
approaches. <a href="https://www.nisenet.org/catalog/team-based-inquiry-guid" target="_blank">Team-based Inquiry</a> and <a href="https://base.socioeco.org/docs/center_for_collaborative_action_research.pdf" target="_blank">collaborative action research</a> are two just examples of processes. </div><div><br /></div><div>Years ago, I facilitated several groups of K-12 teachers engaged in year-long
action research projects. These teachers spent the school year questioning,
observing, introducing new strategies, reflecting, and changing their practice
in areas of importance to them. They were invigorated by formulating research
questions that mattered to them, critiquing their own classroom practice in
order to change it, and thinking with colleagues. </div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left; text-decoration-line: underline;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0I9m8-zz3-A/YVooZhMjwUI/AAAAAAAAEAM/TriLy9BfOiU9fTXPjfANr7gbSzohSE3sACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/FinalReflection1.2.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1395" data-original-width="2048" height="218" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0I9m8-zz3-A/YVooZhMjwUI/AAAAAAAAEAM/TriLy9BfOiU9fTXPjfANr7gbSzohSE3sACLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h218/FinalReflection1.2.heic" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Small group reflection in Reggio 2013</span></td></tr></tbody></table></blockquote><div><div style="text-align: right;"><u style="text-align: left;">Study Tours</u><span style="text-align: left;">, focused
group-learning experiences, combine travel with an extended investigation of an
approach, set of practices, or other settings. A 2013 museum study tour allowed
52 participants on 9 museum teams along with partners from research, higher ed,
design, and early childhood to participate in an 8-day study tour of the
municipal schools of Reggio Emilia (Italy). With daily presentations by early
childhood specialists, educators and studio teachers, visits to the
infant-toddler centers and preschools, a tour of the Documentation and
Educational </span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: right;"><span style="text-align: left;">Research Center, and facilitated reflections, the study tour allowed
extended amounts of time for exploring and reflecting which is typically absent
from professional learning experiences. Study tours can involve less time and
money while maintaining the benefits of exploring other settings with group
visits to arts organizations, libraries and nature centers, or behind-the-scene
tours of museums. </span></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>• Museums have <u>book group</u>s for their members
(http://www.museumedu.org/museum-book-clubs/); why not for staff? Reading groups
can take many forms: be small or large; sample topics or deep dive into a
subject; be in-person or virtual; include one or multiple departments or
museums; be facilitated or open-discussion. What they have in common is a shared
experience with varied perspectives, new research, content connections; and time
for lively discussion. </div><div><br /></div><div>In the mid 1990’s ASTC fielded an NEH-funded project for
staff in museums in 3 areas, Boston, Twin Cities, and the Bay Area to read a
number of classic books paired with science exhibits. Books included Plato’s
Meno, Swift’s Gulliver's Travels, Shelley’s Frankenstein, and Keller’s A Feeling
for the Organism. Discussions were facilitated in seminars by St John’s College
tutors including Tom Simpson. A participant in the project, I found the readings
and discussions both strenuous and invigorating. This project stands out as rich
and multi-layered, an impressive invitation to learn together. </div><div><br /></div><div>What many, if not
most, of these professional growth opportunities have in common is that personal
choice and external support are built into them. They involve shared interests,
growing relationships, continuity over time, building trust, and offering a
sense of comfort and safety. </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ImV988lhIno/YVovhZrQ3sI/AAAAAAAAEAc/fT4r2jcQRtQhSFf7PRjhz0ZsQQvYhfDKACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/2013-08-23%2B16.43.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ImV988lhIno/YVovhZrQ3sI/AAAAAAAAEAc/fT4r2jcQRtQhSFf7PRjhz0ZsQQvYhfDKACLcBGAsYHQ/w240-h320/2013-08-23%2B16.43.27.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Design Thinking Boot Camp:<br />Minnesota Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Why not get started right now?</b> The list </div><div>doesn’t
have to end there. Be inventive; </div><div>shape your own <span style="text-align: right;">professional learning experiences. </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">Be bold! What about a boot camp, your very </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">own think tank, or a symposium? Start with </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">what sparks your curiosity. What you want </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">to know more about: adult learning? the </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">socio-cultural context in learning? tinkering </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">for elders? What topics in articles, journals, </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">and blogs have made you light up thinking, </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">“Yes! I’ve been waiting for that!” Look </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">below at some resources that might move </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">you and your colleagues forward and build </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">some momentum towards a museum </span></div><div><span style="text-align: right;">professional learning community.</span> </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"> </div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"></div></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><div><u>Form a group</u>, even a small group of two or three. Name it to
help get it going. I once started a group called “The Little Big Ideas Club”
with two friends. We had ideas for projects that we wanted to explore; they
weren’t big or remarkable project ideas. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Join an existing talking</u> <u>or thinking
group</u> like NISE Network’s Team-based Inquiry. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Check-out the following links or
websites</u>. These resources are for different audiences, evaluators, scientists,
educators, the problem finders, and the curious. Most resources link to tools
and more resources. You will surely find something. </div><div><br /></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>“<a href="https://www.orselli.net/aiovg_videos/how-can-professional-learning-help-rebuild-the-museum-field/ " target="_blank">How Can Professional Learning Help Rebuild the Museum Field</a>?” POW’s FAQ with Dr. Preeti Gupta and Dr.
Lynn Tran</li><li><a href="https://childrensmuseums.blog/2021/07/29/new-hand-to-hand-the-power-of-we/ " target="_blank"><span style="color: black;">Hand To Hand</span></a> Vol 34, No. 3. July 2021: <a href="https://childrensmuseums.blog/2021/07/29/new-hand-to-hand-the-power-of-we/ " target="_blank">Regional Networks</a></li><li><a href="https://childrensmuseums.org/childrens-museum-research-network " target="_blank">Children’s Museum Research Network</a></li><li><a href="https://community.astc.org/ccli/home " target="_blank">CulturalCompetence Learning Institute</a></li><li>Bronwyn
Bevan, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/cura.12204" target="_blank">Research to Practice: One Way, Two Way, No Way, or New Way?</a> Curator: The
Museum Journal. Volume 60, Issue 2. April 2017 </li><li>NISE (Nano-scale
Informal Science Education) Network: <a href="https://www.nisenet.org/catalog/team-based-inquiry-guide " target="_blank">Team-based Inquiry</a></li><li>Museum Notes: <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2013/12/reggio-study-tour-and-childrens-museum.html" target="_blank">2013 Reggio StudyTour and the Children’s Museum Field</a> </li><li><a href="mattandsusan@centerforplayfulinquiry.com " target="_blank">Center for Playful Inquiry</a>…picking up where the Reggio-inspired Opal School at
Portland Children’s Museum left off when it closed in 2021</li><li>Museum
Notes: <a href="Observation: Seeing, Un-seeing, Re-seeing">Observation: Seeing, Un-seeing, Re-seeing</a> </li><li>Museum Notes: <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/09/in-between-research-practice-and-theory.html" target="_blank">In Between Theory, Research and Practice</a> </li></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br />Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-90768458692321887822021-08-28T14:11:00.002-05:002021-08-28T14:11:54.641-05:00Resilience: What Do We Mean?<div style="text-align: center;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-giMOCRbpzZ0/YSp-vbSUVtI/AAAAAAAAD_g/QH5xiGCUWa4xto3TFtx0m_r53h4f27hLACLcBGAsYHQ/s822/michaltrpak03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="822" data-original-width="617" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-giMOCRbpzZ0/YSp-vbSUVtI/AAAAAAAAD_g/QH5xiGCUWa4xto3TFtx0m_r53h4f27hLACLcBGAsYHQ/w300-h400/michaltrpak03.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Sculpture by Michal Trbak</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Among the buzzwords brought to us by COVID-19–<i>pivot</i>, <i>unprecedented</i>, <i>agile</i>, and <i>pandemic</i>–is the near-ubiquitous word, <i>resilience</i>. Throughout the pandemic, resilience seems to have been everywhere, in <a href="https://www.imls.gov/blog/2020/04/facing-challenge-resilience-how-museums-are-responding-during-covid-19" target="_blank">headlines</a>, <a href="https://www.aam-us.org/2021/05/01/inside-out-outside-in-a-resilience-model-for-museums-offers-strategies-to-address-challenging-realities/" target="_blank">blog topics</a>, <a href="https://www.museumsassociation.org/careers/wellbeing-hub/building-resilience/#" target="_blank">articles</a>, and <a href="https://www.childrensmuseums.org/interactivity/interactivity-2021" target="_blank">conference themes</a>. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When I asked two colleagues what they mean by resilience, one said, “keep going in spite of all sorts of things that have happened and continue to happen.” The other said, “optimism and hope that what you’re working towards is going to get you to a better place.” One website recommended museum workers develop resilience by taking a break and allowing time for self-care. Other views of resilience in a museum context are set in long-term, large-scale challenges such as Louisiana Children’s Museum’s resilience framework developed in response to Hurricane Katrina. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And that’s resilience only in the museum context. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">My introduction to resilience was in the mid 1990’s by Ann S. Masten, then a Minnesota Children’s Museum board member, professor of Child Development at the University of Minnesota, and researcher on resilience in children. <a href="https://www.parentingforbrain.com/resilience-theory/" target="_blank">In that context</a>, resilience refers to children’s ability to pull through or bounce back from challenges and stress with the help of a set of protective factors provided by positive experiences, individuals, the family, and the community. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">So, when someone refers to resilience, I can’t help but wonder what they mean. Are they referring to individuals—children, youth, museum staff, or leaders? Maybe they mean groups such as families, museums or schools. Or cities and communities. Might they be viewing resilience as mental health, child development, family strength, organizational health, or climate change? Are they thinking resilience is surviving, recovering, or thriving? While any, or even all, of these meanings are possible, they are not always clear or applicable. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Resilience, also referred to as resiliency, is understandably of great interest to museums especially after our long pandemic year, economic slowdown, and social unrest. The pandemic, however, was not the first upheaval for some museums; nor will it be the last. In the wake of hurricanes Katrina (2005) and Sandy (2012), museums coped with environmental disruption, endured related trauma, and struggled to survive. Going forward, all museums will encounter change including large-scale disruption. External circumstances intersect with museum missions, community responsibility, resources, and long-term viability. They always have, but we are acutely aware of it now. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">An attractive, timely construct, resilience is much more than bouncing back which is precisely what makes it so valuable. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><br /></b></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;">Unpacking Resilience</span></b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Over the last 40 years, multiple theories, frameworks, models, and studies on resilience have developed across disciplines, from human development to epidemiology to educational administration to social sciences. Although terms and definitions vary among disciplines, models, and researchers, resilience is applied at the level of the individual, family, organization, community, and environment. Frameworks and models are not interchangeable, but they do share some underlying elements related to good outcomes in the face of challenge, adversity, and misfortune. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In general, resilience is an asset-based, not a deficit-based, construct. Rather than focusing on the negative consequences of exposure to adversity, resilience centers on the positive variables, or protective factors, that individuals and organizations possess to deal with stressors and to moderate exposure to risk and trauma. Not a single, static trait located in a particular place or person, resilience is more like a capacity distributed across people, organizations, places, and relationships dealing with personal loss, natural disaster, or a pandemic. Interconnections occur not only among individuals, organizations, and other systems, but also among multiple internal and external factors. Internal factors include skills, hardiness, support, and optimism while external and environmental factors include supportive resources, relationships, and robust systems. There appear to be parallel resilience factors such as close relationships, active coping, hope and optimism, and a positive view of self or community that work at multiple levels. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Across various stages of adversity and challenge, individuals, organizations, and community respond by surviving, recovering, or even thriving. </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Surviving involves continuing to function but at an impaired rate. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Recovering points to a return over time to where the individual or organization was previously in spite of stressful experiences. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Thriving is going beyond the original level of functioning as a result of experiencing setbacks as a growth opportunity. </span></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">These shared features across models and scales, from individuals to groups like families and organizations, to cities and regions are a helpful context to museums thinking about and growing their capacity for resilience. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Resiliency Frameworks</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Much more than reacting to events thrust upon us or our museums or those of our own doing, resilience is how families, museums, and communities prepare for, respond to, and adapt to change and challenge. Since every museum will at some time meet with upheaval as will its leaders, staff, community, and visitors, museums want–and need–to be prepared for the next disruptive event whether it is economic, social, ecological, or medical. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">As many museums have learned over the last 18 months, how they weathered the pandemic was a function of multiple factors, some within their control and others beyond their control. It was not only the nature of the pandemic itself, but how the museum was prepared and how it responded that made a difference in the pandemic's impact. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">To minimize setbacks and adapt successfully to disturbances, museums need to anticipate and prepare for both incremental change and major disruptions before the next crisis. One step in preparing is developing a resiliency framework that identifies risks, develops protective factors, and increases readiness to adapt. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Each museum’s resiliency framework will be, and should be, different. The specific steps taken, questions explored, and participants involved will also vary by museum. The following sets of questions are intended to help launch discussions and reflections on how the museum has fared over the pandemic, </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">consolidate </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">lessons learned, clarify local resilience challenges, and identify protective factors and opportunities. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Build a deeper, shared understanding of resilience</u>. Think about: </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">How does the museum view resilience in its context? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Where is the museum’s greatest interest, or need, in growing resilience? Is it in its staff, leadership, the organization, its audience? </span></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Ground the framework in the current situation and its particular resiliency challenge</u>. Think about: </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In what areas–health and well-being; equity; cohesive and connected communities; resources; environmental–is the museum most likely to face challenges? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What might the nature of these challenges, or disruptions, be? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What are alternative ways to view the greatest challenges, or view a challenge as an asset? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Over which external factors does it have greater and lesser control over? </span></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Examine the museum’s internal capacity and challenges</u>. Think about: </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What protective factors does the museum, leadership, staff, children and youth in the community or the city currently enjoy? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">How can the museum intentionally build on this capacity to better meet disruptions? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In what areas could additional capabilities enhance the museum’s resilience? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What does the museum have control over that can promote resilience? </span></li></ul></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u><br /></u></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Look ahead, prepare for what’s next</u>. Think about: </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What does surviving, recovering, and thriving look like in the face of disruptions? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Where is the museum under-investing in its capacity? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What additional strategies must it develop? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Where does the museum start in growing and organizing resources for resilience? </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What will keep the museum flexible and nimble? </span></li></ul></div><div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Developing a resilience framework won't stop a pandemic or natural disaster in its tracks, but it will help soften the blow,</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> assist the museum in adapting, help it bounce back, and, ultimately, flourish in the face of change. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Resilience Across Contexts and Scales</b></span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/100-resilient-cities" target="_blank">Resilient Cities</a> Work being supported by the Rockefeller Foundation </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="http://leadingbydesign.blogspot.com/2020/12/introducing-resilience-playbook.html" target="_blank">The Resilience Playbook</a>, Ann W. Ackerson, Gail Anderson, and Dina Bailey </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/jftr.12255" target="_blank">Resilience Theory and Research on Children and Families: Past, Present, and Promise</a> by Ann S. Masten </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7314620/ " target="_blank">Multisystem Resilience for Children and Youth in Disaster: Reflections in the Context of COVID-19</a> by Ann S. Masten and Frosso Motti-Stefanidi </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244014545464" target="_blank">Conceptual Frameworks and Research Models on Resilience in Leadership</a> by Janet Ledesma</span></li></ul></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-11651627292970800622021-08-03T18:54:00.001-05:002021-08-03T18:54:31.139-05:00In Partnership with Children: Experience Planning<div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jdQBrusfRWc/YQnB9yW51WI/AAAAAAAAD94/Qn9OuCzC2zEwj5x_3h0wU2u-pmFiUwVuQCLcBGAsYHQ/s680/partizipation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="290" data-original-width="680" height="170" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jdQBrusfRWc/YQnB9yW51WI/AAAAAAAAD94/Qn9OuCzC2zEwj5x_3h0wU2u-pmFiUwVuQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h170/partizipation.