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| At one with materials |
After
thinking about children’s engagement with objects in museums over many years, I
returned to some persistent questions as I read Sharon Shaffer’s book, ObjectLessons and Early Learning.
My
interest in children learning with and from objects began decades ago and
brought me to a career in museums. With each twist and turn in my work, I have recognized
new aspects about children’s object-based learning in museums, wondering about the
nature of the objects we select for them, the child’s and adult’s roles in
exploring objects together, and the settings in which object-based learning
occurs.
My continuing exploration looks into what traditional museums do well with and for young
children and what children’s museums do well with and for children. It is
intended to both honor and nudge both types of museums to better serve children’s
fascination with objects and their eagerness to learn from them.
Museums
are public places defined by objects experienced and enjoyed in a wide range of
ways by people across the life span, from infants to nonagenarians. Visitors to
art museums, historic houses, science centers, zoos, children’s museums, and
natural history museums engage and connect with objects. They may enjoy a rare glimpse
of Leonardo’s Codex Leicester, join a tour of Hilma af Klint’s paintings, participate
in an object lesson at the science center’s wave tank, or add sticker dots to
the White Room at the children’s museum.
There are
many ways to think about and explore objects in museums. Both traditional
museums and children’s museums do. They are interested in and find ways to
engage children in exploring objects, as sources of new information about the
material world; as containers for stories; connections to another time and place,
to home and everyday life; and as sparks to children’s capabilities and creativity.
The Great Beginning
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| Getting to know the world of things Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota |
We know
developmentally, from watching children play and from interactions with them
that they are very interested in objects. Many developmental changes, in fact, are
marked by how young children understand, use, and relate to objects. When infants
shake, bang, wave, and mouth objects, they are learning about the objects’
properties and what an object does. Babies realize during their first 6 months
that an object is present even when unseen. That two-fisted toddler with an
object in each fist eagerly goes after a third object. Figuring out how to
grasp, release, and pass objects back-and-forth is a major problem-solving feat.
Between one and two years, babies use objects for symbolic play. That shoebox
is a bed; the shell is a bathtub for a fairy; the cardboard tube is a telescope.
At a very
early age, objects are central to all aspects of a child’s life. Everyday objects
are labeled, named, and described with glee. An emerging sense of self is
expressed in “my” chair or a favorite piece of clothing. Comforting objects—the
stuffed animal, book, or blanket—are kept close for assurance. Handing an
object to someone creates a social connection. The mirror, a fascinating object
in itself, is especially so with a toddler’s face smiling back.
Objects
mark personal milestones throughout early childhood. When the pants are too
short or shoes are too small, a child beams at the evidence of getting “bigger.” A hand-made
clay bowl expresses a sense of accomplishment in understanding how to work with
clay. Learning to ride a bike signifies practiced coordination and greater
independence.
Fascination
with objects doesn’t end at 18 months, 3, 5, or 8 years. What does change,
however, is how children understand and engage with objects. In more actively occupying
an expanding world, with a growing knowledge base, increasing ability to think
abstractly, and new lenses of meaning, children’s knowledge of and relationship
to the world of things grows rapidly.
What
might sound like an early childhood development summary, in fact, establishes
that objects are fundamentally connected to children’s learning and living. From
infancy on, in every domain, children’s interest in objects, playing with and
learning from them, is a powerful, nearly unstoppable life force that informs
them about themselves, their capabilities, and the richness of the world.
What Objects Say
If
objects matter enormously to children’s play, learning, and connection to the
world and others, now and in their future, then selecting objects for children in
museums also matters enormously.
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| Noah's Ark, The Skirball, (Los Angeles) |
Children’s
museums offer quantities of objects often across virtually the entire museum, inside
and out. There are bubbles and bubble wands; scoops, sieves, shovels, and
funnels; costumes; balls, race cars, grocery store food (fabric or plastic?).
There are Keva Planks, face paints, puppets, and sometimes even a real car,
motorcycle, or tractor. There may be a walk-in scale model of a pioneer cabin or a barn. Many objects are transformed interacting with light, water, and air; light, air, and water become objects to explore. Children’s artwork hangs along with art by community artists. In the
early years area are mirrors, wooden vehicles, small foam blocks, shakers and
noisemakers.
And often
enough, teddy bears are in the restaurant; the wooden cars are in the water;
and costumes are underfoot. While plentiful, objects here are sometimes viewed as ubiquitous, lacking in variety, quality, and condition.