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>MUSEUM NOTES</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">With a strong interest in welcoming, focusing on, and serving visitors, museums describe themselves as visitor centered. Children’s museums also focus on their visitors. In particular, they give particular attention to children whose well-being and learning are at the center of these museums’ own long-term, strategic interests. Children, rather than content, are the reason for children’s museums. In fact, they are both the core audience and the primary explorers of the experiences children’s museums create. </span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Centering on children is also evident in children’s museums’ visions, missions, and values. Vision statements often envision a promising future with expanding opportunities for children. Missions focus on the critical role of play in children’s development, sparking a delight in learning, and nurturing their unfolding creative potential. Values such as the critical role of play and childhood, early learners becoming lifelong learners, and the supportive relationships of parents and caregivers guide these museums. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Intentions are not achievement, however. While a strong and aligned set of beliefs and aspirations is critical, it is only a start in keeping children at the center of a museum’s work. Centering is not guaranteed; competition for an organization’s time, attention, and resources is constant. Everything wants to be at the center: safety; subject matter; play; resilience; sustainability; architecture. If the priority is keeping children at the heart of the museum, we must think often, hard, and in new ways about how to do it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PwqkM_WswP4/YQnDUQSXapI/AAAAAAAAD-I/ovC5aPcdGuosJcMxc6gdOt0gDCaOGpMQgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/2013-08-23%2B13.54.00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="236" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PwqkM_WswP4/YQnDUQSXapI/AAAAAAAAD-I/ovC5aPcdGuosJcMxc6gdOt0gDCaOGpMQgCLcBGAsYHQ/w314-h236/2013-08-23%2B13.54.00.jpg" width="314" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Project: <br />Minnesota Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table>How can children’s museums act on their visions and values to create remarkable experiences of enduring value for children and become recognized anchors in their communities across generations? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">They can work in partnership with children. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>In Partnership with Children</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A long-term, active, and respectful relationship between a museum, its staff, trustees, and volunteers, and children connects beliefs with behaviors. Actually a mindset, being in partnership with children permeates how we view children, work in new ways, and see ourselves as learners. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Typically, museums form partnerships with organizations around relatively near-term objectives for a project, to extend audience reach, or access expertise. While children do participate in museum projects as an invited audience group, their participation is typically short-term and structured around a specific activity. They are unlikely to be viewed as long-term partners or having relevant expertise for the experiences created for them. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Generally, children’s participation in developing the exhibits and programs we produce for them is limited. When considered at all, their involvement is often a single activity or workshop, something a team schedules and carries out to gather children’s input on preferences, what they like, or icons of popular culture they recognize. Planning team members ask some questions, check the core curriculum, and move through the established experience-planning process, prototyping along the way, ticking off steps, and tucking bits gleaned from children into the final design. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This is neither a partnership nor an expression of great respect for children’s capabilities to contribute to the opportunities we create for them, in fact, the very opportunities we want them to enjoy at our museums. Consequently, we don’t benefit from children’s insights, expertise, and ideas for shaping varied experiences and opportunities we offer them, their families, caregivers, and teachers. We simply don’t ask them. Ironically, while our goal is to engage children in learning experiences in finished exhibits and galleries, we keep them from the learning opportunities in planning: telling us about themselves, what is fascinating to them, what they wonder about, where they see connections between ideas. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While we may say we plan with children in mind, </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">we fail to add the critical perspective of the<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lTmv61otqps/YQnHNrEWxXI/AAAAAAAAD-w/8kaTcBB_8zAAWm2YJYNG1gjLoqqAAObZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3366%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lTmv61otqps/YQnHNrEWxXI/AAAAAAAAD-w/8kaTcBB_8zAAWm2YJYNG1gjLoqqAAObZQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_3366%2Bcopy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Project: Explore & More Children's Museum<br />Buffalo, NY</span></td></tr></tbody></table> end user. Without children’s first-hand information, we create experiences grounded in adult assumptions and expectations about them. Understanding what children like, how they construct knowledge, or what is humorous to them comes through an adult lens, if it comes through at all. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Seeing Children </span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Whether we are parents, caregivers, teachers, or museum staff, we each carry an <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2015/05/becoming-museum-with-strong-image-of.html" target="_blank">image of the child</a> which invisibly directs us as we approach, talk to, listen to, and design for them. At the core of our partnership with children is our view of them. Is it the capable child or the needy child? If we see children as needing help and we focus on what they can’t (yet) do, we overlook their competence and what they are capable of contributing to our understanding and to their exhibit experience. If, on the other hand, we see them as resourceful, capable of making choices using many modalities to express their ideas, children become co-constructors of experiences with us. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Shifting to a mindset of the child as rich in ideas and potential, strong in spirit, and an active agent in their own learning moves our thinking and informs our work. We begin to assume children have something valuable to contribute which, in turn, suggests questions to explore, ways to engage them, and generates new insights. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When children are valued partners, competent and full of potential, we view them as actors and active agents with us. They are subjects who think and create, not objects to be studied, managed, or directed to do what we already had in mind. Children are, in fact, sources of information and expertise that is otherwise unavailable to us. Together with them we can investigate our questions and theirs about how they understand a corner of the world in an exhibit in ways that help expand opportunities for them to explore, discover, and learn. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1223" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PfioF9YJ5pg/YQnCUh-yDYI/AAAAAAAAD-A/YR4_mnr4TOEDq69TlHPKs5pGl0itUhbagCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/InPartnershipWithChildren.heic" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="191" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: small;">Project: Hands On Discovery Center</span><br style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: small;" /><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Johnson City, TN<br /></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: center;">We ask different questions of children when we have a strong, positive image of them. We interact differently with them. Rather than asking, d<i>o you like this or that</i>, making up a sorting exercise, or evaluating their knowledge, we shape questions to deepen our understanding of what children wonder about and care about. We follow what they notice and where that noticing takes them. We look into what they think is happening when waves crash, bubbles burst, or fish sleep. At the same time, they are having real-world experiences, exploring, sharing, and understanding their interests, choices, and identities. </span></div><div><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></b></div><div><b><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Working in New Ways </span></b></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">After decades of planning experiences <i>for </i>children rather than <i>with</i> them, bringing them into an established experience planning process seems challenging. In fact, partnering with children builds on existing processes and practices. It engages with a museum-led process to create museum-identified experiences such as an exhibit, placemaking, an initiative, or even a building. Grounded in a practice of inquiry, partnering with children adds their points of view to the diverse perspectives of educators, developers, designers, researchers and evaluators thinking together. From preplanning to opening, every phase of the process includes children in meaningful ways that build on their strengths. Using varied strategies, such as drawing, writing, materials exploration, and discussion, children become co-researchers with designers, developers, and educators in creating an exhibit. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">What this approach adds to a typical exhibit planning process is an on-going dialogue between the museum’s team and the children it wants to serve, sometimes involving and learning from parents as well. The team follows its charge from the museum to explore a topic or question and develop an exhibit. It is not looking to children to decide the direction, content, or design. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Team interest in and curiosity about children’s </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">thinking and ideas, along with a spirit of<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UDrLt1kazEI/YQnFSqSD9JI/AAAAAAAAD-g/XnEsX0sNiFo5WrXMF_7al-dnokzRZXukgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_1326%2Bcopy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UDrLt1kazEI/YQnFSqSD9JI/AAAAAAAAD-g/XnEsX0sNiFo5WrXMF_7al-dnokzRZXukgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_1326%2Bcopy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: American University</span></td></tr></tbody></table> openness informs how it involves them in a question-powered process supported by inquiry, reflection, documentation; by interpreting and revisiting their words, drawings, and constructions. And finding new meaning there. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Team-created openings bring children into the process to help shape the exhibit, its approach, context, experiences, and activities. Often framed around overarching questions, children’s involvement allows them to share what is interesting and important in their daily lives. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children's exploration of materials, conversations, choices, and expressions of their feelings allow the team to glimpse and appreciate their agency, curiosity, imagination, and funds of knowledge. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Observation of children’s natural exploration and learning strategies along with their own spoken, written, and visual contributions gathered from conversations, workshops, and physical explorations inform and inspire the team throughout its work. A team may consider drawings, narratives, discussions, photos, asking <i>what are we seeing here?</i> <i>what does this tell us about how children understand this?</i> <i>what is behind these words or inside this drawing?</i> Every contribution, response, new question, and idea children offer in this exchange deserves thoughtful consideration, although not every idea must be used. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The team selects the most intriguing and relevant traces of children to reflect on and to follow their connections in an effort to better understand them, expand its perspective, and further its own explorations. The team might find a new question, revisit and revise previous assumptions, or encounter possibilities it hadn’t thought of before. In the process, a team and its members begin to see alternative ways of working with children and folding in their views. Teams discover what children know about their world and how that might inform the exhibit context and activities. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zLLIKtKG3_0/YQnGX_ZhJxI/AAAAAAAAD-o/AWgyltO-9v4ONDHBl2w73xiYMpBQsu86ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/10006607_644837242237483_7513696494675774541_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="240" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Source: Internet</span></td></tr></tbody></table></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children’s drawings, words, photos, or constructions become part of the give-and-take of </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">creating a new exhibit, gallery, or maker space. Their insights help push the team’s thinking and ideas beyond what it thinks it knows. That shove might push a team somewhere it hadn’t planned to go; drive new possibilities of experiences; surface a valuable starting point for a future project. Or simply make environments, exhibits, and experiences better. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A partnership with children is about <i>wanting</i> to work with children to offer experiences that engage, support, and extend their capabilities. Over time, this work produces a set of supportive practices and resources that can be adapted to new questions, other projects, and different groups of children. Traces of children’s thinking and ideas emerging from a project help document the process and insights it generated. Project-by-project the museum grows a set of resources and builds new knowledge about children. In giving visibility to children’s skills, strategies and competence; to their play, exploration, and learning, it instills pride in children. Through its partnership with children, the museum is living its vision, mission, and values. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Seeing Ourselves as Learners</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Not only does an active, respectful partnership with children change how we see them as thinkers and learners, but it also has the potential to change how we see ourselves as thinkers and learners. The varied work involved in creating environments, exhibits, and programs with children is capable of transforming work responsibilities and daily tasks into professional growth and development for exhibit developers, designers, program planners, researchers and evaluators. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We all learn. We <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/02/museums-as-learners.html" target="_blank">learn as individuals and as groups</a>. Sometimes we are more intentional about learning than others. The rich, layered, interactive experience-planning process concerned with creating possibilities for play, exploration, and learning depends on multiple perspectives and varied sources of information. It brings together concept, content and context. Every step along the way is an opportunity for learning, both intentional and incidental. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Through a steady practice of inquiry, observation, and reflection, teams investigate questions, find connections, and discover how to extend exploration. Teams and their members innovate, adapt, and learn, changing how they work over time. Typically, the nature and quality of questions change. Simple questions such as, <i>what do children like?</i> evolve into polished questions such as <i>what moves children to a place of wonder?</i> A single question is recast as a set of sub questions capable of guiding research, thinking, children’s contributions, and documentation. New ways to explore these questions emerge; new ways to glimpse meaning in children’s work surface. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Along the way, the team develops a shared vocabulary of words, concepts, and practices. Focusing on children’s thinking and learning builds awareness of individuals’ own thinking and learning and moves the team’s thinking. Discussions become richer and more productive. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">In this territory, teams are often working at the nexus of theory and practice, between theoretical knowledge and what is understood from observing children in exhibits. While learning theories are not the usual background of designers and fabricators, how children and adults play, learn, and think is always at the core of the experiences children’s museum teams create for visitors. Over time, teams deepen and extend their understanding of the nature of learning by sharing and reading blogs, articles, journals, and books. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zw09fQtycFM/YQnEk2hkl8I/AAAAAAAAD-Y/_rUoX3MBpuAkm2btloCIsD0aRB21YCDxACLcBGAsYHQ/s1632/IMG_1842.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1224" data-original-width="1632" height="150" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zw09fQtycFM/YQnEk2hkl8I/AAAAAAAAD-Y/_rUoX3MBpuAkm2btloCIsD0aRB21YCDxACLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h150/IMG_1842.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;"> Project: Louisiana Children's Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Creating experiences with children represents a museum’s long-term value of and investment in people–children and staff. This on-going work represents an interest in creating opportunities that are responsive to and engage children’s capabilities and potentials as well as growing and supporting staff in their work. In the process the museum cultivates an organizational culture that is interested in, alert to, and nurtures its staff’s outstanding capacities. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Related Posts</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <span style="color: #3d85c6;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2015/05/becoming-museum-with-strong-image-of.html " target="_blank">Becoming a Museum with a Strong Image of the Child </a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2021/04/listening-to-how-children-see-their.html " target="_blank">Listening to How Children See the World</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/01/making-learning-visible-what-is-it.html " target="_blank">Making Children’s Learning Visible</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/02/museums-as-learners.html " target="_blank">Museums as Learners</a></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <a href="https://www.aam-us.org/2021/07/14/a-deeper-model-of-community-co-creation/" target="_blank">A Deeper Model of Community Co-creation</a></span></div><div><br /></div><br /><div><br /></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-51546600341468683862021-04-23T15:33:00.000-05:002021-04-23T15:33:07.784-05:00Listening to How Children See their World<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">MUSEUM NOTES</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4sVmhJQYbQ/YIMRdeZBugI/AAAAAAAAD6Q/XfPxOUkX6Wc8tndjZQoMOnVQpjCsSz38QCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_2021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U4sVmhJQYbQ/YIMRdeZBugI/AAAAAAAAD6Q/XfPxOUkX6Wc8tndjZQoMOnVQpjCsSz38QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_2021.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">"We're camouflaged as a bench, Mom."</span></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="color: #2b00fe; font-style: italic;"><br /></div><div><span style="color: #2b00fe; font-style: italic;"><i>There’s a secret passageway from here to there. And I am the only one who knows about it.</i></span> 6-year-old boy after crawling through a maze at Minnesota Children’s Museum (1991)<span style="color: #2b00fe; font-style: italic;"> </span></div></span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">I feel like a robot who never had a battery</span></i>. 5-year-old-girl at Bed, Bath, and Beyond to her mother (12/2015) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Barry, do you remember when our block used to be the whole world?</i></span> 7-year-old Andy (1971) </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">I collect children’s words and language. These are just 3 from the dozens of quotes that I have overheard as I have listened in on children’s conversations, questions, musings, and discoveries in museums, zoos, stores, airports, restaurants, and family gatherings. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">If we notice quotes and anecdotes like these at all, they might evoke a smile or chuckle. We might repeat them to someone else and for an instant, we might appreciate the fresh view of the world they offer. What these words really offer, however, doesn’t stop there. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There are words behind words and meanings within meaning. When we observe children or hear their comments, we are enjoying privileged glimpses into how a child understands the world. This thinking out loud hints at what captures their attention; what is interesting and relevant to them; the promise they see in materials and objects; the capabilities they are proud of; and how they see themselves. Children’s words and language are a wide, open invitation for reflecting on their thinking and making sense of the world, sharing insights with others, and carrying forward new understandings and choices. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When I reflect on children’s words and language, my mind moves over three questions. My <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RTbgoZ6CbCA/YIMhK8TncgI/AAAAAAAAD6Y/qT1skNPqz-g5UPVILP8aVLo72o9tdv39QCLcBGAsYHQ/s500/focus-or-freedom2-e1428375220307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-RTbgoZ6CbCA/YIMhK8TncgI/AAAAAAAAD6Y/qT1skNPqz-g5UPVILP8aVLo72o9tdv39QCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/focus-or-freedom2-e1428375220307.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Listening in on a conversation</span></td></tr></tbody></table>intent in doing this is not to prove what I already think or to reinforce a particular theory. Rather, I hope to learn from children, to open new lines in my thinking, and consider fresh possibilities for engaging and supporting them. This approach can be helpful in learning from children’s words, as well as their drawings, play, movements, and constructions. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>What have I heard the child say?</u> When possible, I write down what I overheard, in the child’s own words. I add relevant factors about the child including age, place, date, expressive qualities. These notes might include what else is happening: the child’s movements, others’ presence, interactions with objects or materials, and what preceded or followed this. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>What might be the deeper structure of these ideas?</u> Starting with the basics of what I noticed about the child’s words, I consider: was it a question? a statement? What words did the child choose; which words stand out? how do they seem to relate to the context? What possible meanings might these words have for this child? What might this suggest about the child’s thinking, interests, self-management, or sense of agency? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>How might we return these ideas to children?</u> As respectful stewards of children’s words and anecdotes, we must make good use of insights and possibilities on the child’s behalf. This means exploring new understandings of this particular child or for other children in a similar setting. We can bring new knowledge, explore a promising hunch, and try out some possible conditions to encourage more critical thinking; help the child move further into their encounter; or encourage new connections. And then, we watch, listen, reflect, and repeat. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i><b>Don’t Step on the Green Dirt </b></i></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Several years ago, at a family gathering, 4-1/2-year-old Cyrus approached a group of aunts and uncles lounging about and informed us seriously, <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Don’t step on the green dirt</i></span>. He paused and continued, <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>Well, technically, it’s not green dirt</i></span>. Cyrus had our attention. We agreed not to step on the green dirt. Uncle Andy and I commented to each other on the use of “technically” (pronounced <i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">tenknikly</span></i>). Cyrus turned and sped back to the bushes where his cousins played. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Since that day, this episode has flitted through my mind often and unbidden. If there was something special about green dirt, what was it? How did Cyrus understand the word <i>technically</i>? Was he inhabiting a moment of awareness about moving from inside the play frame—<i>a material or non-material boundary that contains play episodes</i>—to outside the play frame, from a place where green dirt is possible to where it doesn’t exist for others? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When I revisit Cyrus’ conversation, I think of how the idea of a play frame might be relevant. How might we support play episodes that extend across days, weeks or months? How can we respect stepping through the play frame? This episode is striking in spotlighting how much play apparently takes place in the child’s mind, even though we so often think of play as hands on, physical, and social. Perhaps we should insist on blurring the domains in play. </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Moreover, we should recognize children as astute and constant observers. A familiar object that has been moved, novel surface materials, or graphic patterns intrigue children and demand investigation. The green dirt prompts thinking about other possible surface materials and finishes and how they may inspire play, exploration, and learning. Even a change in flooring or fluttering shadows launch fresh play scenarios. So, what unfamiliar materials and surfaces are fascinating? What unusual combinations of materials invite new story paths? How do they build children’s fluency with the material world? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Real, Fake, and In Between</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Listening to Cyrus reminds me of several episodes of other children’s apparent interest in what is real, fake, or somewhere in between. At her 6th birthday party, Clara received a small potted flowering plant. After being told that it was a primrose, Clara carried the pot around to show each of her guests. In no uncertain terms, she directed each one’s attention to the plant, pointing emphatically to the primrose </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">saying, </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;">This is a primrose. And it’s real.</span></i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">At the M</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">all of America LEGO Store, 7-year-old Ian had an important message for his sister about the brick constructions when he said, <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>It looks like it’s fake, but it’s made of LEGO’s. </i></span>This distinction continues to intri</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">gue me. I wonder what quality was the obverse of </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">fake</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> for Ian. I also wonder how LEGOs fit into this distinction? Is it possible that Ian, and other children, entertain a third quality along with real and fake—our familiar adult dichotomy? Might </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">real</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> exist in more than one form for children? Might this third quality enrich children's state of play? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="LEGO Store Dreamworld models" class="rg_i Q4LuWd" data-index="0" data-lt="" data-src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSnyQfFabs5zVUYMQ0CSgbJNB-ObN7A77QOoQ&usqp=CAU" height="178" jsname="Q4LuWd" src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSnyQfFabs5zVUYMQ0CSgbJNB-ObN7A77QOoQ&usqp=CAU" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="284" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">"It looks like it's fake, but..."</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica;">This isn’t an idle exercise. Museums are settings where authenticity is often a goal; where real and fake are often intermixed; where many distinctions, <i>imitation</i>, <i>pretense</i>, <i>genuine</i>, etc. are applied to objects, artifacts, materials, environments. And children are aware of this. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qo16KI556ys/YIMP1htWjbI/AAAAAAAAD6I/YoZ8V4Lq5DkWhyJJdPfogxr_tfnueXz0gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8377.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qo16KI556ys/YIMP1htWjbI/AAAAAAAAD6I/YoZ8V4Lq5DkWhyJJdPfogxr_tfnueXz0gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8377.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A <i>real </i>hollow log</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">At the dog park, I overheard a 6-year-old boy explain how to know if a hollow log is real. After crawling through a fallen, hollowed-out log he explained, <i><span style="color: #2b00fe;">If it’s too round, too shiny, and there’s no dirt, it’s not real. They can put moss on it, but it’s still not real</span></i>. He contrasted this log with one he'd crawled through at a museum.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Based on this admittedly small sample of three children, all 6-7 years old, we can agree that children are concerned with, or interested in, what is <i>real</i> and what is <i>fake</i>. Even at a young age, they seem to be relatively astute connoisseurs of these important, but somewhat elusive, qualities. <i>Real</i> is a distinction that gives something additional value; at least Clara thinks so. The boy climbing through the log understands that things are not always as they seem to be. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Clearly, this distinction is not a simple one and appears to be somewhat flexible with children seeming to occupy a world between real and pretend. Years ago, a 4-year-old boy was looking through binoculars from the mezzanine in Minnesota Children’s Museum’s Earth World gallery. When a boy standing nearby started to set off the thunder storm, the boy protested, <span style="color: #2b00fe;"><i>You can’t make a thunderstorm! I am watching birds.</i></span> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children are involved in making distinctions between <i>real</i> and <i>fake</i> and related qualities that we know too little about. It’s likely that making these distinctions varies among children of different ages and background experiences. We can imagine that these qualities are not firm in a child’s mind and are even changeable over a period of time. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">With only a handful of quotes, w</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">e may not be able to confidently answer larger questions about </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">real and fake to guide us in shaping experiences for children. However, even this small sample tells us that these are important aspects of children’s worlds and how they engage with them— including their experiences at our museums. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Children’s words and language tell us that they have thoughts and ideas about their world, on this and other topics. While there’s much we don’t know about children as thinkers, explorers, and doers, we can actively learn from them. By listening to them, reflecting on the deeper structure of their words and thoughts, and returning fresh insights to them as experiences, children can enjoy new possibilities and engage with a world rich in discovering. </span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Museum Notes</b></span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Listening to Children’s Thinking: https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2011/09/listening-to-childrens-thinking.html </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Observation: Seeing, Un-seeing, Re-seeing: https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/10/observation-from-seeing-to-un-seeing-to.html
</span></li></ul></div><div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></p></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-57655105142569477212021-03-07T19:24:00.000-06:002021-03-07T19:24:10.060-06:00Making Marks, Making a Mark on the World<p style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: center;">MUSEUM NOTES </span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Jeanne Vergeront </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning </span></div><div><br /></div><div> </div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3yyyfheC00/YEVsIHC9nzI/AAAAAAAAD4w/gnr-0S-O5YA_Gwd4bANsB6DBSP7e6IwlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s960/10702065_1501747490081085_1975935015647317465_n.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="960" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z3yyyfheC00/YEVsIHC9nzI/AAAAAAAAD4w/gnr-0S-O5YA_Gwd4bANsB6DBSP7e6IwlgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/10702065_1501747490081085_1975935015647317465_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small; text-align: left;">Atelié Carombola Escola de Eduçao Infantil <br />Mosaic Marks, an exhibit from the Municipal Schools of Reggio Emilia</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: xx-small;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">There are phrases or terms that sound almost strange the first time we hear them. If they also sound intriguing, we might pay attention to them, think about them, and notice when we come across them a second, third, or fourth time. After a while, we aren’t able to imagine not having these once odd phrases to help us observe, wonder, think, and make connections. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><i>Mark making </i>struck me that way at first. I think it was related to a project of the Municipal Schools of Reggio Emilia (IT). A favorable association for me, it connected with the idea of the <span style="background-color: white;"><a href="https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/100-linguaggi-en/" target="_blank">100 Languages of Children</a></span>, a metaphor for the coexisting ways of investigating relationships, using information, and representing ideas through materials, movement, words, drawing, and sounds. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Nevertheless, the term <i>mark making </i>seemed imprecise and vague. Reflecting on <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2013/12/poetry-and-precision-in-language-of.html" target="_blank">the phrase</a> however, I gradually appreciated its lack of pretension. Mark making both recognizes that the marks children make with their fingers, markers, brushes, bodies, and imaginations are significant in many ways and yet it leaves open possible ways to understand those marks. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>The Extraordinary Ordinary</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">That same tiny finger that points to the family pet or favorite toy indicating, “look” or, “I want that” is the same tiny finger that begins to make marks. An extended finger draws in the snow, pulls a line through the spilled food, drags a strand of spaghetti, and finds an uncapped marker great for marking on a book or a wall. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J7sAnUPG_e4/YEVyanMa0qI/AAAAAAAAD44/fdn-czlESd87WR6YWi2gIAinS4LYvpkiACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/10492542_747200441992347_1291829492302646268_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-J7sAnUPG_e4/YEVyanMa0qI/AAAAAAAAD44/fdn-czlESd87WR6YWi2gIAinS4LYvpkiACLcBGAsYHQ/w150-h200/10492542_747200441992347_1291829492302646268_n.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><br /></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Mark making starts early in a child’s life and is a building block to brain functions, literacy skills, self-expression, relationships, and communicating. When that finger, stick, brush, or pen encounters paper, clay, or stone and leaves a trace, a lot is happening. The hand, body, and mind are engaged and coordinated. Small motor skills and eye-hand coordination are developing. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Often unnoticed by busy parents or older siblings or referred to as “scribbles,” this noteworthy effort emerges from the child’s observing others using materials, an interest in communicating, and the joy of authoring a visible trace. From watching others around them write, children become aware that marks have meaning and are intent on recreating that sense of meaning themselves. They pretend their marks represent something. In these first marks is the start of children’s writing and drawing. With time and more mark making, the child makes new marks and realizes they are capable of changing marks. Random swirls become circles, possibly a head, a sun, a world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Young children’s marks are created with intense focus. I recall that when, as a pre-kindergartener I worked hard to make a mark that I now know as a lowercase cursive “e,” I was delighted by creating a recognizable mark. At six years, writing my name was a gift to my mother. Writing names certainly is an accomplishment in children’s mark making and identity. Yet it’s only one milestone in a larger, life-long process from the first dots and dashes, to forming recognizable letters, drawing a scene, telling stories, writing poems, composing a life. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">And while a precursor to writing, mark making is not a brief, linear, or automatic progression. Learning to control any mark making tool, such as a pencil, pen or paintbrush, is hard; it takes time, and requires many skills. Opportunities with marking tools, various surfaces, and approached from different physical postures encourage children who are developing skills at their own pace. Some children want and need to spend more time in a particular mark-making world. </span></div><div><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPiyJWkzxCQ/YEV6J7QbybI/AAAAAAAAD5g/nWfpWFFmTXE64w27GzmWH6sQotQlGX_fgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2692/ILoveYou1955.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1168" data-original-width="2692" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GPiyJWkzxCQ/YEV6J7QbybI/AAAAAAAAD5g/nWfpWFFmTXE64w27GzmWH6sQotQlGX_fgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ILoveYou1955.png" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Making marks is not just about writing and is not limited to paper and markers. It unfolds over time, recruiting new capabilities, expressing feelings of connection, and building on memories. In this sense, mark making emerges from the immediate context perhaps creating a moment of joint attention, responding to what the materials and surfaces at hand make possible, expressing delight. Marks are an opening to something new. Few or many marks, bold colors or fine black lines, snow and black dirt may represent something, cover large areas, or transform surfaces. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A drawing can change with the addition of each mark, a new color, an act of play, or a spill. If<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-88FaUgvwhAs/YEV0TP59UOI/AAAAAAAAD5Q/AvnREkOKUkEFT9Du4jFdhPhlYweHt7J4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s526/10168140_615032125241691_9039824650706634871_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="394" data-original-width="526" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-88FaUgvwhAs/YEV0TP59UOI/AAAAAAAAD5Q/AvnREkOKUkEFT9Du4jFdhPhlYweHt7J4ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/10168140_615032125241691_9039824650706634871_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Interaction Imaginations</span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> we are paying attention, children will tell us. They talk as they develop their idea; their words offer glimpses into their thinking; they give clues about what these marks mean to them. An arrangement of lines or shapes across a page might be a fledgling idea for a code, a diagram showing how a seed grows, or a lost island. The meanings of these marks are not fixed, but likely change as the child encounters them again and experiences them in a new way. A child may describe a drawing differently now and tomorrow telling a parent, caregiver, teacher, or friend about the marks on the page or in the clay. That spiral is a sleeping cat today; tomorrow it’s a windstorm; the next day it’s a new galaxy. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Making Marks, Making Ourselves</b> </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Museums are full of meaningful marks. Collections, exhibitions, and programs interpret the languages of lines, patterns, texture, shapes, and material properties as drips, splashes, brushstroke, and etchings on canvas, plaster, stone, walls, the world. Deciphering the marks created through movement and sound, museums tell stories, reveal beauty, challenge thinking, and inspire new questions. They deepen our awareness of ancient and modern makers and offer glimpses into how marks create community, follow our families, and express our individuality. Museums honor the functional, ornamental, and spiritual marks of letters, documents, and decrees that celebrate our survival, voice our aspirations, and record our struggles. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Even more than all of the meaningful marks that museums hold, share, and interpret are the ways in which they can nourish the human desire to leave a mark. Each time they develop an exhibit, display an object, set a tinkering challenge, facilitate a program, shape camp activities, or lead a tour, museums have an opportunity to support and extend the powerful disposition to create connections and transform a small part of the world. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y9f53keu9W4/YEV2ks6HvhI/AAAAAAAAD5Y/H0V0IEjpqW0kguhEdhxR8ygbZIAg68bKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1127/170127_ChildrensMuseum_Tullet_014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1127" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Y9f53keu9W4/YEV2ks6HvhI/AAAAAAAAD5Y/H0V0IEjpqW0kguhEdhxR8ygbZIAg68bKgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/170127_ChildrensMuseum_Tullet_014.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Children's Museum of Pittsburgh</span></td></tr></tbody></table>This work emerges from an expansive idea of mark making. Grounded in an optimism about the capabilities of all of us, even babies as mark makers, this view understands swoops, patterns, and gestures as an extension of the mind, thinking, exploration, communication, and play. This work is advanced by: </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Focusing on the mark maker. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Exploring the conditions that encourage, support, and expand the possibilities of mark making. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Integrating mark making into a wide range of activities, experiences, and spaces across the museum. </span></li></ul></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <b>Focus on the mark make</b>r. Whether novice or experienced, an individual’s interest in the world and what it offers, and finding a place in that world is the impetus for mark making. Mark making nurtures the individual’s voice, ideas, and thinking. </span></li></ul></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Situate mark makers at the center of an experience. Who are they? What are they curious about? Allow flexibility for how children encounter, explore, and engage. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Frame questions around developing an understanding of mark making. How do children fill a space with their marks? What are intriguing forms for them? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Observe children’s attention to their mark making. What are their initial marks? How do they elaborate on them? How do they use instruments to explore, transform surfaces? What brings them delight? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Listen to children narrate what they are doing. What words do they use to talk about their drawing or project? Does a story emerge from the gestures? How does their telling change? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Reflect on how children respond to and use materials, surfaces, words, and feelings. How do they work with them individually? Together? How might children’s images, symbols, ideas, and efforts be extended to other experiences? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Document in words and photos insights into children’s thinking about their mark making in a format that serves as a tool for creating new mark making experiences.</span></div></blockquote><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <b>Explore the conditions that encourage, support, and expand the possibilities of mark making</b>. A wider range and richer mix of materials invite a deeper exploration of mark making. Push the obvious limits to create new and wider openings for mark making; search beyond the art studio. Check the shed, shop, kitchen, or woods; look for both materials and ideas that prompt exploration. </span></li></ul></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>- Think about all the conditions that encourage mark making: materials that modify color, texture, smell; tools, instruments, and media that shape and transform; surfaces that hold marks; ideas to explore; and time to engage and focus. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Select varied materials and objects: brushes, markers, pens; sticks, feathers, straws, yarn, cord, wire, fabric, torn paper; leaves, seeds, or petals; found objects; crayons, charcoal, chalk, paint, ink </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U53YGUqmDmI/YEVzVZUOfcI/AAAAAAAAD5I/ECxe7BbTJ98P0wFkZPPqmulT6DJlqYUgwCLcBGAsYHQ/s506/10365874_931828516843408_5625914050154522005_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="506" height="190" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U53YGUqmDmI/YEVzVZUOfcI/AAAAAAAAD5I/ECxe7BbTJ98P0wFkZPPqmulT6DJlqYUgwCLcBGAsYHQ/w200-h190/10365874_931828516843408_5625914050154522005_n.jpg" width="200" /></a>- Look around for tools, instruments, and media: an overhead projector, cameras, light, mirrors, circuits, hammers, saws, scrapers, and etchers. - Include surfaces for receiving marks may be textured, porous, or contoured: walls, rocks and stones, sand, the earth, mud, clay, bubble wrap, foil, fabric, sandpaper and wood planks. </div></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Experiment. Some materials change with use or interact with other materials in various ways. Water evaporates, light creates shadows; creative accidents happen. Go big with rolls of paper. Add plant material. Select materials with special properties such as clear acetate; overlays invite children experimenting with backgrounds, foregrounds and combining drawings. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Above all, think how invitations to mark making that are a starting point for greater explorations. </span></div></blockquote><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> <b>Integrate mark making into a wide range of activities, experiences, and spaces</b> across the museum. More than lines and shapes on paper and more than an art activity, mark making is an act of a person having an impact on the world. Recognizing the importance of this powerful, natural disposition acknowledges individuals, makes children’s capabilities visible, and enriches the museum experience for others. </span></li></ul></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Extend mark making invitations into exhibits, programs, and social spaces to invite new ways of looking and thinking. Put sketch pads at the top of the climber; roll out great lengths of paper on the studio floor; add materials to a light table; invite map making at the water table or the city building area. Add a friendly provocative question to initiate exploration. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span> </span>- Vary the context for mark making activities to provide inspiration, new perspectives, or introduce varied conditions. Take mark making outside; vary the scale; go to new heights; incorporate natural materials; add music; use the whole body. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Incorporate mark-making into materials exploration, investigating light, shadow, color; building gizmos; imaginative play, STEM play, and nature exploration. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">- Showcase children’s work, using their images and drawings to help interpret concepts and express the museum’s value of thinkers and doers. </span></div></blockquote><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZBrjl7HMXv8/YEVy4Ftcp9I/AAAAAAAAD5A/fg8utzMiLfQ7B5GUzDSUQCXKaP598L4WQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/LookClosely.2..png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1510" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZBrjl7HMXv8/YEVy4Ftcp9I/AAAAAAAAD5A/fg8utzMiLfQ7B5GUzDSUQCXKaP598L4WQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/LookClosely.2..png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Louisiana Children's Museum<br />Photo credit: Jeanne Vergeront</span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Just as the very first marks emerge from a child’s powerful desire to leave a trace, mark making throughout life is a response to a compelling invitation. Museums can extend that invitation everyday.
Photo: LCM: children’s drawings </span></div><div><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">A Traveling exhibit from Reggio Children, Mosaic of marks, words, materials will be in New Orleans in fall 2021. The exhibit is based on an investigation to gain a better understanding of the poetic interweaving between children’s drawings and words, in order to restore to drawing, to the instruments</span>.
</span></li></ul></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-46195530443517252142020-12-09T14:06:00.001-06:002021-01-20T09:23:19.593-06:00Foundational Experiences in Museums Deconstructed <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">This post, part 2, continues to focus </span><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;">on Foundational </span><span style="text-align: left;">Experiences in Museums </span></div></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: helvetica;">from November 17, 2020 </span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><span style="color: #134f5c; font-size: x-small;">Jeanne Vergeront</span></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oEtcPD5HmWU/X9Epk0J5YkI/AAAAAAAAD2M/pnMCJl2wlLUqURhTB7d1cIKy1mvENSTUwCLcBGAsYHQ/image.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="420" height="320" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oEtcPD5HmWU/X9Epk0J5YkI/AAAAAAAAD2M/pnMCJl2wlLUqURhTB7d1cIKy1mvENSTUwCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h320/image.png" width="320" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Understanding that there are <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2020/11/foundational-experiences-in-museums.html" target="_blank">foundational experiences</a> 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…<br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">… <b>What does a set of foundational experiences for a museum actually look like?</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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? </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Foundational Experiences: An Example and the Headlines</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Using my work with museums and with <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2011/03/learning-frameworks.html" target="_blank">learning frameworks</a>, 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.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">All children, regardless of age, ability, or background should have opportunities to enjoy:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A sense of connection, acceptance and belonging</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Growing capabilities, confidence, and independence</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">3.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Engaging in making sense of the world </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">4.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>A feeling of well-being</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">5. Exploring and understanding feelings, ideas and perspectives, one's own and others’ </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">6.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Finding their place in the world</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Some relevant features of the headline experiences, how they are described, what <br />they cover, and how many a museum might have are highlighted below. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The short answer to how many foundational areas a museum might select is 5-7. </span></li></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>Adding Building-block Experiences</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-size: large; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2xxHg1IH0Y/X9Elf2WGjhI/AAAAAAAAD10/_UTW1yf881UBtJsHqCPyAm7_PWv7S5aDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Mississippi.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_2xxHg1IH0Y/X9Elf2WGjhI/AAAAAAAAD10/_UTW1yf881UBtJsHqCPyAm7_PWv7S5aDQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Mississippi.jpg" /></a></div>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 <i><b>A feeling of well-being</b></i> (#4 below) might be: <i>children have a shared and safe place to be part of something larger</i>, <i>have frequent and positive experiences with nature</i>, <i>enjoy opportunities to rest and reflect and others</i>. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">1.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Children <i><b>feel a sense of connection, acceptance, and belonging</b></i>, when they:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Feel valued for who they are</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Enjoy supportive relationships with peers and caring adults</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Enjoy positive interactions including rewarding contact with staff and volunteers</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Participate in activities at home, school, and communities</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Care about and help others</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make memories with their family</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">2.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Children <i><b>experience growing capabilities, confidence and independence,</b></i> when they:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Develop a sense of agency, a belief that they can have an impact on their world</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Practice emerging skills and capabilities </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Assess abilities and risks realistically</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Experience and see their impact, both big and small, on the world around them</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Discover and follow their interests</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Make choices and follow their implications </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">3.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Children <b>engage in making sense of the world</b>, when they:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Notice, ask questions, and look for answers</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have access to varied opportunities to explore, interact, and engage</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Collaborate with others and work as a team to accomplish something greater </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Find relevant, meaningful connections with their everyday life</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have varied opportunities to explore, interact, and engage</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">4.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Children <i><b>experience a feeling of well-being</b></i>, when they:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have a shared and safe space to be a part of a community</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Find wonder, joy and delight in themselves and their experiences</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have frequent and positive experiences with nature</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Making healthy food, movement and activity choices</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Enjoy opportunities to rest and reflect</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">5.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Children <i><b>explore and understand feelings, ideas, and perspectives, their own and others’</b></i>, when they:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Share and talk about their experiences, ideas, and dreams with others</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Express their ideas in varied and creative ways</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Enjoy extended time playing and directing play</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Explore varied objects, materials, and rich environments</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Listen to others with different views or ideas</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Respect how others experience sight, sound, and touch in different ways</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">6.<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Children <i><b>find their place in the world</b></i>, when they:</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>See themselves reflected and appreciated in big and small ways in the world around them</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Have positive interactions with people of diverse backgrounds</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Explore their own and others’ cultures with increasing confidence</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Open up to the possibilities of and manage the uncertainty of an expanding world</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Can see a future for themselves </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Foundational experiences are about opportunities children should have for optimal development. Focusing on the child reflects this. Saying children… <i>explore</i>, <i>engage</i>, <i>feel</i>, <i>find</i>, 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 <i><b>a sense of connection, acceptance, and belonging, </b>when they… feel valued</i>, etc.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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 <i><b>finding their way in the world</b></i> (#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. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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?</span></li></ul></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3wpAER_oZPo/X9EmnYdi74I/AAAAAAAAD2A/57IHcJdb8T47TJmB7089K2w0gRR7zK3eACLcBGAsYHQ/s271/GlobalDigitalCitizensFdn.jpeg" style="clear: right; display: inline; float: right; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large; font-weight: bold; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="186" data-original-width="271" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3wpAER_oZPo/X9EmnYdi74I/AAAAAAAAD2A/57IHcJdb8T47TJmB7089K2w0gRR7zK3eACLcBGAsYHQ/s0/GlobalDigitalCitizensFdn.jpeg" /></a><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: medium;"><b>No Small Matter </b></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">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 <i>collaborate with others and work as a team to accomplish something greater</i>. Museum experiences in rich environments with remarkable objects and intriguing materials invite children to <i>notice, ask questions, and look for answers</i>. Experiences offered in a gallery, program, or special event provide <i>relevant, meaningful connections to their everyday life </i>and <i><b>support children in making sense of the world</b></i> (#3). </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Doing this for children now and for their future is no small matter.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div>Jeanne Vergeront</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Vergeront Museum Planning</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;">December 9, 2020<br /><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span><p></p>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-2553777142876222012020-11-17T17:19:00.003-06:002020-11-18T08:01:20.634-06:00Foundational Experiences in Museums<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nYJ77YWfdq4/X7RMISPXHwI/AAAAAAAADz4/mdjhRbjgZwEIfbNkwfQ22dJe_hX67bRuACLcBGAsYHQ/s640/Madison.ChildrenHelp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="268" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nYJ77YWfdq4/X7RMISPXHwI/AAAAAAAADz4/mdjhRbjgZwEIfbNkwfQ22dJe_hX67bRuACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h268/Madison.ChildrenHelp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />Museums want to matter. They want to matter to the families, children, learners,
friends, and communities they serve in large and small ways, now and for the
future. Their hopes and aspirations about the positive changes they believe are