Interestingly,
both traditional and children’s museums limit children’s access to an array of
objects out of concern for keeping objects in specific areas, object condition,
and durability—but for different reasons. The rare or authentic object is
favored in the case of traditional museums, pushing interesting objects out of
the reach of children. Easy access to objects is favored in children’s museums,
undermining the value of quality objects for children.
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| Telfair Museum, Savannah GA |
Yet, in between
is a vast expanse of objects and materials that are fascinating to children, possess
suitable complexity, and spark questions and ideas. Museums need to know this
territory on behalf of children by:
§ Observing children as they engage
with objects, their choices, and language and what objects they collect;
§ Sharpening their insights into the
materials, features, and details of objects that capture and sustain interest, encourage
resourcefulness, elicit stories, and invite connections;
§Exploring the trade-offs between
heavy use, durability, and the quality of objects;
§ Expanding the search for everyday
objects, loose parts, tools, expressive media, found objects, real stuff, and
unconventional materials; and
§ Building a shared vocabulary capable
of describing objects and making meaningful distinctions among terms like authentic, accurate,
real, and real life.
Freedom to Explore
In any museum
setting, a glorious array of objects and materials that invites and sustains children’s
engagement accomplishes little without freedom to explore.
Exploring
freely is similar to a dialogue; it builds on interests and capabilities and reveals new ones. Noticing how a prism changes light; crumpled paper resembles a bird; a
set of antlers feel to the touch; and metal washers almost fly through the air
before landing on a giant magnet activates this exchange.
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| Amazeum, Bentonville AR |
Object
dialogues with potential require longer investigations without interruption.
Just as two minutes is hardly long enough for a good conversation, it is not
enough for a meaningful exploration of an interesting object. New discoveries,
new questions, and remixing ideas have barely started. Engagement with peers, their
ideas, and previous experiences have yet to enrich this dialogue.
While
children can figure out a great deal about objects messing about on their own, adult
support and conversation can add a richness to these endeavors. Joining
the child’s exploration begins with noticing what the child’s eyes notice, not channeling the interaction to a specific lesson or objective. These are conversations
that can support children in making connections between an object and previous
experiences with similar objects and materials, answering questions, or
introducing new information of interest to the child. They are also opportunities
for children to express ideas and new understandings or explore complex
ideas like identity, caring, and
inclusion.
Freedom
to explore opens the door to the kind of experience and transforming of an
object into a new way of knowing it that Elee Wood and Kiersten Latham write
about in The Objects of Experience.
Context Matters
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| Sand play in the quarry Children's Museum of Southern Minnesota |
All
objects exist in a context from which they acquire meaning. The setting in
which objects are experienced can be simple with little relevant information or
rich with information that helps make sense of the object and find connections
to it.
Museum spaces,
whether galleries, studios, classrooms, or outdoors, convey information about
the objects and activities selected and presented. While the contextual approach
varies among museums and even within a single museum, the physical setting is, nevertheless, integral to how visitors experience objects, artifacts, specimens, works of
art, loose parts, tools, and props.
Because children
rely on their senses and relatively limited previous experiences to know objects,
context is an important part of how children engage with and know objects. Context offers clues about what a space is about, sparks ideas about
how to engage with available objects, creates personal connections, and supports children’s
learning. Consequently, children’s museums have emphasized creating a context
for objects, sometimes very elaborate and immersive.
In this
contextual approach, there are not just pieces of hardware, washers, wing nuts
and molly bolts, but there is a wall of hardware, bins, a work surface in a
hardware store environment. A grocery store, familiar in many children’s
museums, is a familiar everyday context for even very young children who know a great deal about markets from errands with parents, and are also attracted to the many objects on the shelves. These spaces are outfitted with real objects and tools that characterize them.
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| When the object is the context |
Fewer traditional
museums outside of historic houses provide a relevant information-filled context
for object exploration. Period rooms in some art and history museums show
objects in an accurate historical and cultural context. In discovery rooms, hands-on
spaces, discovery carts, and family centers, traditional museums increasingly
take setting into account to provide contextual information for meaning making. Hands-on exhibits, however, in an otherwise non-interactive museum are quite
different from hands-on access to objects all across a hands-on museum.
Contexts
and situating the object in a supportive and relevant environments serve
children well. Beyond the familiar grocery store exhibit is a wide range of inviting contexts.
• The object and the context are the same inside a bus or the Japanese House
• Swaying in a textile playground
• Thousands of sticker dots transform the white room, shifting foreground and background
• Environments that invite exploration of color, light, objects, and materials
• Outdoor gardens, forests, sculpture gardens
• Object Theaters such as Mill CityMuseum’s Flour Tower
• The object and the context are the same inside a bus or the Japanese House
• Swaying in a textile playground
• Thousands of sticker dots transform the white room, shifting foreground and background
• Environments that invite exploration of color, light, objects, and materials
• Outdoor gardens, forests, sculpture gardens
• Object Theaters such as Mill CityMuseum’s Flour Tower
Access and Availability
Ultimately,
children's engaging and meaningful encounters with objects relies on access and
availability. Children benefit from more opportunities to engage with a wider
variety of compelling objects and materials, across more museum settings.
For both
traditional and children’s museums, increasing access to interesting objects relies
on resources and resourcefulness around this priority. If a museum intends to
be object centered for children, then availability is a question of how, not whether.
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| Museum of Math, New York, NY |
In more
museum settings, availability of objects and materials is increasing. Some of
the popularity of maker spaces in museums is, likely as objects-rich settings with
materials, supplies, tools, resources, and machines. More art museums like the Twin Cities' mia
and the Denver Art Museum make hands-on materials available to children in family areas. Discovery rooms
and touch-and-see labs, spaces set aside from
traditional museum galleries in many natural history museums, feature objects and artifacts for children’s
hands-on exploration.
As object
rich as they are, children’s museums nevertheless have significant
opportunities to increase the variety of object-based experiences in exhibits,
programs, and facilitated moments across the museum. Opportunities and possible
directions for both children’s and traditional museums come from both fields
including:
• A teaching collection where objects are handled under the trained eye of a museum educator.
• Sharing stations such as Nature Exchange
at Kidspace in Pasadena where children bring
and trade nature objects
• Incorporating
object explorations into programs and exhibits by prepared staff and
volunteers: hidden objects; collections of everyday objects like wheels, "I Spy" tours.
• Guided exploration of artwork already displayed in many children’s museums—an artist
in residence, children’s artwork, etc.
• Finding quantities of unconventional materials. Bubble wrap has
fascinating qualities especially in large quantities which invite wrapping,
dancing, and popping.
• Recruiting and training docents in children’s museums to
facilitate engagement with objects.
• Exploring the possibility of ecosystems of objects: grow gourds,
collect and dry seeds, make shakers and containers; explore along with gourd containers
from different cultural groups.
Reimagining Children’s Object
Exploration in Museums
If
children’s engrossing, enriching experiences with objects is a value for
museums, then thinking about what this looks like in deep and informed ways is necessary. Meaningful
child-object engagement relies on:
• Believing in children’s capabilities to learn with and from objects from a very early age;
• Believing in children’s capabilities to learn with and from objects from a very early age;
• Creating a collection of objects recognized for their compelling qualities for children’s engagement;
• Allowing for time and freedom to engage and connect with objects;
• Support from a more knowledgeable partner, peer or adult, who follows the child’s interest;
• Rich, relevant context that creates connections; and
• Access and availability to objects across the museum.
I hope my interest and concern about how museums create opportunities for children to engage with objects and how they might do it better will encourage others to explore further.
Resources
• Steven
Conn. (2010) Do Museums Still Need
Objects? Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press
• Rebecca
Schulman Herz, Museum Questions: https://museumquestions.com/2015/02/09/why-are-childrens-museums-museums/
• Rebecca Schulman Herz. “Where are the
objects? Why is this a museum?” Curator (May 2017).
• Eugene
Dillenburg “What, if Anything, Is a Museum?” Exhibitionist. Spring 2011.
• Hilde
Hein . The Matter of Museums. Journal of Museum Education, Vol. 36, Number 2,
Summer 2011
• Phillip
Kennicott. “Is it a museum or not? The question is worth asking.” The
Washington Post. October 2018.
• Scott
G. Harris. 2002. Perspectives on Object-centered Learning in Museums. Mahwah,
NJ: Lawrence Erlenbaum Associates Publishers.
•
Elizabeth Wood and Kiersten F. Latham. (2016) The Object of Experience:
Transforming Visitor-Object Encounters in Museums. New York: Routledge.