possible are expressed in their <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2010/12/re-visioning-vision-statements.html" target="_blank">visions</a>, <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2011/01/missions-that-matter.html" target="_blank">missions</a>, and <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2012/03/values-as-commitments.html" target="_blank">values</a>. Everyday, the
good intentions and good works of museums are shared as museum experiences
through programs, exhibits, collections, publications, events, and interactions with
staff and volunteers; at the museum, in neighborhoods, schools, community
settings, and on-line. These experiences which might be a once-in-a-lifetime
event, an annual or monthly visit, brief or extended are, nevertheless, core to
how museums matter. This is true particularly for children. <div><br /></div><div>Early life
experiences, whether beneficial or harmful, have tremendous effects on human
development, behavior, long-term health, and opportunities through life. Child
development theory and research indicate that, in addition to children having
basic needs such as food and shelter met, there are experiences that are
essential to their becoming strong, caring, and responsible adults. These are
experiences that children should be able to enjoy throughout their childhood and
in settings across their lives—home, school, recreation, faith, and community,
including museums, zoos, art spaces, and gardens. </div><div><br /></div><div>For all children, regardless
of age, ability, or background, these experiences provide a solid foundation for
a good start in life. For some children, these experiences are important as
protective factors against the challenges and risks they face in life. These are
children who may grow up exposed to a limited range of experiences or face
adverse childhood experiences. </div><div><br /></div><div>The term adverse childhood experiences (ACES)
refers to neglect, abuse, and potentially traumatic events that occur before age
18. These experiences can interfere with health, learning, and opportunities
over a lifetime. Not as uncommon as they might seem to be,
<a href="https://medicalxpress.com/news/2018-09-percent-adults-adverse-childhood.html" target="_blank">more than 60% of adults</a>
report having had one or more ACE. Research also suggests that social support,
building healthy families early in the life of the child, and stress reduction
strategies can
<a href="https://www.ncsl.org/Portals/1/HTML_LargeReports/ACEs_2018_32691.pdf">help mitigate the damaging effects of ACES</a>
and build resilience. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Where Museums Can Matter </b></div><div>Among the many and varied museum
offerings for children in family, school, and community groups—which many if not
<i>most</i> museums offer—are foundational experiences.* When museums create
experiences that emphasize relationships, socializing, rich environments, agency
and choice, and varied interactions with families, friends, and peers, they are
helping to build assets that help children get a firmer foot-hold in life. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YnqQDgq-mwo/X7RLwOSjLYI/AAAAAAAADzw/yg9Z2lmSCqQYVMpbQci0uXa1Z5qHa8TnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s570/bilde-2.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="570" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YnqQDgq-mwo/X7RLwOSjLYI/AAAAAAAADzw/yg9Z2lmSCqQYVMpbQci0uXa1Z5qHa8TnQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/bilde-2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A
child builds a gizmo that spins and whirrs; climbs to the top of a 4-story
climber; takes part in a biological survey; or figures out how to build a
zipline with other children. In those experiences they feel included, successful
at navigating physical challenges; they problem solve and work together with
other children. They are exploring their world, growing their confidence and
competence, and developing a robust sense of self and belonging. These are
building-block experiences that support physical, affective, and cognitive
developmental processes, tap into children’s capabilities and strengths, connect
children with others, and shine a light on each child's spark. </div><div><br /></div><div>While there
is no set list of such experiences for museums, direction and starting points
for a museum’s foundational experiences are in plain sight. </div><div><br /></div><div>• A museum’s vision,
mission, and values highlight the positive changes it believes are possible for
its community. Those statements often include <i>greater social cohesion</i>, <i>strong
families</i>, <i>supportive relationships</i>, <i>engaged and caring citizens</i>, and <i>equipping
children for the future</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>• How a museum views its audience and its shared
understanding of children in its age range reflect the qualities it values and
hopes to encourage such as <i>curiosity</i>, <i>feeling valued</i>, and <i>confident in exploring
the world</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>• The promises and challenges facing the city or region a museum
serves highlight where a museum can be helpful, related to, for instance,
<i>collective well-being</i>, <i>a more connected community</i>, or <i>valuing youth</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>• The
hallmarks of a museum’s most powerful experiences are frequently starting points
for foundational experiences: <i>play as a way of learning</i>, <i>shared experiences</i>, <i>a
time and a place to be children</i>, or <i>coming together as a family</i>. </div><div><br /></div><div>• In addition
to these museum-based sources for foundational experiences is what research,
theory, and community wisdom say about what contributes to children’s thriving and what concerns us now about children during the pandemic. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Shaping
Foundational Experiences </b></div><div>Shaping a set of foundational experiences is an
iterative process that engages staff from across the museum to pare down,
clarify, and organize a preliminary list culled from the museum’s core
documents, best practices, and museum research. Lively discussions grow a shared
understanding around these experiences in the context of a museum and help arrive at 5
to 7 clusters of essential experiences. Through this process, a team will
discover some characteristics that foundational experiences share
that are described below. (Examples below in <i>italics</i>.) </div><div><br /></div><div>• Building blocks of experience </div><div>•
Naming experiences </div><div>• Both goals and outcomes </div><div>• Inclusive </div><div>• Not just for children </div><div>• Part of a community effort </div><div>• Integral to museum planning, processes, and
efforts </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Building-blocks of experience</u>. A foundational experience such as <i>A sense
of connection, acceptance and belonging</i> is the accumulation of many varied and
positive moments, interactions, and opportunities that a child enjoys. Those are
building-block experiences that occur over time and in multiple settings. <i>Being
valued for who they are</i>, <i>having supportive relationships with peers and caring
adults</i>, and <i>making memories with their famil</i>y work together might be among 6 or
7 building-block experiences that contribute to one of a museum’s set of 5 to 7
foundational experiences. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Iux_UZ_leYQ/X7RWvHUx-3I/AAAAAAAAD0k/f9QxOk68HcYHVEUJSastQ2vWFNHf2rozwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/FamilyReading.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Iux_UZ_leYQ/X7RWvHUx-3I/AAAAAAAAD0k/f9QxOk68HcYHVEUJSastQ2vWFNHf2rozwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/FamilyReading.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><u><div><u><br /></u></div>Naming experiences</u>. By naming its foundational (and
building-block) experiences, a museum develops a shared language for
understanding and working with them intentionally. Naming helps clarify what
children need for healthy development and gets at the roots of these assets of
great interest including what these assets might look like in younger and older
children. This process also helps place children’s developmental needs such as <i>A
Sense of Well-being</i> in the context of a museum and the experiences it creates. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Both goals and outcomes</u>. A foundational experience such as, <i>Children enjoy
growing capabilities, confidence, and independence</i> expresses a hope and
aspiration for them. It serves as a goal. At the same time, when a museum
describes what positive developmental change in a specific area looks like, it frames
possible outcomes of these experiences. These outcomes point to additional ways
a museum might support them and how it might track them. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Inclusive</u>. Foundational
experiences are concerned with nurturing a child’s developmental foundation.
They value and span all domains—sensory-motor, cognitive, social and
emotional—and accommodate the constantly unfolding development of children and their
growing capabilities. Foundational experiences recognize and respect children’s
age, gender, race and ethnicity, ability, and family income. While not
exhaustive, the range and variety among the 5 to 7 sets of foundational
experiences and their building-block experiences nurture strengths and develop
assets in many ways. </div><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_kZYt8DkV9A/X7RNoPccuqI/AAAAAAAAD0E/nvW-p7elD8UpQLfJSKVIlNIoO9hHruGHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3781.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_kZYt8DkV9A/X7RNoPccuqI/AAAAAAAAD0E/nvW-p7elD8UpQLfJSKVIlNIoO9hHruGHwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_3781.jpg" /></a></div><u>Not just for children</u>. Foundational experiences relate
readily to children’s growth and development. Many experiences that are
essential for children’s optimal development, however, are also critical to
adults’ on-going health and wellbeing. At what age do we stop needing to <i>feel
accepted and included</i>? A <i>sense of joy, wonder, and awe</i>? Foundational experiences
also help museums in shaping and supporting the roles of adults—parents,
caregivers, teachers, museum facilitators, and volunteers—in contributing to
foundational experiences. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Part of a community effort</u>. Museums make critical
contributions to creating and providing foundational experiences. They are
committed to being safe, accessible spaces that offer children rich varied
encounters, environments, and materials that open an expanding world full of
possibilities. Equally important, museums are part of a larger eco-system of
families, schools, and other community and cultural organizations with shared
interests, complementary roles, and special resources. All of this is essential
to building strong, resilient children and positive futures. </div><div><br /></div><div><u>Integral to museum
planning, processes, and efforts</u>. Integral to its work, foundational experiences
can be incorporated into museums at any stage of development or planning whether
it is a new museum, renovation or expansion, strategic planning, learning experience
framework, or a pivot during the pandemic. They are embedded in a museum’s
processes, planning, and practices; communicated to staff, trustees, partners,
and supporters. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>In the Museum Context </b><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iwAl09jMBbQ/X7ROm1IW7fI/AAAAAAAAD0M/8nlgEiYlCV8sW9JeKFoJgvuc34kl9AZlACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_0365.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iwAl09jMBbQ/X7ROm1IW7fI/AAAAAAAAD0M/8nlgEiYlCV8sW9JeKFoJgvuc34kl9AZlACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_0365.jpg" /></a></div></div><div>Foundational experiences fill a child’s
experience bank and self-confidence with successes and small triumphs that will
serve them well when they encounter setbacks, have to make difficult choices; they will cheer them in the moment and last into a hopefully brighter future. While these
experiences alone are not guaranteed to change life outcomes, planning with them
in mind represents a commitment to adding positive factors to the lives of young
members of our communities and building on children’s potential. Museums are
fortunate to be in a position to contribute to those foundational experiences
and the building-block experiences that can make a difference into the future.
In fact, as museums step forward, adapt, and respond to the pandemic, health
concerns, and educational disparities, they have an even greater opportunity to
be more deliberate about delivering foundational experiences. </div><div><br /></div><div>The next Museum Notes post will continue to explore foundational experiences and look more closely at a set of foundational experiences I am developing from my work on learning frameworks.</div><div><br /></div><div>*I have been
exploring the idea of foundational experiences over the past decade and have
written about them <a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2011/10/essential-experiences-where-museums-can.html" target="_blank">here</a> as essential experiences. I have used essential
experiences in dozens of learning frameworks with museums. But, this is only one
way of looking at look at nurturing strengths and changing futures for
children—and in the context of museums. Check of The Search Institute and its <a href="https://www.search-institute.org/our-research/development-assets/developmental-assets-framework/" target="_blank">Assets for Healthy Development</a> and the <a href="https://garfoundation.org/learn/major-initiatives/essential-experiences/" target="_blank">GAR Foundation</a>'s Essential Experiences.</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">--- Jeanne Vergeront</div><div style="text-align: left;"> Museum Notes</div><div style="text-align: left;"> November 17, 2020</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-19419027324174650882020-10-09T14:25:00.000-05:002020-10-09T15:18:49.356-05:00Making Sense – Two Ways<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_7CelRbvJc4/X3-TeMsPUvI/AAAAAAAADvc/ZQ4l4wllZboQm3oeu4BoRLov5SgxVMicQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/LookClosely.2..png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1510" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_7CelRbvJc4/X3-TeMsPUvI/AAAAAAAADvc/ZQ4l4wllZboQm3oeu4BoRLov5SgxVMicQCLcBGAsYHQ/w295-h400/LookClosely.2..png" width="295" /></a></div><br /></div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">When you start planning a museum experience for children—an exhibit, environment, event, program or even a museum for children—how do you go about understanding the children you intend to serve?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">While professionals and researchers across the </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">museum </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">field have various methods for learning about museum visitors, they are generally not used widely with children. Even when they are, they often have a narrow focus. This is somewhat understandable. Gathering input is time consuming and requires expertise to be helpful. Familiar methods are generally less suited to engaging children. Outside of behavioral observations, methods like focus groups, surveys, and interviews rely on skills children may not have developed fully. When we do consult children, the focus is often limited. We assess their understanding of a concept or a preference for one activity over another.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cI0rdwUOFEQ/X4CttSV11nI/AAAAAAAADxo/p7QIB0ZV6A8jtGhta5Bsx3IyIjBSOffeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Children%2527sTheories.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1366" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cI0rdwUOFEQ/X4CttSV11nI/AAAAAAAADxo/p7QIB0ZV6A8jtGhta5Bsx3IyIjBSOffeQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Children%2527sTheories.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Wonder of Learning Exhibit: Reggio Children</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>And yet, we are undergoing a change in our conceptualization of children. Advances in <br />neuroscience and brain development and educational projects like the <a href="https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/reggio-emilia-approach/" target="_blank">Reggio Emilia schools</a> have expanded our view of children as capable social actors, thinkers, and doers, active agents in their play, learning, and development. This provides <a href="https://www.aam-us.org/2020/09/18/childrens-museology-and-the-covid-19-crisis/?utm_source=American+Alliance+of+Museums&utm_campaign=cd4f99fd7d-FieldNotes_September21_2020&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_f06e575db6-cd4f99fd7d-59602617" target="_blank">ample reason to go beyond</a> occasional questions about a specific activity or a focus on a skill rather than on the child to more fully understand and engage them in museums. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">To be more than a good intention, however, we must create meaningful opportunities to actively involve children and learn with and from them. There is no lack of interesting and important questions to explore. In fact, the questions we might ask for planning museum experiences can also tell us something we didn't know about children's thinking, learning, and understanding which is critical to creating experiences with greater impact. These are questions as much about children as about museums; as much about what delights them as what they are learning; and as much about our broader understanding of children as testing a prototype.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Familiar Steps in an Open-ended, Iterative Process. </b></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">We can explore these questions using familiar steps and methods in evaluation and research and draw on approaches like the <a href="https://www.reggiochildren.it/en/" target="_blank">pedagogical documentation</a></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> used in the Reggio schools. This blend creates an open-ended, qualitative, descriptive, emergent, and exploratory approach which offers a broader, richer, more comprehensive view of children's engagement with their world while helping us glimpse what we couldn't otherwise see.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_EDs8IHWWow/X4Cw1btQVEI/AAAAAAAADx0/iC2g9lau9sgLhlBPPSLqqx6pC35_t0R-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s960/86620790_3059429877414897_4739562703956213760_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="720" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_EDs8IHWWow/X4Cw1btQVEI/AAAAAAAADx0/iC2g9lau9sgLhlBPPSLqqx6pC35_t0R-ACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/86620790_3059429877414897_4739562703956213760_n.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reggio Children</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Like a series of small studies unfolding over time, one study builds on another, fueled by new questions. <b>We don't know just where such studies will lead. We do, however, know that this iterative process of framing questions and thinking and discovering together, will build our understanding of children and contribute to authentic experiences that engage their potential.</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Framing Questions</u>, like developing <span style="color: #800180;">research questions</span>, brings focus to our interest in better understanding how children make sense of themselves and their world. Questions about children's interests and understanding need to be generous, not reduced to one activity or behavior while ignoring the richness of the context. A question about how children explore a natural setting, for example, can look at how they navigate undefined spaces, are curious about mud, and develop a connection to the natural world. We might even notice something germane to siting the museum building itself or an outdoor nature play area.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Designing for Engagement</u>, like <span style="color: #800180;">designing a study</span>, considers a promising focus and how to investigate it: the children, their ages and groupings; the setting, the nature of the engagement, and appropriate methods. Here, engagement is understood as children's activity—behavior, movement, conversation—as well as their attention, interest, and its intensity. The study itself is an opportunity for children to interact with materials, the setting, other children, an artist, animals, and ideas in ways that maintain the complexity of the real world. This approach is necessarily open to the unexpected happening.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Watching and Listening</u>, may appear to be less orderly than <span style="color: #800180;">data collection </span>typically does, but it is no less intentional. An approach that centers on children, their capabilities, agency, and potential follows their interest, attention, actions, questions, hunches, and conversations. Methods like video, photos, recording, drones, drawings, and mapping capture dialogue, movement, play, and transformations of space. Data collection literally follows them, bringing in multiple points of view and ways of capturing their encounters. A debrief immediately following gathers what has escaped the eye and ear to produce multiple snapshots and sequences of the children's explorations.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Reviewing and Reflection,</u> much like <span style="color: #800180;">analysis</span>, is concerned with thinking about <i>what we are <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q3M3FITlZLU/X4CrGynLteI/AAAAAAAADxc/-FSMXT7PvEsmA9dhXOAnLvJGpRFJnNj2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_8857.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-q3M3FITlZLU/X4CrGynLteI/AAAAAAAADxc/-FSMXT7PvEsmA9dhXOAnLvJGpRFJnNj2gCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_8857.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: Vergeront</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>seeing</i> in the information and impressions we have gathered. Multiple passes of videos, photos, recordings, or drawings </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">by different people </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">capture what we think </span><i style="font-family: helvetica;">might</i><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> be happening. With careful consideration, we arrive at possible interpretations. We work to locate the meaning making in the child and then in ourselves. And we do it again. Why? Because in suspending our certainty about what we are noticing, what the child might be feeling, paying attention to, or doing, we are also learning about how <u>we</u> see. We are making sense in a way that is provisional both for the child and for us in understanding the child.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><u>Relaunching</u>, much like <span style="color: #800180;">results</span>, considers where exploration might lead. While a study might be a starting point for understanding a child's interests, questions, and ideas on a potential exhibit topic or activity, it should also help us make sense of how children work with others, set their own goals in play, or view their capabilities and accomplishments. The genesis of an exhibit can come from </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">observing and listening to children </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">rather than from exhibit planners, marketing, school curriculum, or funder interest. A Relaunch invites exploring alternative meanings, pursuing another line of inquiry, and shaping questions around a museum's long-term interest in children. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Making Sense of Children Making Sense. </b></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The involved and evolving nature of a process concerned with making sense of children making sense of the world is challenging both in practice and in making the benefits concrete and concise. Brief descriptions and photos from 3 museum projects follow, each highlighting various aspects of this approach.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">•<span> </span>Planning for the recently opened </span><u style="font-family: helvetica;"><a href="https://www.lcm.org/" target="_blank">Louisiana Children's Museum</a></u><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> (LCM) in New Orleans involved groups of children and parents in a set of activities and conversations that informed the design direction, exhibit development, architectural design, and graphics. Development of LCM's 2011 museum strategic master plan began with a visitor panel of a dozen children, 5 - 10 years, their parents and caregivers that met 3 times. Sessions focused on what was fascinating to children in LCM's Julia Street exhibits, how parents and caregivers saw their child's thinking and learning, and what was important and interesting to the children about water in their everyday lives. Children's drawings, discussions, photographs, and words not only expressed their ideas and interests, but also inspired planning. </span></p><p></p><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFCyl5RkMSc/X4CZ5IRt2gI/AAAAAAAADwo/1KVyxGowwbc1aVjzfBWnuBIKntdxbI6yQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/LCM_MakeYourMark_%25C2%25A9GyroscopeInc_018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hFCyl5RkMSc/X4CZ5IRt2gI/AAAAAAAADwo/1KVyxGowwbc1aVjzfBWnuBIKntdxbI6yQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/LCM_MakeYourMark_%25C2%25A9GyroscopeInc_018.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: © Gyroscope Inc.</span></td></tr></tbody></table></p><div class="page" title="Page 23">
<div class="section">
</div>
</div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">
One boy's drawing of his ideal exhibit showed a giant chessboard overlaid with a map of New <br />Orleans and sounds collected from across the city. Moving a chess piece would activate a city sound on that square. His drawing inspired the <i>Jackson Square </i>entry experience in the <i>Make Your Mark</i> gallery.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Recognizing how this first round of conversations and drawings brimmed with children's ideas and parent observations, dialogue sessions were held throughout the 8 years of planning. They were incorporated into camps, one-time sessions, and school projects. Sessions focused on topics about growing food, where ideas come from, water, animals and their habitats. Some focused on the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren. The insights and interests that emerged from children and families inspired experiences (a crawfish boil), became gallery graphics, were incorporated into way-finding, and even appear in LCM's logo. Highlighting the role of children's contributions, use of a child's art work includes the child's name and age.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1jprQw8s4Ow/X4CkwzEB0gI/AAAAAAAADw0/E2AzZOs-310TPkntfMDl8Q-VQpNkanGeACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/CrawfishSign.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1455" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1jprQw8s4Ow/X4CkwzEB0gI/AAAAAAAADw0/E2AzZOs-310TPkntfMDl8Q-VQpNkanGeACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/CrawfishSign.png" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo Credit: Louisiana Children's<br />Museum</span></td></tr></tbody></table><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s7sg9Q4O8vM/X4Ck7vF9JbI/AAAAAAAADw4/iykfciM3wT8Txxp2dmBoQ6asDxzQnhNXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s809/76689078_10157229230959900_748126171308228608_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; font-family: Times; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="540" data-original-width="809" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s7sg9Q4O8vM/X4Ck7vF9JbI/AAAAAAAADw4/iykfciM3wT8Txxp2dmBoQ6asDxzQnhNXQCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/76689078_10157229230959900_748126171308228608_o.jpg" width="320" /></a></span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Through the team's observations and listening, members learned that these children have a sense of place, understand something about local food culture, and how water plays a role in moving food from New Orleans to the world. Relationships are important to them; they take care of things, help each other, and are careful observers. These observations and new questions are being folded into LCM's ongoing work.</span><div><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• Interest in exploring children's ideas about communities and the places that make up communities prompted a 2014 collaboration between <a href="https://mcm.org/" target="_blank">Minnesota Children's Museum</a> and the <u><a href="https://www.mnreggio.org/" target="_blank">Reggio-inspired Network of Minnesota</a>.</u> As part of MCM's 2014-2017 expansion and renovation, <i>Seeing Everyday Places</i> was a project within a project within a project. MCM shared with educators and families in local early years programs the community settings the <i>Our World</i> gallery would include: a fire station, park, farmers' market, hardware store, post office, and food truck. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; text-align: left;">Over several months, children visited one of the settings with their class, in small groups, or with their families. They met and talked with people at the hardware store; went behind the scenes at the bank; and visited the fire station. New lines of inquiry emerged: curiosity about types of mailboxes and each child's family mailbox, and how more money is made. </span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;"><div style="text-align: left;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JgAdRjsvnV8/X4BxFortEAI/AAAAAAAADwU/V3FqqV9XSfQj_9LkTiZU0SwN8BiZhHuagCLcBGAsYHQ/s597/FS_facade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="597" height="260" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JgAdRjsvnV8/X4BxFortEAI/AAAAAAAADwU/V3FqqV9XSfQj_9LkTiZU0SwN8BiZhHuagCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h260/FS_facade.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Fire Station Kitchen<br />Courtesy Minnesota Children's Museum<br /></span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Documentation panels from each of the groups highlighted connections children found between everyday places in their neighborhoods and communities. "A Story of Materials and Money" captured a family's trips to the hardware store. That parent noted that, over the course of the family's exploring hardware stores, her 4-year old's building constructions changed from spaceships and fantasy vehicles to gas stations and neighborhood scenes. Children who explored parks created Nature Park Blue Prints for the <i>Our World</i> park. Four-year old Oliver's blue print specified the number (6), size (s, m, l), and type (deciduous and evergreen) or trees; a button for making rain sounds; a fountain and a bench; and magnifying glasses. Responding to children's curiosity about firefighters living at the <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XxdzmdPpAOg/X4CqKo_8FmI/AAAAAAAADxU/oLN02l2OSjIBR0ZSbTmVxNF_X8we2H9rACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/IMG_3436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XxdzmdPpAOg/X4CqKo_8FmI/AAAAAAAADxU/oLN02l2OSjIBR0ZSbTmVxNF_X8we2H9rACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_3436.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Fire station living<br />Photo credit: Vergeront</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>station when they work, MCM devoted more space and activities to a fire station kitchen where children could explore firefighters' daily routines through dramatic play.</div></div></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> • Planning currently underway for Region 5 Children's Museum (R5CM) in north central Minnesota is conducting a set of small studies and community engagement based in the Museum's strategic master plan. Referred to as <i>encounters</i>, they are intended to engage children, families, and communities around understanding more about <i>how children find their place in the world</i>. They are also part of early exhibit development. The first of several encounters for small groups of children 2 - 10 years is underway in a park that is likely to be the home of the Museum.</span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6jJ4eKB_L3s/X4CoP470FvI/AAAAAAAADxI/mUeXLNLswT81SZjxv9fp__Ck2lwl4vjbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s983/Zipline4a.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="561" data-original-width="983" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6jJ4eKB_L3s/X4CoP470FvI/AAAAAAAADxI/mUeXLNLswT81SZjxv9fp__Ck2lwl4vjbgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Zipline4a.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: R5CM</span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">With an interest in understanding more about how children engage in open-ended exploration and child-directed play in an outdoor setting, the Museum's team set up 2 conditions, a park playground area and a natural area, both with loose parts the children could carry, build with, pretend with, and investigate. In one session, an extended play experience laster nearly 25 minutes. Captured on video, a group of children ages 5 - 9 from a summer day camp program worked collaboratively at the climb-on play equipment. Using 50-feet of rope and moving back-and-forth between two structures tying the rope between them, from 3 - 6 children worked to make a zip line. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">They tied knots and tested their strength. When knots </span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">loosened and the rope—and the child—</span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">dropped, they tied new knots. They lowered the height of the rope at one end and raised the other end by shimmying up poles and boosting each other up to reach higher bars. Working with an apparent hunch about reducing friction on the zip line, they found a length of PVC pipe and slid it over the rope. Like good problem solvers, they tested, revised, rethought aspects of the problem, and improved their design.</span></p><p></p><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">From review and discussion of this and other videos, photos, and notes, the team has been thinking about what the children are doing and what their engagement might mean to them. The team noticed the children's extensive and innovative investigation of materials; how they were collaborative and managed their interactions; had hunches and persisted in exploring them; and that they socialized easily. The child-directed curriculum of everyday STEM the children developed was rich.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">The first set of encounters has laid a groundwork for the next which will focus on the <i>natural phenomena at the park the children notice and how they use their senses and imaginations to explore and represent them. </i>The team has yet to see where that will lead.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>More Like a Milkweed Pod Than a Pocketful of Rye. </b></span><span style="font-family: helvetica;">Where we place our attention is where we begin to see what is happening. When we follow compelling questions and when we wonder, think, and discover together, we deepen our understanding of the thinkers, doers, and learners in our museums including ourselves. We push on safe ideas, shift perspectives, fold new insights into everyday choices, and create new touchstones within a group working together. Each person takes something of that shared understanding into a new setting, fresh possibilities, and a new set of questions.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">My thanks to Lani Shapiro, Tom Bedard, Cheryl Kessler, Mary Weiland, Jim Roe, Peter Olson, Maeryta Medrano, and Julia Bland</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><b>Related Museum Notes</b></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <u><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2017/10/observation-from-seeing-to-un-seeing-to.html" target="_blank">Observation: Seeing, Un-seeing, Re-seeing</a></u>:</span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;">• <u><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2011/09/listening-to-childrens-thinking.html" target="_blank">Listening to Children's Thinking</a></u>:</span></p><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><img alt="" border="0" class="placeholder" id="00e837cae254e" src="https://www.blogger.com/img/transparent.gif" style="background-color: #d8d8d8; background-image: url('https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/i/materialiconsextended/insert_photo/v6/grey600-24dp/1x/baseline_insert_photo_grey600_24dp.png'); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; opacity: 0.6;" /></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" class="placeholder" id="0c0fe99550cfe" src="https://www.blogger.com/img/transparent.gif" style="background-color: #d8d8d8; background-image: url('https://fonts.gstatic.com/s/i/materialiconsextended/insert_photo/v6/grey600-24dp/1x/baseline_insert_photo_grey600_24dp.png'); background-position: 50% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; opacity: 0.6;" /></div><span style="font-family: helvetica;"><br /> </span><p></p></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-44823728768368888452020-09-07T16:35:00.000-05:002020-09-07T16:35:25.179-05:00Navigating Professional Reading in a Pandemic Moment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="841" data-original-width="920" height="366" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YY-gq__MOaY/X1ahluHUrvI/AAAAAAAADso/qTSlciSjDykL9i14t7R0lN7Zi0uwJNrKwCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h366/PeterKeller.2..png" width="400" /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: xx-small;">Origami by Peter Keller</span></div><p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Are you reading more and enjoying it less these days? Are you reading less and enjoying it more? For me, it could be one or the other depending on the day. Often, it is both. Consequently, I am selective with my reading which involves trying to figure out what that means.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">On the one hand, given the tumultuous times we are going through, we can’t retreat and avoid facing the challenging realities surrounding the museum field and its future. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">On the other hand, we are </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">trying to see into a future that can’t be seen. Nevertheless I navigate this territory by thinking </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">how do we make sense out of where we are, think about how to move forward in a meaningful way and, at the same time, make room for what we don’t know might happen? </i><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Consequently, I scan the articles, blogs, on-line journals, and videos looking for ones by thinkers and writers interested in the big picture, bold questions, and new opportunities that will create movement and change—and hope. I've dubbed this intriguing terrain <span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2020/08/between-planning-and-chance.html" target="_blank">between planning and chance.</a></span> And s</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">ince what we are facing is so enormous, I think about it as three questions.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What do we understand</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> about our current situation and the dynamic context of our community in the pandemic and post-pandemic world?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> What matters</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> long-term to our organization and community that must be valued, preserved, and protected?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">What’s possible?</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> What new opportunities do we want to be poised for?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">These questions are intentionally big and roomy and demand courage to address them honestly. They insist on people from across a museum engaging, listening, thinking together, building on one another’s ideas, and assuming a shared good-faith interest in the museum’s future. While set out as if in sequence, these questions do not follow a linear, step-by-step sequence. Instead they are more like a large spiraling conversation that is carried out in the <i>tentative tense, </i>reflecting uncertainties, helpfully expressed as <i>would</i>, <i>could</i>, <i>let’s</i>, <i>maybe</i>, <i>perhaps, what if</i>?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Each question generates more questions that prompt thinking, listening, and reframing. They are enriched by varied perspectives within and beyond the museum. They connect to resources, create openings for more thinking, and support change.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">#1 What do we understand?</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">This question is about developing a current, realistic picture of the museum, its strengths and challenges, the community it serves, and the context in which it operates. The challenge of addressing this question is to be honest and realistic, to be neither too granular nor too self-congratulatory. For developing a shared understanding, these sets of questions and relevant resources might be helpful.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What resources are we working with? Consider people, skills, knowledge, leadership organizational culture; visitors; relationships, community position, and reputation; public space—indoors and out— and facility management; and time–immediate and long term.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What new limitations are we facing with our resources, business model, staff, audience, safety?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">How can we understand and view more of our resources as assets?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What possible trends could impact the museum: financial, health, employment, local educational?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What accomplishments do we have—areas where we have a solid, impressive track record—that we can build on and leverage?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What don’t we understand that we really need to? What additional information do we need; how and where will we get it?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What are we learning that we can share with others internally, with partners, across the community, and in the field?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Resources that might be relevant and interesting:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://www.aam-us.org/category/future-of-museums/" target="_blank">AAM’s Center for the Future of Museums</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"> by Elizabeth Merritt<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://www.stagewiseenterprises.com/product/nonprofit-lifecycles/" target="_blank">Nonprofit Lifecycles: Stage-based Wisdom for Nonprofit Capacity</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://www.stagewiseenterprises.com/product/nonprofit-lifecycles/" target="_blank"> </a></span>by Susan Kenny Stevens<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm84LrJl5tQ" target="_blank">Managing in Times of Transition</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> on Paul Orselli’s Museum FAQ YouTube interview with Christian Greer<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://medium.com/new-faces-new-spaces/quantifying-our-museums-social-impact-e99bff3ef30e" target="_blank">Quantifying Our Museum’s Social Impact: How the Oakland Museum of California is using data science to measure impact</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> by Johanna Jones<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">#2 What Matters?</span></b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">This question calls us to think about what matters in the long-term to the organization and community that must be valued, preserved, and protected. In exploring this question, the challenge is to be clear about the museum’s enduring purpose and deep values without being limited by cherished beliefs. To develop a shared understanding around what matters, the museum can explore these sets of questions and relevant resources.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What is fundamental to who we are, based on our vision, mission, and values and audience?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What are our community’s assets, needs, and priorities that engage with our purpose?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">How can we frame what we want to be as we move past the pandemic preserving what is essential? Is it, for example, to survive and re-open; rebound; be more human-centered; occupy a larger position on the local learning landscape; be part of the regional well-being infrastructure; or become a smaller, more nimble museum?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What high potential future do we want for our museum and community?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">In what new ways can the museum matter, or matter more, to its visitors, partners, and community? What must we preserve for that to happen?</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What might be a game changer for the museum, something that would affect what matters?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What are we learning that we can share with others internally, with partners, across the community, and the field?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="color: #00b050; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Resources for thinking about what matters.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://mailchi.mp/fc004869f9ca/take-5-august2020?e=9d40e220da" target="_blank">Templates for Change</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> on Ann Ackerson’s Take 5<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://thinkingaboutmuseums.com/2020/08/19/luggage-to-leave-behind/" target="_blank">Where to Now, Museums?</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> on Ed Rodley’s Thinking about Museums </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://blog.orselli.net/2020/08/running-museums-as-businesses-interview.html" target="_blank">Running Museums as Businesses: An Interview with Gary Hoover</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> on Paul Orselli’s ExhibiTricks blog <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://museumnotes.blogspot.com/2018/08/challenge-your-thinking-change-your.html" target="_blank">Challenge Your Thinking, Change Your Museum</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> on Museum Notes</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-size: 11pt;">#3 What’s Possible?<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">This question is about developing a shared understanding around the kind of new opportunities for which the museum wants to be poised. Preparation and the nature of chance itself drives the challenges for addressing this question. They involve expanding a view of what is possible without losing sight of what’s essential. The following sets of questions and relevant resources are intended to help in thinking together about possible futures for the museum.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Where might new or unexpected opportunities emerge</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">? Given how we’ve framed what matters, what areas of possibility or opportunity have the greatest potential to move us forward?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">How can we re-imagine the ways in which our assets–our track record, capacities, relationships–could link together and respond to these opportunities? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Of the possibilities that energize individuals and the museum collectively, how can we build consent around those most promising to our future?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Thinking about these opportunities, what do they allow us to accomplish that we couldn’t otherwise accomplish that works towards a greater good?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">Are they very likely, somewhat likely or very unlikely to occur? Are they temporary or long-term change? Who will be affected by the actions we take? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What do we understand about these possibilities and what they require of us? How can we use available time to grow needed capacity and the conditions for success? How can we be alert, selective, and nimble in responding to unanticipated change and opportunities?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 18.4px; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.8667px;">What are we learning that we can share with others internally, with partners, across the community, and in the field?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Resources to inspire thinking about possibilities include:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://micro.ooo/why" target="_blank">Our Story</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> by Amanda Schochtet on Micro</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://medium.com/@ninaksimon/calling-all-phoenixes-8d2f57ce93ee" target="_blank">Calling All Phoenixes</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> on Nina Simon’s Medium</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://ssir.org/articles/entry/creating_a_better_world_means_asking_better_questions" target="_blank">Creating a Better World Means Asking Better Questions</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> by Hildy Gottlieb in Stanford Social Innovation Review<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Wingdings; font-size: 11pt;">§<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><span style="color: #a64d79;"><a href="https://creatingthefuture.org/?ct=t%28EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_5_20_2020_11_29_COPY_01%29" target="_blank">The Power of Being an Experiment</a></span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> on Creating the Future<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Good luck on the road ahead!</span></p>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-61447166686322972272020-08-04T13:45:00.001-05:002020-08-05T13:23:13.565-05:00Between Planning and Chance<div class="separator"><div class="separator" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B4FWKwVhxkQ/VTl6n9WEVfI/AAAAAAAACW8/tClSRS5X2Gs/w400-h300/IMG_0672.JPG" width="400" /></div></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #d5383c; font-family: calibri;"><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><br /></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font color="#e60909" face="helvetica" size="2" style="background-color: white;">The world was a very different place in April 2015 when I wrote the following post about the necessity of planning and then the reality—and opportunity—of chance intervening. Museums, libraries, schools, millions of lives, and the world were different too. </font><span style="background-color: white; color: #e60909; font-family: helvetica; font-size: small;">But the essence of navigating between planning and chance has not changed. If anything, the need to be thinking about it is even more critical than ever.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><font color="#e60909" face="helvetica" size="2" style="background-color: white;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font color="#e60909" face="helvetica" size="2" style="background-color: white;">Planning prepares us for what might come. We look back at what has happened; we look out at what is changing around us; and we look forward at our enduring purpose and how we might be more helpful in the future.<o:p></o:p></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><o:p><font color="#e60909" face="helvetica" size="2" style="background-color: white;"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;"><font color="#e60909" face="helvetica" size="2" style="background-color: white;">So, when a set of nearly-unimaginable events converge—like a pandemic, economic hardship, and social unrest—we can draw on and update our understandings and prepare to move forward in new, responsive ways. It would be utterly foolish to suggest this is easy. But returning to recent planning or using the time a museum is closed now for planning makes movement possible and puts a museum on a path to deliberate action that could not have been recognized before.</font><span style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><br /></p><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">You plan and you plan and then you just have to acknowledge that some things will be left to chance.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br /><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><font face="helvetica"><span>This <i>plannerism</i> is one I keep in mind especially when deeply involved in a planning project that is winding down and moving towards implementation. What comes after planning? Opening a museum, launching a strategic plan, activating a learning framework, or unveiling an exhibition</span><span> is </span><span>much like the moment of taking off the training wheels and riding.</span><span> What happens next?</span></font></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><font face="helvetica"><span>This moment of transition from planning to action characterizes</span><span> many aspects of museum work as well as teaching, planning a trip, finding a job, or, for that matter, life. For conferences, board retreats, organizational budgets, visitor panels, exhibition planning, or a strategic partnership, we can get the right people together, gather the needed information, meet with stakeholders, check-off the steps, develop a critical path, and have the right people in place. </span></font></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">I suspect that, even when we have planned well, what we really want is an extraordinary version of our plan to play out, delivered by remarkable opportunities and chance.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">We may be poised for opportunities, but we never know until the very moment whether we will recognize them or be able to act on them. Chance is not necessarily the unexpected popular guest arriving with impeccable timing. Sometimes chance shows up as back-to back blizzards, illness, or road construction. While we don't know just what chance will deliver or when, chance will play a role. </font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span>Even with a firm a belief in the value of planning and the preparation it provides, how can we leave room for chance? </span></b><span>Will we be ready when the ideal site is available long before we planned to start a site search?<b> </b>Can we take advantage of a special granting opportunity when we don’t have all the right people in place?<b> </b>We cannot predict, schedule or invoke opportunity or a lucky break. But we can find ways to </span><span>make space for chance in planning and in living the plan.</span></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"></span></b></font></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><font face="helvetica">Intentionality and Thinking in Time</font></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><font face="helvetica"><span>From a strategic agenda to a conference agenda, from facility design to exhibition design, planning is being deliberate about accomplishing something significant for a museum, its visitors, and community. We identify the steps along the way and </span><span>the means for accomplishing them–time, space, prepared staff, funds, and partners. </span><span>As well as knowing what we want to achieve and encourage, we must also know what we are <u>not</u> after; we need to be alert to</span><span> signals and precursors of opportunity and wrong turns that might lie on our path.</span></font></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">The larger a planning intention is, the more comprehensive planning will be. Yet, planning is not having everything figured out and tied with a bow. Rather than a script for the future, planning, at its best, develops a shared clarity about what is important and what we hope will happen. Because the future is necessarily uncertain, planning is as much a way of thinking and preparing for possible opportunities as having a detailed plan. Both strategic <i>thinking</i> and design <i>thinking</i> activate a static plan document or rendered exhibition design by the everyday thinking that continues long after the plan is officially complete.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>When staff continues to focus on a plan's or project's purpose and intent, they are able to generate relevant insights that allow the museum to be nimble in a dynamic context. <i>Thinking in time</i> and making an integrated set of choices help optimize opportunities and navigate challenges whether the project is</span><span> opening a satellite facility, launching a professional development center, creating a nature area, adding a maker space, or incorporating dialogue into interactions with visitors. This is living the plan.</span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Corbel; mso-bidi-font-size: 11.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "MS 明朝"; mso-fareast-language: JA; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-fareast;"></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><font face="helvetica">Near and Far Horizons</font></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">Fast forward. A plan has been launched. A strategy team is meeting for the first time. The exhibit has opened and visitors are streaming through the gallery doors. The creativity framework is being shared across museum departments.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">On the heels of completing a plan a critical but subtle shift occurs: merging day-to-day choices with overarching purpose. Living the letter of a plan is, on the one hand, artificial and rigid. Plans, frameworks, and exhibit designs are, necessarily, idealized versions of what we think should happen. In contrast, implementation is immersion in immediate, practical circumstances constantly in flux. Focusing completely on the everyday at the exclusion of the big picture can lead down rabbit holes and obscure opportunities and new possibilities.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">Living in both the plan’s far and near time frames is vital. Active dialogue between them and alertness to approaching opportunities is facilitated by frequent discussions that easily shift between; they link the big picture with current choices. As decision points approach, we revisit past decisions in light of current information. We adjust our view to look at the big picture with a broader or narrower perspective. Reassessing the situation sometimes requires letting go and starting a new path. Challenging assumptions, noticing information that doesn’t fit, and being wary of confirmation bias help bring developing conditions into focus.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">J. P. Morgan noted, in planning as in life, we go as far as we can see. When we get there, we can see farther. What was invisible or out of view earlier is now visible and apparent.</font></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><font face="helvetica">Awake and Alert to the Moment</font></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">A plan isn’t going to send up flares to announce an approaching opportunity. Being alert and awake to the moment is the only remedy; it is, however, not as simple as it seems. An unlikely combination of concentration and responsiveness, it requires keeping a steady focus on what is to be accomplished, an openness to alternatives, and readiness for an adaptive response.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">Difficult to put into in words, it is equally challenging to pull off in the moment. The image of a<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dowsing"><span style="color: #0c343d;"> dowser</span></a> holding a divining rod lightly in order to sense the tug of water far below suggests a readiness for the unexpected.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">In the municipal infant-toddler centers and preschools in Reggio Emilia (IT), one expression of planning is a well-developed structure and thoughtful organization that support teachers in guiding children’s explorations. A clear, but broad, agenda and preparation inform teachers’ choices as children pursue interests and follow bigger ideas. Extensive explorations, often spreading over weeks and even months, emerge from a focus on a well-planned activity, reflection on what’s occurring, and a responsiveness to children’s interests and questions.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">While in a classroom, not a museum and in a pedagogical rather than a strategic frame, teachers concerned with larger goals are also attuned to what is happening as children express fascination and ask questions. Teachers are alert to what is happening, what might happen, and are ready to capitalize on an unanticipated twist or happy accident when chance comes to the classroom.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><font face="helvetica">Reflection and Action</font></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">Along with intentionality and thinking in time, embracing near and far time horizons, and being alert and awake in the moment, reflection and action inhabit the time and space between planning and chance.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">Practiced individually or as a group, reflection introduces important qualities not readily available and decidedly different from what task-driven action and decision-making pressures yield. In stepping away from the everyday, even if briefly, reflection creates a space for paying critical attention, making sense of what has occurred, and consolidating learning. Through reflection we may backtrack through choices, ask new questions, re-sort information, and reassess progress. We may integrate intention with actual experience, synthesize opposing ideas, and connect knowledge from prior experience to current options and choices. A new continuity emerges from hundreds of separate steps and actions. </font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><font face="helvetica">Reflection generates new ways of seeing. By reprocessing information, we may understand differently what has or hasn’t happened–or what <i>could</i> have happened. We may see something that wasn’t apparent before or see it in a new light. Bringing a new viewpoint to a situation can re-frame a problem, discover an ally, find a fertile<b> </b>a crack between two obstacles, or reveal ways to restructure work and move forward.</font></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><font face="helvetica">Insights from reflection often offer a glimpse of the possible, an imagination of what <i>might</i> happen. It might put us on a path to deliberate action that we couldn’t have appreciated before; open a door we didn’t know was there. We may recognize an opening for action.</font></span></span></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></font><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Even if the space between planning and chance is different from what we sometimes wish it were, it is, nevertheless, roomy, rich, and often unexplored territory. Sometimes it delivers the results of hard work rather than a free sample. Sometimes it produces a generous shift rather than an ordered gift. But under a few right conditions, </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span><span>the space between planning and chance </span></span>delivers.</span></span></font></div><div class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica"><br /></font></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><font face="helvetica" size="2"><span style="color: #d5383c;">Chance </span><span style="color: #cd3b3d;">favors</span><span style="color: #d5383c;"> the prepared mind.</span></font></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #d5383c;"><font face="helvetica" size="1">Attributed to <span style="letter-spacing: 1pt;">Louis Pasteur</span></font></span></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1181003345157169289.post-89234844147225377262020-07-17T12:51:00.006-05:002020-08-05T14:27:10.334-05:00It's a Great Time for Making Forts<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1SWLPCH0Juk/XxHgz-O28qI/AAAAAAAADq8/iUjqigYrnJMmKtDW8FSLazR6l_AMxG-WgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/BostonLibraryBostonGlobe.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1SWLPCH0Juk/XxHgz-O28qI/AAAAAAAADq8/iUjqigYrnJMmKtDW8FSLazR6l_AMxG-WgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h300/BostonLibraryBostonGlobe.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font face="helvetica" size="1">Photo Credit: Boston Globe<br /></font><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>At the same time that Clovid19 has closed down restaurants, gyms, shops, and museums, it seems to have opened up the world of children’s fort making.<div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I don’t know about you, but I’ve noticed a lot about fort making lately—inside, outside, under tables or beds, in closets or corners. I’ve also heard from parents that the forts their children are making are impressive. I gather from examples <font color="#2b00fe"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/05/18/why-kids-love-building-forts-why-experts-say-they-might-need-them-more-than-ever/" target="_blank">here</a></font><u>,</u></span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> <font color="#2b00fe"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=612538526137761" target="_blank">here</a></font>, and <font color="#2b00fe"><a href="https://www.sightlines-initiative.com/learning-together-at-home/245-dens-imagination.html" target="_blank">here</a></font></span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> that others are noticing this as well.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We shouldn’t be surprised. Fort making is what children do and need to do. They find forts, make forts, and play in forts, indoors and out, in the spaces where they live and spend time. Fort making is an enduring expression of childhood. It is something I did as a child, my sisters and brothers did, and, it is likely, you probably did too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">While some people see fort building now as a result of boredom from spending many and long days at home during the pandemic, I see it as what children finally <i>get to do</i> with time, space, and freedom courtesy of the pandemic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">As children spend more time at home and explore their home environments, they have an opportunity to know familiar spaces more deeply and discover the fort-making potential of rooms, alcoves, in between and out-of-the-way spaces. Children have time–more time, down time, time with fewer distractions and interruptions. Stretches of time and time over several days allow them to return to a project or work with ideas from one day mulled over and put into action the next day and the next. Many children are enjoying a rare freedom from structured activities and close parental monitoring. In fact, parents and caregivers working from home, homeschooling, and trying to create good family times together are less available for structuring or directing children’s activities, including fort building. And it’s not such a bad thing, actually.<span style="color: #00b050;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;"> </span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">What’s in a Fort?</span></b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">At their most basic, forts are <b>small spaces-within-spaces created by children from available materials where children can be alone or with someone else in a world of their making</b>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">When we think about children’s fort making, we tend to think first about the <b>structures</b> themselves, constructions that cover a wide and interesting </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">range of structures and spaces. Typically, these are original, one-of-a-kind structures indoors or out referred to as caves, cubby holes, cozy spaces, huts, dens, and forts. They might be tucked into an alcove, under the stairs, between chairs, under the desk, or in bed. Made of blankets, sheets, cushions, crates, cardboard tubes and boxes, duct tape or furniture, as well as leaves, snow, and branches, they come in all shapes, sizes, materials, and conditions. Sometimes appearing messy and unassuming, they might look like a huddle of furniture or a pile of laundry.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">A hallmark of childhood, children’s fort making begins around 4 years, increases through 7 years, and continues until around 12 or 13 years. Active,</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XG2Fj_FEE0c/XxHhdN3o1CI/AAAAAAAADrM/5Fx4NkiSFe46EAK8i0xogQuoNshxCMtcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1403/ACtC-3fkbWsDub6-GM5WnMglw3AzsCDEZMaI-OmXtGDdAgf7FVRwvSLeqw6CrVHj-7Ix7sVG1u3s7Nb1kAik0S8icU5eAth-NfnAoEIdiNdw5isOc5IE1olB30IwI1R4r0GZ0CVFYl8oUy8IeKZ9oILkkBvx%253Dw1403-h935-no.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="1403" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XG2Fj_FEE0c/XxHhdN3o1CI/AAAAAAAADrM/5Fx4NkiSFe46EAK8i0xogQuoNshxCMtcgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ACtC-3fkbWsDub6-GM5WnMglw3AzsCDEZMaI-OmXtGDdAgf7FVRwvSLeqw6CrVHj-7Ix7sVG1u3s7Nb1kAik0S8icU5eAth-NfnAoEIdiNdw5isOc5IE1olB30IwI1R4r0GZ0CVFYl8oUy8IeKZ9oILkkBvx%253Dw1403-h935-no.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">curious, and resourceful as fort makers, children gather, collect, and arrange materials and objects, dragging chairs, stacking cushions, or draping sheets, towels, or blankets over chairs. They define their space, make a pleasing arrangement, and embellish it with cherished objects. Working alone and sometimes with others, they draw on a wide range of capabilities and skills, create a small world for themselves, make up and act out stories, read, or pretend to be invisible.</span></div><div><font face=""><span style="font-size: 14.6667px;"><br /></span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Fort making is not a linear step-by-step activity packaged in a kit. Rather, it emerges from a dynamic, relatively seamless, back-and-forth stream of processes and activities. Through play, building, and exploration and offering<span style="color: red;"> </span>discovery and change, <span style="background: white;">children carve out and shape space for themselves in the world.</span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Like play, fort making is directed by the child, propelled by an idea or inspiration, and intrinsically satisfying. Part exploration, fort making involves an investigation of materials, objects, and environments and their properties using their senses and a range of skills. Children’s fort making transforms space, reveals new perspectives, encourages capabilities, and expands possibilities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">These brief descriptions of forts, fort makers, and the process of building hardly begin to uncover how fort making is a rich, productive, and satisfying experience for children. To explore more how these elements engage in the messy, sprawling, open-ended, joyful fort making for children, throughout and across childhoods, I’ve framed five constructs. They are informed by literature, observation, photos, drawings of forts, and adults’ memories and stories of fort building. In real-life fort making, these constructs easily overlap and constantly interact with one another. Looked at individually, however, each shines a light on an experience or opportunity that is compelling to the child, memorable for adults, and supportive of the development and learning in the years between. <span style="color: #00b050;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">•<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">When it comes to fort making, children are in charge.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">•<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Fort making stands a little outside of ordinary time and space and transforms it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">•<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In fort making, children make sense of others, themselves, and the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">•<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">In fort making, children create a 3-D version of their imagination that they can inhabit.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt 0.25in; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">•<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Fort making is opportunistic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 6pt;"><b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif;">Five Constructs on the Nature of Fort Making <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">When it comes to fort making, children are in charge</span></b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In houses, apartments, garages, sheds, and yards, children </span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">interact with space and materials and make something happen.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> They decide what to build, where to build and how to build. Drawing on their knowledge of physical space, they start by selecting a promising place for a fort. They choose furniture and objects, gather coverings, and they combine them in particular ways to create a structure that suits <i>them</i>. As they order</span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> their physical surroundings and </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">embellish spaces with their belongings and selected objects that appeal to them, </span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">they follow their ideas and interests, encounter new ones, and weigh new choices.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G3GsuApjynw/XxHhsEiRxsI/AAAAAAAADrQ/KjvWlf61GGs6gVYr11MnQp0bsJaF9ArkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1403/ACtC-3eIU-Zxl1jAzQH1s3wyxdf5NgLo9ZvMQcvG7sI9UbHpy6fHRDFdmS_U4KDloHNCY0BxT2jqpDoa1rdo81Aa2jPIzm2N4s_mXeoOPc4XJA2ACjrtQE6D8asPJqQskQR8Bh00B-BQ-dkfAnNbx-KvrTOa%253Dw1403-h935-no.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="935" data-original-width="1403" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G3GsuApjynw/XxHhsEiRxsI/AAAAAAAADrQ/KjvWlf61GGs6gVYr11MnQp0bsJaF9ArkgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/ACtC-3eIU-Zxl1jAzQH1s3wyxdf5NgLo9ZvMQcvG7sI9UbHpy6fHRDFdmS_U4KDloHNCY0BxT2jqpDoa1rdo81Aa2jPIzm2N4s_mXeoOPc4XJA2ACjrtQE6D8asPJqQskQR8Bh00B-BQ-dkfAnNbx-KvrTOa%253Dw1403-h935-no.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The opportunity to do this—to be in charge of an activity and <span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">influence what happens in a small corner of their world—</span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">is something that is all too rare for most children</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">. In their fort, children have the freedom to explore space, investigate objects, cultivate friendships, and engage with the imaginary. </span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In deciding whether the walls should be two or three cushions high; whether the fort is a starship, a library, or a cave; and which story ideas will be acted out, children are exercising control in ways that matter to them. </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Of no small significance is children’s control of the boundary between inside and out, where their space ends, who or what comes in—or doesn’t. </span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Fort making stands a little outside of ordinary time and space and transforms it.</span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Forts originate in the physical and imaginative space and time of homes, families, and daily schedules.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In the physical world, the child </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">looks around a very familiar home space with new eyes. They scout seemingly empty spaces, small spaces, out-of-the-way places, and openings where they can fit and build in spaces </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">often overlooked by others. When interesting as well as available space is found under the stairs, in a closet, or even in a bathtub, the child appropriates that space. When it comes to claiming space for their purposes, being under the table is being under the radar for children; being out of the way opens a door.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;">Time is a critical dimension in fort making and it’s not ordinary time. Squeezed in between family routines and scheduled activities, fort time is incidental. As children slip in-and-out of the space, they move between recurring themes, alternate worlds, and multiple time frames. Typical rules about time don’t necessarily apply. Instead, real- and imaginary-time mix. Children imagine that they are some place else and they pretend it is real. The view out the window is a part of the backdrop and becomes part of the story. Movement from day to night can happen in a flash. Or no time at all is specified.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In fort making, children make sense of others, themselves, and the world.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">While typically small, forts are packed with </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">multi-sensory information. Constructing the fort, repeatedly moving in and out of it, or making room for a friend occurs through a constant dialogue between the child and physical space, its materials and their properties. Children are picking up sensory information about h</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">ow their body fits into the fort, how the fort’s sides moved when bumped; how outside sounds come in.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Forts are social as well as physical spaces. They are made by children for themselves and, often, for friends. The fort's physical features, its size, enclosure,</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F8V5FTwM3hc/XxHh7Ntp-II/AAAAAAAADrY/neB_LWRyr9QAYTUrSoehldNlOEgm1o_WwCLcBGAsYHQ/s615/Untitled.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="358" data-original-width="615" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-F8V5FTwM3hc/XxHh7Ntp-II/AAAAAAAADrY/neB_LWRyr9QAYTUrSoehldNlOEgm1o_WwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px;">and lighting influence whether this is a retreat for one or makes room for a friend; a space that invites imagining together, sharing secrets, playing games, and growing friendship.</span><div><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In these special places, children find something of themselves that is difficult to find elsewhere. Choosing and arranging materials, they practice existing skills, explore new ones, and enjoy </span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">feelings of accomplishment and confidence. When children</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> experience themselves as builders, makers, and creators, t</span><span style="background: white; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">hey have important evidence that they can have an impact on the world.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Forts are also where children can explore being themselves. These seemingly simple structures are an expression of self, intention, imagination, and competence. They offer solitude, separation from family, retreat, and independence. A fort can be a place to explore being someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In fort making, children create a 3-D version of their imagination that they can inhabit.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Avid makers and doers, children make many things: drawings, collages, cardboard gizmos, clay bowls, dioramas. Very seldom, however, do they create something at a scale that allows them to crawl into, occupy, and experience the creation that has emerged from their imagination.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Forts may have a small physical footprint, but they likely have a large footprint in the child’s mind and imagination. In forts, children’s imaginations take on physical form, forms that they can occupy. As they enter this real and imagined space, the child is immersed in ideas made real through objects, materials, choices, skills, creativity, and persistence. Inside the child encounters a place that mirrors their imagination. They connect with feelings of being in another place, with the drama of a challenge, or the perspective of someone else.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Being inside small, personal, often unusually-shaped spaces exercises the connection between imagination and the body. In these spaces, children notice their bodies; they explore what they can do and how they move. With gestures, actions, and new positions, they move in ways that play out what is running through their imaginations and filling the fort.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Being inside that space shaped by the imagination gives a glimpse into the possible. The child sees how everything—materials, ideas, memories, songs—can be an opportunity for arranging and making; how parts of the world might be changed, and how the child is able to effect those changes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Fort making is opportunistic.<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">This free style form of construction</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> in incidental spaces with found, discarded, and random objects, not surprisingly, incorporates unusual features which make forts one-of-a-kind creations. Varied shapes, chance features, repurposed household goods can both inspire and drive a</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> fort’s design.</span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">. </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Unlike the large numbers of regularly shaped blocks and bricks in building sets, fort-making materials come in unusual shapes and limited numbers without directions to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ivdsH-YDh-U/XxHiK1RO11I/AAAAAAAADrg/-ZuFbEO4t3QSXJ13oFvzV4jlLLX8EFbXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s300/A1000AwesomeThings.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="236" data-original-width="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ivdsH-YDh-U/XxHiK1RO11I/AAAAAAAADrg/-ZuFbEO4t3QSXJ13oFvzV4jlLLX8EFbXgCLcBGAsYHQ/s0/A1000AwesomeThings.jpg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font size="1">Photo credit: 1,000 Awesome Things</font><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>Found and repurposed materials speak to the child of possibilities. Children notice, investigate, and exploit various features; they test<span style="background: white;"> their properties as they incorporate them into their structure. </span><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Using ingenuity and resourcefulness, children come up with ways to create a fort: drape blankets, wedge pillows into place; anchor sheets by tucking them into a drawer; place the hole in the blanket to be a window; put two chairs together. What is found is used and valued. <o:p></o:p></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Provisional, temporary, changing over time, and sometimes a permanent work-in-progress, the opportunistic nature of fort making means that forts are in perpetual beta. Based on failures and new finds, children develop, test, and revise their forts; they make substitutions when borrowed supplies must be returned to the closet or kitchen. Children themselves are changing, learning from their fort making, and bringing exposure to new ideas to their building.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It seems that, as the child works on the fort, the fort works on the child.<b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">* * * * *<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">My thanks to Tom Bedard, Saki Iwamoto, Nina LeSaout, Aaron Sennitt, and Lani Shapiro<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div>Jeanne Vergeronthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07942145380538588052noreply@blogger.com0